Imamat 14:36

14:36 Then the priest will command that the house be cleared ¹  before the priest enters to examine the infection ²  so that everything in the house ³  does not become unclean, ⁴  and afterward ⁵  the priest will enter to examine the house.

Imamat 22:21

22:21 If a man presents a peace offering sacrifice to the Lord for a special votive offering ⁶  or for a freewill offering from the herd or the flock, it must be flawless to be acceptable; ⁷  it must have no flaw. ⁸ 

[14:36]  ¹ tn Heb “And the priest shall command and they shall clear the house.” The second verb (“and they shall clear”) states the thrust of the priest’s command, which suggests the translation “that they clear” (cf. also vv. 4a and 5a above), and for the impersonal passive rendering of the active verb (“that the house be cleared”) see the note on v. 4 above.

[14:36]  ² tn Heb “to see the infection”; KJV “to see the plague”; NASB “to look at the mark (mildew NCV).”

[14:36]  ³ tn Heb “all which [is] in the house.”

[14:36]  ⁴ sn Once the priest pronounced the house “unclean” everything in it was also officially unclean. Therefore, if they emptied the house of its furniture, etc. before the official pronouncement by the priest those possessions would thereby remain officially “clean” and avoid destruction or purification procedures.

[14:36]  ⁵ tn Heb “and after thus.”

[22:21]  ⁶ tn The meaning of the expression לְפַלֵּא־נֶדֶר (lÿfalle’-neder) rendered here “for a special votive offering” is much debated. Some take it as an expression for fulfilling a vow, “to fulfill a vow” (e.g., HALOT 927-28 s.v. פלא piel and NASB; cf. NAB, NRSV “in fulfillment of a vow”) or, alternatively, “to make a vow” or “for making a vow” (HALOT 928 s.v. פלא piel [II פלא]). Perhaps it refers to the making a special vow, from the verb פָלַא (pala’, “to be wonderful, to be remarkable”); cf. J. Milgrom, Numbers (JPSTC), 44. B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 151 and 193, suggests that this is a special term for “setting aside a votive offering” (related to פָלָה [palah, “to set aside”]). In general, the point of the expression seems to be that this sacrifice arises as a special gift to God out of special circumstances in the life of the worshiper.

[22:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “for acceptance”; NAB “if it is to find acceptance.”

[22:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “all/any flaw shall not be in it.”