Imamat 1:2

1:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When ¹  someone ²  among you presents an offering ³  to the Lord, ⁴  you ⁵  must present your offering from the domesticated animals, either from the herd or from the flock. ⁶ 

Imamat 5:15

5:15 “When a person commits a trespass ⁷  and sins by straying unintentionally ⁸  from the regulations about the Lord’s holy things, ⁹  then he must bring his penalty for guilt ¹⁰  to the Lord, a flawless ram from the flock, convertible into silver shekels according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel, ¹¹  for a guilt offering. ¹² 

Imamat 5:18

5:18 and must bring a flawless ram from the flock, convertible into silver shekels, ¹³  for a guilt offering to the priest. So the priest will make atonement ¹⁴  on his behalf for his error which he committed ¹⁵  (although he himself had not known it) and he will be forgiven. ¹⁶ 

Imamat 6:4

6:4 when it happens that he sins and he is found guilty, ¹⁷  then he must return whatever he had stolen, or whatever he had extorted, or the thing that he had held in trust, ¹⁸  or the lost thing that he had found,

Imamat 14:13

14:13 He must then slaughter ¹⁹  the male lamb in the place where ²⁰  the sin offering ²¹  and the burnt offering ²²  are slaughtered, ²³  in the sanctuary, because, like the sin offering, the guilt offering belongs to the priest; ²⁴  it is most holy.

Imamat 20:3

20:3 I myself will set my face ²⁵  against that man and cut him off from the midst of his people, ²⁶  because he has given some of his children to Molech and thereby defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name. ²⁷ 

[1:2]  ¹ tn “When” here translates the MT’s כִּי (ki, “if, when”), which regularly introduces main clauses in legislative contexts (see, e.g., Lev 2:1, 4; 4:2, etc.) in contrast to אִם (’im, “if”), which usually introduces subordinate sections (see, e.g., Lev 1:3, 10, 14; 2:5, 7, 14; 4:3, 13, etc.; cf. כִּי in Exod 21:2 and 7 as opposed to אִם in vv. 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, and 11).

[1:2]  sn Lev 1:1-2 serves as a heading for Lev 1-3 (i.e., the basic regulations regarding the presentation of the burnt, grain, and peace offerings) and, at the same time, leads directly into the section on “burnt offerings” in Lev 1:3. In turn, Lev 1:3-17 divides into three subsections, all introduced by אִם “if” (Lev 1:3-9, 10-13, and 14-17, respectively). Similar patterns are discernible throughout Lev 1:2-6:7 [5:26 HT].

[1:2]  ² tn Heb “a man, human being” (אָדָם, ’adam), which in this case refers to any person among “mankind,” male or female, since women could also bring such offerings (see, e.g., Lev 12:6-8; 15:29-30; cf. HALOT 14 s.v. I אָדָם); cf. NIV “any of you.”

[1:2]  ³ tn The verb “presents” is cognate to the noun “offering” in v. 2 and throughout the book of Leviticus (both from the root קרב [qrb]). One could translate the verb “offers,” but this becomes awkward and, in fact, inaccurate in some passages. For example, in Lev 9:9 this verb is used for the presenting or giving of the blood to Aaron so that he could offer it to the Lord. The blood is certainly not being “offered” as an offering to Aaron there.

[1:2]  ⁴ tn The whole clause reads more literally, “A human being (אָדָם, ’adam), if he brings from among you an offering to the Lord.”

[1:2]  ⁵ tn The shift to the second person plural verb here corresponds to the previous second person plural pronoun “among you.” It is distinct from the regular pattern of third person singular verbs throughout the rest of Lev 1-3. This too labels Lev 1:1-2 as an introduction to all of Lev 1-3, not just the burnt offering regulations in Lev 1 (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:146; cf. note 3 above).

[1:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “from the domesticated animal, from the herd, and from the flock.” It is clear from the subsequent division between animals from the “herd” (בָּקָר, baqar, in Lev 1:3-9) and the “flock” (צֹאן, tso’n; see Lev 1:10-13) that the term for “domesticated animal” (בְּהֵמָה, bÿhemah) is a general term meant to introduce the category of pastoral quadrupeds. The stronger disjunctive accent over בְּהֵמָה in the MT as well as the lack of a vav (ו) between it and בָּקָר also suggest בְּהֵמָה is an overall category that includes both “herd” and “flock” quadrupeds.

[1:2]  sn The bird category (Lev 1:14-17) is not included in this introduction because bird offerings were, by and large, concessions to the poor (cf., e.g., Lev 5:7-10; 12:8; 14:21-32) and, therefore, not considered to be one of the primary categories of animal offerings.

[5:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “trespasses a trespass” (verb and direct object from the same Hebrew root, מַעַל, ma’al); cf. NIV “commits a violation.” The word refers to some kind of overstepping of the boundary between that which is common (i.e., available for common use by common people) and that which is holy (i.e., to be used only for holy purposes because it has been consecrated to the Lord, see further below). See the note on Lev 10:10.

[5:15]  ⁸ tn See Lev 4:2 above for a note on “straying.”

[5:15]  ⁹ sn Heb “from the holy things of the Lord.” The Hebrew expression here has the same structure as Lev 4:2, “from any of the commandments of the Lord.” The latter introduces the sin offering regulations and the former the guilt offering regulations. The sin offering deals with violations of “any of the commandments,” whereas the guilt offering focuses specifically on violations of regulations regarding “holy things” (i.e., things that have been consecrated to the Lord; see the full discussion in J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:320-27).

[5:15]  ¹⁰ tn Here the word for “guilt” (אָשָׁם, ’asham) refers to the “penalty” for incurring guilt, the so-called consequential use of אָשָׁם (’asham; see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:303).

[5:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in your valuation, silver of shekels, in the shekel of the sanctuary.” The translation offered here suggests that, instead of a ram, the guilt offering could be presented in the form of money (see, e.g., NRSV; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:326-27). Others still maintain the view that it refers to the value of the ram that was offered (see, e.g., NIV “of the proper value in silver, according to the sanctuary shekel”; also NAB, NLT; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 72-73, 81).

[5:15]  sn The sanctuary shekel was about 10 grams (= ca. two fifths of an ounce; J. E. Shepherd, NIDOTTE 4:237-38).

[5:15]  ¹² tn The word for “guilt offering” (sometimes translated “reparation offering”) is the same as “guilt” earlier in the verse (rendered there “[penalty for] guilt”). One can tell which is intended only by the context.

[5:15]  sn The primary purpose of the guilt offering was to “atone” (see the note on Lev 1:4 above) for “trespassing” on the Lord’s “holy things” (see later in this verse) or the property of others in the community (Lev 6:1-7 [5:20-26 HT]; 19:20-22; Num 5:5-10). It was closely associated with reconsecration of the Lord’s sacred things or his sacred people (see, e.g., Lev 14:12-18; Num 6:11b-12). Moreover, there was usually an associated reparation made for the trespass, including restitution of that which was violated plus one fifth of its value as a fine (Lev 5:16; 6:5 [5:24 HT]). See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:557-66.

[5:18]  ¹³ tn The statement here is condensed. See the full expression in 5:15 and the note there.

[5:18]  ¹⁴ sn Regarding “make atonement” see the note on Lev 1:4.

[5:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “on his straying which he strayed.” See the note on Lev 4:2.

[5:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV and NASB both similar).

[6:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and it shall happen, when he sins and becomes guilty,” which is both resumptive of the previous (vv. 2-3) and the conclusion to the protasis (cf. “then” introducing the next clause as the apodosis). In this case, “becomes guilty” (cf. NASB, NIV) probably refers to his legal status as one who has been convicted of a crime in court; thus the translation “he is found guilty.” See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:559-61.

[6:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “that had been held in trust with him.”

[14:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “And he shall slaughter.”

[14:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “in the place which.”

[14:13]  ²¹ sn See the note on Lev 4:3 regarding the term “sin offering.”

[14:13]  ²² sn See the note on Lev 1:3 regarding the “burnt offering.”

[14:13]  ²³ tn Since the priest himself presents this offering as a wave offering (v. 12), it would seem that the offering is already in his hands and he would, therefore, be the one who slaughtered the male lamb in this instance rather than the offerer. Smr and LXX make the second verb “to slaughter” plural rather than singular, which suggests that it is to be taken as an impersonal passive (see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:852).

[14:13]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the guilt offering, it [is] to the Lord.” Regarding the “guilt offering,” see the note on Lev 5:15.

[20:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “And I, I shall give my faces.”

[20:3]  ²⁶ sn On the “cut off” penalty see the notes on Lev 7:20 and 17:4.

[20:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “for the sake of defiling my sanctuary and to profane my holy name.”