Imamat 17:11
Konteks17:11 for the life of every living thing 1 is in the blood. 2 So I myself have assigned it to you 3 on the altar to make atonement for your lives, for the blood makes atonement by means of the life. 4
Imamat 3:17
Konteks3:17 This is 5 a perpetual statute throughout your generations 6 in all the places where you live: You must never eat any fat or any blood.’” 7
Imamat 7:26-27
Konteks7:26 And you must not eat any blood of the birds or the domesticated land animals in any of the places where you live. 8 7:27 Any person who eats any blood – that person will be cut off from his people.’” 9
Imamat 19:26
Konteks19:26 “‘You must not eat anything with the blood still in it. 10 You must not practice either divination or soothsaying. 11
[17:11] 1 tn Heb “the life of the flesh.” Here “flesh” stands for “every living thing,” that is, all creatures (cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT “every creature”; CEV “every living creature.”
[17:11] 2 tn Heb “for the soul/life (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh) of the flesh, it is in the blood” (cf. the note of v. 10 above and v. 14 below). Although most modern English versions begin a new sentence in v. 11, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood” (see, e.g., NJPS, NASB, NIV, NRSV), the כִּי (ki, “for, because”) at the beginning of the verse suggests continuation from v. 10, as the rendering here indicates (see, e.g., NEB, NLT; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 261; and G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 239).
[17:11] sn This verse is a well-known crux interpretum for blood atonement in the Bible. The close association between the blood and “the soul/life [נֶפֶשׁ] of the flesh [בָּשָׂר, basar]” (v. 11a) begins in Gen 9:2-5 (if not Gen 4:10-11), where the
[17:11] 3 tn Heb “And I myself have given it to you.”
[17:11] 4 tn Heb “for the blood, it by (בְּ, bet preposition, “in”] the life makes atonement.” The interpretation of the preposition is pivotal here. Some scholars have argued that it is a bet of exchange; that is, “the blood makes atonement in exchange for the life [of the slaughtered animal]” (see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:694-95, 697 for analysis and criticism of this view). It is more likely that, as in the previous clause (“your lives”), “life/soul” (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh) here refers to the person who makes the offering, not the animal offered. The blood of the animal makes atonement for the person who offers it either “by means of” (instrumental bet) the “life/soul” of the animal, which it symbolizes or embodies (the meaning of the translation given here); or perhaps the blood of the animal functions as “the price” (bet of price) for ransoming the “life/soul” of the person.
[3:17] 5 tn The words “This is” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied due to requirements of English style.
[3:17] 6 tn Heb “for your generations”; NAB “for your descendants”; NLT “for you and all your descendants.”
[3:17] 7 tn Heb “all fat and all blood you must not eat.”
[7:26] 8 tn Heb “and any blood you must not eat in any of your dwelling places, to the bird and to the animal.”
[7:27] 9 sn See the note on Lev 7:20.
[19:26] 10 tn Heb “You shall not eat on the blood.” See the extensive remarks in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 319-20, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 132-33. The LXX has “on the mountains,” suggesting that this is a prohibition against illegitimate places and occasions of worship, not the eating of blood.
[19:26] 11 tn Heb “You shall not practice divination and you shall not practice soothsaying”; cf. NRSV “practice augury or witchcraft.” For suggestions regarding the practices involved see B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 133, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 320.