Imamat 2:3

2:3 The remainder of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and to his sons ¹  – it is ²  most holy ³  from the gifts of the Lord.

Imamat 2:10

2:10 The remainder of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and to his sons – it is ⁴  most holy from the gifts of the Lord.

Imamat 6:17

6:17 It must not be baked with yeast. ⁵  I have given it as their portion from my gifts. It is most holy, ⁶  like the sin offering and the guilt offering.

Imamat 6:29

6:29 Any male among the priests may eat it. It is most holy. ⁷ 

Imamat 7:16

7:16 “‘If his offering is a votive or freewill sacrifice, ⁸  it may be eaten on the day he presents his sacrifice, and also the leftovers from it may be eaten on the next day, ⁹ 

Imamat 10:17-18

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, ¹⁰  to make atonement on their behalf before the Lord. 10:18 See here! ¹¹  Its blood was not brought into the holy place within! ¹²  You should certainly have eaten it in the sanctuary just as I commanded!”

Imamat 22:2-3

22:2 “Tell Aaron and his sons that they must deal respectfully with the holy offerings ¹³  of the Israelites, which they consecrate to me, so that they do not profane my holy name. ¹⁴  I am the Lord. 22:3 Say to them, ‘Throughout your generations, ¹⁵  if any man from all your descendants approaches the holy offerings which the Israelites consecrate ¹⁶  to the Lord while he is impure, ¹⁷  that person must be cut off from before me. ¹⁸  I am the Lord.

Imamat 22:10

22:10 “‘No lay person ¹⁹  may eat anything holy. Neither a priest’s lodger ²⁰  nor a hired laborer may eat anything holy,

Imamat 22:14-16

22:14 “‘If a man eats a holy offering by mistake, ²¹  he must add one fifth to it and give the holy offering to the priest. ²²  22:15 They ²³  must not profane the holy offerings which the Israelites contribute ²⁴  to the Lord, ²⁵  22:16 and so cause them to incur a penalty for guilt ²⁶  when they eat their holy offerings, ²⁷  for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’”

Bilangan 18:9-11

18:9 Of all the most holy offerings reserved ²⁸  from the fire this will be yours: Every offering of theirs, whether from every grain offering or from every purification offering or from every reparation offering which they bring to me, will be most holy for you and for your sons. 18:10 You are to eat it as a most holy offering; every male may eat it. It will be holy to you.

18:11 “And this is yours: the raised offering of their gift, along with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual ordinance. Everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.

Bilangan 18:19

18:19 All the raised offerings of the holy things that the Israelites offer to the Lord, I have given to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual ordinance. It is a covenant of salt ²⁹  forever before the Lord for you and for your descendants with you.”

Bilangan 18:32

18:32 And you will bear no sin concerning it when you offer up the best of it. And you must not profane the holy things of the Israelites, or else you will die.’” ³⁰ 

[2:3]  ¹ tn Heb “…is to Aaron and to his sons.” The preposition “to” (לְ, lamed) indicates ownership. Cf. NAB, NASB, NIV and other English versions.

[2:3]  ² tn The words “it is” (הוּא, hu’) are not in the MT, but are supplied for the sake of translation into English. The Syriac also for translational reasons adds it between “most holy” and “from the gifts” (cf. 1:13, 17).

[2:3]  ³ tn Heb “holy of holies”; KJV, NASB “a thing most holy.”

[2:10]  ⁴ tn See the note on “it is” in v. 9b.

[6:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “It must not be baked leavened” (cf. Lev 2:11). The noun “leaven” is traditional in English versions (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV), but “yeast” is more commonly used today.

[6:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “holiness of holinesses [or holy of holies] it is”; cf. NAB “most sacred.”

[6:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “holiness of holinesses [or holy of holies] it is” (also in 7:1).

[7:16]  ⁸ tn For the distinction between votive and freewill offerings see the note on Lev 22:23 and the literature cited there.

[7:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “and on the next day and the left over from it shall be eaten.”

[10:17]  ¹⁰ 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).

[10:18]  ¹¹ tn Or “Behold!” (so KJV, ASV, NASB).

[10:18]  ¹² sn The term here rendered “within” refers to the bringing of the blood inside the holy place for application to the altar of incense rather than to the altar of burnt offering in the courtyard of the tabernacle (cf. Lev 4:7, 16-18; 6:30 [23 HT]).

[22:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “holy things,” which means the “holy offerings” in this context, as the following verses show. The referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from the holy things of the sons of Israel, and they shall not profane my holy name, which they are consecrating to me.” The latter (relative) clause applies to the “the holy things of the sons of Israel” (the first clause), not the Lord’s name (i.e., the immediately preceding clause). The clause order in the translation has been rearranged to indicate this.

[22:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “To your generations.”

[22:3]  ¹⁶ tn The Piel (v. 2) and Hiphil (v. 3) forms of the verb קָדַשׁ (qadash) appear to be interchangeable in this context. Both mean “to consecrate” (Heb “make holy [or “sacred”]”).

[22:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and his impurity [is] on him”; NIV “is ceremonially unclean”; NAB, NRSV “while he is in a state of uncleanness.”

[22:3]  ¹⁸ sn Regarding the “cut off” penalty, see the note on Lev 7:20. Cf. the interpretive translation of TEV “he can never again serve at the altar.”

[22:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “No stranger” (so KJV, ASV), which refers here to anyone other than the Aaronic priests. Some English versions reverse the negation and state positively: NIV “No one outside a priest’s family”; NRSV “Only a member of a priestly family”; CEV “Only you priests and your families.”

[22:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “A resident [תּוֹשָׁב (toshav) from יָשַׁב (yashav, “to dwell, to reside”)] of a priest.” The meaning of the term is uncertain. It could refer to a “guest” (NIV) or perhaps “bound servant” (NRSV; see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 149). In the translation “lodger” was used instead of “boarder” precisely because a boarder would be provided meals with his lodging, the very issue at stake here.

[22:14]  ²¹ 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]  ²² 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.

[22:15]  ²³ tn Contextually, “They” could refer either to the people (v. 14a; cf. NRSV “No one”) or the priests (v. 14b; cf. NIV “The priests”), but the latter seems more likely (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 356, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 150). The priests were responsible to see that the portions of the offerings that were to be consumed by the priests as prebends did not become accessible to the people. Mistakes in this matter (cf. v. 14) would bring “guilt” on the people, requiring punishment (v. 16).

[22:15]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew verb הֵרִים (herim, rendered “contribute” here) is commonly used for setting aside portions of an offering (see, e.g., Lev 4:8-10 and R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 4:335-36).

[22:15]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the holy offerings of the sons of Israel which they contribute to the Lord.” The subject “they” here refers to the Israelites (“the sons of Israel”) which is the most immediate antecedent. To make this clear, the present translation has “the holy offerings which the Israelites contribute to the Lord.”

[22:16]  ²⁶ tn Heb “iniquity of guilt”; NASB “cause them to bear punishment for guilt.” The Hebrew word עָוֹן (’avon, “iniquity”) can designate either acts of iniquity or the penalty (i.e., punishment) for such acts.

[22:16]  ²⁷ sn That is, when the lay people eat portions of offerings that should have been eaten only by priests and those who belonged to priestly households.

[18:9]  ²⁸ tn Heb “from the fire.” It probably refers to those parts that were not burned.

[18:19]  ²⁹ sn Salt was used in all the offerings; its importance as a preservative made it a natural symbol for the covenant which was established by sacrifice. Even general agreements were attested by sacrifice, and the phrase “covenant of salt” speaks of such agreements as binding and irrevocable. Note the expression in Ezra 4:14, “we have been salted with the salt of the palace.” See further J. F. Ross, IDB 4:167.

[18:32]  ³⁰ tn The final clause could also be rendered “in order that you do not die.” The larger section can also be interpreted differently; rather than take it as a warning, it could be taken as an assurance that when they do all of this they will not be profaning it and so will not die (R. K. Harrison, Numbers [WEC], 253).