Imamat 2:4

Processed Grain Offerings

2:4 “‘When you present an offering of grain baked in an oven, it must be made of ¹  choice wheat flour baked into unleavened loaves ²  mixed with olive oil or ³  unleavened wafers smeared ⁴  with olive oil.

Imamat 4:3

For the Priest

4:3 “‘If the high priest ⁵  sins so that the people are guilty, ⁶  on account of the sin he has committed he must present a flawless young bull to the Lord ⁷  for a sin offering. ⁸ 

Imamat 5:2

5:2 Or when there is ⁹  a person who touches anything ceremonially ¹⁰  unclean, whether the carcass of an unclean wild animal, or the carcass of an unclean domesticated animal, or the carcass of an unclean creeping thing, even if he did not realize it, ¹¹  but he himself has become unclean and is guilty; ¹² 

Imamat 5:7

5:7 “‘If he cannot afford an animal from the flock, ¹³  he must bring his penalty for guilt for his sin that he has committed, ¹⁴  two turtledoves or two young pigeons, ¹⁵  to the Lord, one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering.

Imamat 5:15

5:15 “When a person commits a trespass ¹⁶  and sins by straying unintentionally ¹⁷  from the regulations about the Lord’s holy things, ¹⁸  then he must bring his penalty for guilt ¹⁹  to the Lord, a flawless ram from the flock, convertible into silver shekels according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel, ²⁰  for a guilt offering. ²¹ 

Imamat 8:26

8:26 and from the basket of unleavened bread that was before the Lord he took one unleavened loaf, one loaf of bread mixed with olive oil, and one wafer, ²²  and placed them on the fat parts and on the right thigh.

Imamat 9:2-3

9:2 and said to Aaron, “Take for yourself a bull calf for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both flawless, and present them before the Lord. 9:3 Then tell the Israelites: ‘Take a male goat ²³  for a sin offering and a calf and lamb, both a year old and flawless, ²⁴  for a burnt offering,

Imamat 10:17

10:17 “Why did you not eat the sin offering in the sanctuary? For it is most holy and he gave it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, ²⁵  to make atonement on their behalf before the Lord.

Imamat 12:8

12:8 If she cannot afford a sheep, ²⁶  then she must take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, ²⁷  one for a burnt offering and one for a sin offering, and the priest is to make atonement on her behalf, and she will be clean.’” ²⁸ 

Imamat 13:6

13:6 The priest must then examine it again on the seventh day, ²⁹  and if ³⁰  the infection has faded and has not spread on the skin, then the priest is to pronounce the person clean. ³¹  It is a scab, ³²  so he must wash his clothes ³³  and be clean.

Imamat 14:21

The Eighth Day Atonement Rituals for the Poor Person

14:21 “If the person is poor and does not have sufficient means, ³⁴  he must take one male lamb as a guilt offering for a wave offering to make atonement for himself, one-tenth of an ephah of choice wheat flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering, a log of olive oil, ³⁵ 

Imamat 22:13

22:13 but if a priest’s daughter is a widow or divorced, and she has no children so that she returns to live in ³⁶  her father’s house as in her youth, ³⁷  she may eat from her father’s food, but no lay person may eat it.

Imamat 23:18

23:18 Along with the loaves of bread, ³⁸  you must also present seven flawless yearling lambs, ³⁹  one young bull, ⁴⁰  and two rams. ⁴¹  They are to be a burnt offering to the Lord along with their grain offering ⁴²  and drink offerings, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord. ⁴³ 

Imamat 25:28

25:28 If he has not prospered enough to refund ⁴⁴  a balance to him, then what he sold ⁴⁵  will belong to ⁴⁶  the one who bought it until the jubilee year, but it must revert ⁴⁷  in the jubilee and the original owner ⁴⁸  may return to his property.

Imamat 26:36

26:36 “‘As for ⁴⁹  the ones who remain among you, I will bring despair into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a blowing leaf will pursue them, and they will flee as one who flees the sword and fall down even though there is no pursuer.

Imamat 27:28

Things Permanently Dedicated to the Lord

27:28 “‘Surely anything which a man permanently dedicates to the Lord ⁵⁰  from all that belongs to him, whether from people, animals, or his landed property, must be neither sold nor redeemed; anything permanently dedicated is most holy to the Lord.

[2:4]  ¹ tn The insertion of the words “it must be made of” is justified by the context and the expressed words “it shall be made of” in vv. 7 and 8 below.

[2:4]  ² sn These “loaves” were either “ring-shaped” (HALOT 317 s.v. חַלָּה) or “perforated” (BDB 319 s.v. חַלָּה; cf. J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:184).

[2:4]  ³ tn Heb “and.” Here the conjunction vav (ו) has an alternative sense (“or”).

[2:4]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew word מְשֻׁחִים (mÿshukhim) translated here as “smeared” is often translated “anointed” in other contexts. Cf. TEV “brushed with olive oil” (CEV similar).

[4:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “the anointed priest” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). This refers to the high priest (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

[4:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “to the guilt of the people”; NRSV “thus bringing guilt on the people.”

[4:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he shall offer on his sin which he sinned, a bull, a son of the herd, flawless.”

[4:3]  ⁸ sn The word for “sin offering” (sometimes translated “purification offering”) is the same as the word for “sin” earlier in the verse. One can tell which rendering is intended only by the context. The primary purpose of the “sin offering” (חַטָּאת, khatta’t) was to “purge” (כִּפֶּר, kipper, “to make atonement,” see 4:20, 26, 31, 35, and the notes on Lev 1:4 and esp. Lev 16:20, 33) the sanctuary or its furniture in order to cleanse it from any impurities and/or (re)consecrate it for holy purposes (see, e.g., Lev 8:15; 16:19). By making this atonement the impurities of the person or community were cleansed and the people became clean. See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:93-103.

[5:2]  ⁹ tc The insertion of the words “when there is” is a reflection of the few Hebrew mss, Smr, and LXX that have כִּי (ki, “when, if”; cf. vv. 3 and esp. 4) rather than the MT’s אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “who”). Many English versions render this as a conditional clause (“if”).

[5:2]  ¹⁰ tn The word “ceremonially” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that the uncleanness involved is ritual or ceremonial in nature.

[5:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and it is hidden from him,” meaning that the person who contracted the ceremonial uncleanness was not aware at the time what had happened, but later found out that he had become ceremonially unclean. This same phrase occurs again in both vv. 3 and 4.

[5:2]  ¹² sn Lev 5:2-3 are parallel laws of uncleanness (contracted from animals and people, respectively), and both seem to assume that the contraction of uncleanness was originally unknown to the person (vv. 2 and 3) but became known to him or her at a later time (v. 3; i.e., “has come to know” in v. 3 is to be assumed for v. 2 as well). Uncleanness itself did not make a person “guilty” unless he or she failed to handle it according to the normal purification regulations (see, e.g., “wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening,” Lev 15:5 NIV; cf. Lev 11:39-40; 15:5-12, 16-24; Num 19, etc.). The problem here in Lev 5:2-3 is that, because the person had not been aware of his or her uncleanness, he or she had incurred guilt for not carrying out these regular procedures, and it would now be too late for that. Thus, the unclean person needs to bring a sin offering to atone for the contamination caused by his or her neglect of the purity regulations.

[5:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “and if his hand does not reach enough of a flock animal” (see the note on v. 11 below). The term translated “animal from the flock” (שֶׂה, seh) is often translated “lamb” (e.g., KJV, NASB, NIV, NCV) or “sheep” (e.g., NRSV, TEV, NLT), but it clearly includes either a sheep or a goat here (cf. v. 6), referring to the smaller pasture animals as opposed to the larger ones (i.e., cattle; cf. 4:3). Some English versions use the more generic “animal” (e.g., NAB, CEV).

[5:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and he shall bring his guilt which he sinned,” which is an abbreviated form of Lev 5:6, “and he shall bring his [penalty for] guilt to the Lord for his sin which he committed.” The words “for his sin” have been left out in v. 7, and “to the Lord” has been moved so that it follows the mention of the birds.

[5:7]  ¹⁵ tn See the note on Lev 1:14 above.

[5:15]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn See Lev 4:2 above for a note on “straying.”

[5:15]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ 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.

[8:26]  ²² tn See Lev 2:4.

[9:3]  ²³ tn Heb “a he-goat of goats.”

[9:3]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and a calf and a lamb, sons of a year, flawless”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “without blemish”; NASB, NIV “without defect”; NLT “with no physical defects.”

[10:17]  ²⁵ sn This translation is quite literal. On the surface it appears to mean that the priests would “bear the iniquity” of the congregation by the act of eating the sin offering (so J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:622-25, 635-40). Such a notion is, however, found nowhere else in the Levitical regulations and seems unlikely (so J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 136). A more likely interpretation is reflected in this interpretive rendering: “he gave it to you [as payment] for [your work of] bearing the iniquity of the congregation.” The previous section of the chapter deals with the prebends that the priests received for performing the ministry of the tabernacle (Lev 10:12-15). Lev 10:16-18, therefore, seems to continue the very same topic in the light of the most immediate situation (see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:702-4).

[12:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “If her hand cannot find the sufficiency of a sheep.” Many English versions render this as “lamb.”

[12:8]  ²⁷ tn Heb “from the sons of the pigeon,” referring either to “young pigeons” or “various species of pigeon” (contrast J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:168, with J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 14; cf. Lev 1:14 and esp. 5:7-10).

[12:8]  ²⁸ tn Or “she will be[come] pure.”

[13:6]  ²⁹ tn That is, at the end of the second set of seven days referred to at the end of v. 5, a total of fourteen days after the first appearance before the priest.

[13:6]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and behold.”

[13:6]  ³¹ tn Heb “he shall make him clean.” The verb is the Piel of טָהֵר (taher, “to be clean”). Here it is a so-called “declarative” Piel (i.e., “to declare clean”), but it also implies that the person is put into the category of being “clean” by the pronouncement itself (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 176; cf. the corresponding opposite in v. 3 above).

[13:6]  ³² tn On the term “scab” see the note on v. 2 above. Cf. NAB “it was merely eczema”; NRSV “only an eruption”; NLT “only a temporary rash.”

[13:6]  ³³ tn Heb “and he shall wash his clothes.”

[14:21]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and his hand does not reach”; NAB, NRSV “and cannot afford so much (afford these NIV).”

[14:21]  ³⁵ tn See the notes on v. 10 above.

[22:13]  ³⁶ tn Heb “to”; the words “live in” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[22:13]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and seed there is not to her and she returns to the house of her father as her youth.” The mention of having “no children” appears to imply that her children, if she had any, should support her; this is made explicit by NLT’s “and has no children to support her.”

[23:18]  ³⁸ tn Heb “And you shall present on the bread.”

[23:18]  ³⁹ tn Heb “seven flawless lambs, sons of a year.”

[23:18]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and one bull, a son of a herd.”

[23:18]  ⁴¹ tc Smr and LXX add “flawless.”

[23:18]  ⁴² tn Heb “and their grain offering.”

[23:18]  ⁴³ sn See the note on Lev 1:9.

[25:28]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “And if his hand has not found sufficiency of returning.” Although some versions take this to mean that he has not made enough to regain the land (e.g., NASB, NRSV; see also B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 176), the combination of terms in Hebrew corresponds to the portion of v. 27 that refers specifically to refunding the money (cf. v. 27; see NIV and G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 315).

[25:28]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “his sale.”

[25:28]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “will be in the hand of.” This refers to the temporary control of the one who purchased its produce until the next year of jubilee, at which time it would revert to the original owner.

[25:28]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “it shall go out” (so KJV, ASV; see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 176).

[25:28]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the original owner of the land) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:36]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “And.”

[27:28]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “Surely, any permanently dedicated [thing] which a man shall permanently dedicate to the Lord.” The Hebrew term חֵרֶם (kherem) refers to things that are devoted permanently to the Lord (see the note on v. 21 above).