Imamat 4:2

4:2 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When a person sins by straying unintentionally ¹  from any of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated, and violates any ²  one of them ³  –

Imamat 4:27

For the Common Person

4:27 “‘If an ordinary individual ⁴  sins by straying unintentionally ⁵  when he violates one of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated, ⁶  and he pleads guilty

Imamat 5:3

5:3 or when he touches human uncleanness with regard to anything by which he can become unclean, ⁷  even if he did not realize it, but he himself has later come to know it and is guilty;

Imamat 10:16

The Problem with the Inaugural Sin Offering

10:16 Later Moses sought diligently for the sin offering male goat, ⁸  but it had actually been burnt. ⁹  So he became angry at Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s remaining sons, saying,

Imamat 13:36

13:36 then the priest is to examine it, and if ¹⁰  the scall has spread on the skin the priest is not to search further for reddish yellow hair. ¹¹  The person ¹²  is unclean.

Imamat 14:19

14:19 “The priest must then perform the sin offering ¹³  and make atonement for the one being cleansed from his impurity. After that he ¹⁴  is to slaughter the burnt offering,

Imamat 15:15

15:15 and the priest is to make one of them a sin offering ¹⁵  and the other a burnt offering. ¹⁶  So the priest ¹⁷  is to make atonement for him before the Lord for ¹⁸  his discharge.

Imamat 15:27

15:27 and anyone who touches them will be unclean, and he must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ¹⁹ 

Imamat 15:30-31

15:30 and the priest is to make one a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. ²⁰  So the priest ²¹  is to make atonement for her before the Lord from her discharge of impurity.

Summary of Purification Regulations for Bodily Discharges

15:31 “‘Thus you ²²  are to set the Israelites apart from their impurity so that they ²³  do not die in their impurity by defiling my tabernacle which is in their midst.

Imamat 15:33

15:33 the one who is sick in her menstruation, the one with a discharge, whether male or female, ²⁴  and a man ²⁵  who has sexual intercourse with an unclean woman.’”

Imamat 16:13

16:13 He must then put the incense on the fire before the Lord, and the cloud of incense will cover the atonement plate which is above the ark of the testimony, ²⁶  so that he will not die. ²⁷ 

Imamat 17:7

17:7 So they must no longer offer ²⁸  their sacrifices to the goat demons, ²⁹  acting like prostitutes by going after them. ³⁰  This is to be a perpetual statute for them throughout their generations. ³¹ 

Imamat 18:26

18:26 You yourselves must obey ³²  my statutes and my regulations and must not do any of these abominations, both the native citizen and the resident foreigner in your midst, ³³ 

Imamat 19:14

19:14 You must not curse a deaf person or put a stumbling block in front of a blind person. ³⁴  You must fear ³⁵  your God; I am the Lord.

Imamat 20:5

20:5 I myself will set my face against that man and his clan. I will cut off from the midst of their people both him and all who follow after him in spiritual prostitution, ³⁶  to commit prostitution by worshiping Molech. ³⁷ 

Imamat 20:10

20:10 If a man ³⁸  commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, ³⁹  both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.

Imamat 22:11

22:11 but if a priest buys a person with his own money, ⁴⁰  that person ⁴¹  may eat the holy offerings, ⁴²  and those born in the priest’s ⁴³  own house may eat his food. ⁴⁴ 

Imamat 22:14

22:14 “‘If a man eats a holy offering by mistake, ⁴⁵  he must add one fifth to it and give the holy offering to the priest. ⁴⁶ 

Imamat 22:32

22:32 You must not profane my holy name, and I will be sanctified in the midst of the Israelites. I am the Lord who sanctifies you,

Imamat 25:5

25:5 You must not gather in the aftergrowth of your harvest and you must not pick the grapes of your unpruned ⁴⁷  vines; the land must have a year of complete rest.

Imamat 25:11

25:11 That fiftieth year will be your jubilee; you must not sow the land, harvest its aftergrowth, or pick the grapes of its unpruned vines. ⁴⁸ 

Imamat 25:14

25:14 If you make a sale ⁴⁹  to your fellow citizen ⁵⁰  or buy ⁵¹  from your fellow citizen, no one is to wrong his brother. ⁵² 

Imamat 26:21

26:21 “‘If you walk in hostility against me ⁵³  and are not willing to obey me, I will increase your affliction ⁵⁴  seven times according to your sins.

Imamat 26:40

26:40 However, when ⁵⁵  they confess their iniquity and their ancestors’ iniquity which they committed by trespassing against me, ⁵⁶  by which they also walked ⁵⁷  in hostility against me ⁵⁸ 

Imamat 27:9

Redemption of Vowed Animals

27:9 “‘If what is vowed is a kind of animal from which an offering may be presented ⁵⁹  to the Lord, anything which he gives to the Lord from this kind of animal ⁶⁰  will be holy.

Imamat 27:26

Redemption of the Firstborn

27:26 “‘Surely no man may consecrate a firstborn that already belongs to the Lord as a firstborn among the animals; whether it is an ox or a sheep, it belongs to the Lord. ⁶¹ 

[4:2]  ¹ tn Heb “And a person, when he sins in straying.” The English translation of “by straying” (בִּשְׁגָגָה [bishgagah] literally, “in going astray; in making an error”) varies greatly, but almost all suggest that this term refers to sins that were committed by mistake or done not knowing that the particular act was sinful (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:228-29). See, e.g., LXX “involuntarily”; Tg. Onq. “by neglect”; KJV “through ignorance”; ASV, RSV, NJPS “unwittingly”; NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “unintentionally”; NAB, NEB “inadvertently”; NCV “by accident.” However, we know from Num 15:27-31 that committing a sin “by straying” is the opposite of committing a sin “defiantly” (i.e., בְּיַד רָמָה [bÿyad ramah] “with a raised hand,” v. 30). In the latter case the person, as it were, raises his fist in presumptuous defiance against the Lord. Thus, he “blasphemes” the Lord and has “despised” his word, for which he should be “cut off from among his people” (Num 15:30-31). One could not bring an offering for such a sin. The expression here in Lev 4:2 combines “by straying” with the preposition “from” which fits naturally with “straying” (i.e., “straying from” the Lord’s commandments). For sins committed “by straying” from the commandments (Lev 4 throughout) or other types of transgressions (Lev 5:1-6) there was indeed forgiveness available through the sin offering. See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:94-95.

[4:2]  ² tn This is an emphatic use of the preposition מִן (min; see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 56-57, §325).

[4:2]  ³ tn The “when” clause (כִּי, ki) breaks off here before its resolution, thus creating an open-ended introduction to the following subsections, which are introduced by “if” (אִם [’im] vv. 3, 13, 27, 32). Also, the last part of the verse reads literally, “which must not be done and does from one from them.”

[4:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “an individual from the people of the land”; cf. NASB “anyone of the common people” (KJV, ASV both similar); NAB “a private person.”

[4:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “If one person sins by straying, from the people of the land.” See Lev 4:2 for a note on “straying.”

[4:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “by doing it, one from the commandments of the Lord which must not be done.”

[5:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “or if he touches uncleanness of mankind to any of his uncleanness which he becomes unclean in it.”

[10:16]  ⁸ sn This is the very same male goat offered in Lev 9:15 (cf. the note on Lev 10:1 above).

[10:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “but behold, it had been burnt” (KJV and NASB both similar).

[13:36]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and behold.”

[13:36]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the priest shall not search to the reddish yellow hair.”

[13:36]  ¹² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the affected person) is specified in the translation for clarity (likewise in the following verse).

[14:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “do [or “make”] the sin offering.”

[14:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “And after[ward] he [i.e., the offerer] shall slaughter.” The LXX adds “the priest” as the subject of the verb (as do several English versions, e.g., NAB, NIV, NCV, NLT), but the offerer is normally the one who does the actually slaughtering of the sacrificial animal (cf. the notes on Lev 1:5a, 6a, and 9a).

[15:15]  ¹⁵ sn See the note on Lev 4:3 regarding the term “sin offering.”

[15:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and the priest shall make them one a sin offering and the one a burnt offering.” See the note on Lev 1:3 regarding the “burnt offering.”

[15:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “And the priest.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

[15:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “from”; see the note on 4:26.

[15:27]  ¹⁹ tn See the note on v. 5 above.

[15:30]  ²⁰ tn Heb “And the priest shall make the one a sin offering and the one a burnt offering.”

[15:30]  ²¹ tn Heb “And the priest.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

[15:31]  ²² tn Heb “And you shall.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV).

[15:31]  ²³ tn Heb “and they.” Here the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) indicates a negative purpose (“lest,” so NAB, NASB).

[15:33]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and the one with a discharge, his discharge to the male and the female.”

[15:33]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and for a man.”

[16:13]  ²⁶ tn The text here has only “above the testimony,” but this is surely a shortened form of “above the ark of the testimony” (see Exod 25:22 etc.; cf. Lev 16:2). The term “testimony” in this expression refers to the ark as the container of the two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments written on them (see Exod 25:16 with Deut 10:1, 5, etc.).

[16:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and he will not die,” but it is clear that the purpose for the incense cloud was to protect the priest from death in the presence of the Lord (cf. vv. 1-2 above).

[17:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “sacrifice.” This has been translated as “offer” for stylistic reasons to avoid the redundancy of “sacrifice their sacrifices.”

[17:7]  ²⁹ tn On “goat demons” of the desert regions see the note on Lev 16:8.

[17:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “which they are committing harlotry after them.”

[17:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “for your generations.”

[18:26]  ³² tn Heb “And you shall keep, you.” The latter emphatic personal pronoun “you” is left out of a few medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate.

[18:26]  ³³ tn Heb “the native and the sojourner”; NIV “The native-born and the aliens”; NAB “whether natives or resident aliens.”

[19:14]  ³⁴ tn Heb “You shall not curse a deaf [person] and before a blind [person] you shall not put a stumbling block.”

[19:14]  ³⁵ tn Heb “And you shall fear.” Many English versions (e.g., KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV) regard the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) as adversative in force here (“but”).

[20:5]  ³⁶ tn The adjective “spiritual” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that this is not a reference to literal prostitution, but figuratively compares idolatry to prostitution.

[20:5]  ³⁷ tn Heb “to commit harlotry after Molech.” The translation employs “worshiping” here for clarity (cf. NAB, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT). On the “cut off” penalty see the note on Lev 7:20.

[20:10]  ³⁸ tn Heb “And a man who.” The syntax here and at the beginning of the following verses elliptically mirrors that of v. 9, which justifies the rendering as a conditional clause.

[20:10]  ³⁹ tc The reading of the LXX minuscule mss has been followed here (see the BHS footnote a-a). The MT has a dittography, repeating “a man who commits adultery with the wife of” (see the explanation in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 328). The duplication found in the MT is reflected in some English versions, e.g., KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV.

[22:11]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and a priest, if he buys a person, the property of his silver.”

[22:11]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the person whom the priest has purchased) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:11]  ⁴² tn Heb “eat it”; the referent (the holy offerings) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:11]  ⁴³ tn Heb “his”; the referent (the priest) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:11]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and the [slave] born of his house, they shall eat in his food.” The LXX, Syriac, Tg. Onq., Tg. Ps.-J., and some mss of Smr have plural “ones born,” which matches the following plural “they” pronoun and the plural form of the verb.

[22:14]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “And a man, if he eats a holy thing in error” (see the Lev 4:2 not on “straying,” which is the term rendered “by mistake” here).

[22:14]  ⁴⁶ sn When a person trespassed in regard to something sacred to the Lord, reparation was to be made for the trespass, involving restitution of that which was violated plus one fifth of its value as a fine. It is possible that the restoration of the offering and the additional one fifth of its value were made as a monetary payment (see, e.g., B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 150). See the regulations for the “guilt offering” in Lev 5:16; 6:5 [5:24 HT] and the notes there.

[25:5]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “consecrated, devoted, forbidden” (נָזִיר, nazir). The same term is used for the “consecration” of the “Nazirite” (and his hair, Num 6:2, 18, etc.), a designation which, in turn, derives from the very same root.

[25:11]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “you shall not sow and you shall not…and you shall not….”

[25:11]  sn See v. 5 above and the notes there.

[25:14]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “sell a sale.”

[25:14]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “to one of your countrymen” (NIV); NASB “to your friend.”

[25:14]  ⁵¹ tn The Hebrew infinitive absolute קָנֹה (qanoh, “buying”) substitutes for the finite verb here in sequence with the previous finite verb “sell” at the beginning of the verse (see GKC 345 §113.z).

[25:14]  ⁵² tn Heb “do not oppress a man his brother.” Here “brother” does not refer only to a sibling, but to a fellow Israelite.

[26:21]  ⁵³ tn Heb “hostile with me,” but see the added preposition בְּ (bet) on the phrase “in hostility” in v. 24 and 27.

[26:21]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “your blow, stroke”; cf. TEV “punishment”; NLT “I will inflict you with seven more disasters.”

[26:40]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “And.” Many English versions take this to be a conditional clause (“if…”) though there is no conditional particle (see, e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV; but see the very different rendering in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 190). The temporal translation offered here (“when”) takes into account the particle אָז (’az, “then”), which occurs twice in v. 41. The obvious contextual contrast between vv. 39 and 40 is expressed by “however” in the translation.

[26:40]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “in their trespassing which they trespassed in me.” See the note on Lev 5:15, although the term is used in a more technical sense there in relation to the “guilt offering.”

[26:40]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “and also which they walked.”

[26:40]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “with me.”

[27:9]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “which they may present from it an offering.” The plural active verb is sometimes best rendered in the passive (GKC 460 §144.f, g). Some medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, a ms of the Targum, and the Vulgate all have the singular verb instead (cf. similarly v. 11).

[27:9]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “from it.” The masculine suffix “it” here is used for the feminine in the MT, but one medieval Hebrew ms, some mss of Smr, the LXX, and the Syriac have the feminine. The referent (this kind of animal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:26]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “to the Lord it is.”