Imamat 1:4

1:4 He must lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted for him to make atonement ¹  on his behalf.

Imamat 1:8

1:8 Then the sons of Aaron, the priests, must arrange the parts with the head and the suet ²  on the wood that is in the fire on the altar. ³ 

Imamat 1:10

Animal from the Flock

1:10 “‘If his offering is from the flock for a burnt offering ⁴  – from the sheep or the goats – he must present a flawless male,

Imamat 1:14

From the Birds

1:14 “‘If his offering to the Lord is a burnt offering from the birds, ⁵  he must present his offering from the turtledoves or from the young pigeons. ⁶ 

Imamat 4:8

4:8 “‘Then he must take up all the fat from the sin offering bull: ⁷  the fat covering the entrails ⁸  and all the fat surrounding the entrails, ⁹ 

Imamat 4:23

4:23 or his sin that he committed ¹⁰  is made known to him, ¹¹  he must bring a flawless male goat as his offering. ¹² 

Imamat 4:32

4:32 “‘But if he brings a sheep as his offering, for a sin offering, he must bring a flawless female.

Imamat 6:14

The Grain Offering of the Common Person

6:14 “‘This is the law of the grain offering. The sons of Aaron are to present it ¹³  before the Lord in front of the altar,

Imamat 7:3

7:3 Then the one making the offering ¹⁴  must present all its fat: the fatty tail, the fat covering the entrails,

Imamat 7:5

7:5 Then the priest must offer them up in smoke on the altar ¹⁵  as a gift to the Lord. It is a guilt offering.

Imamat 7:29

7:29 “Tell the Israelites, ‘The one who presents his peace offering sacrifice to the Lord must bring his offering to the Lord from his peace offering sacrifice.

Imamat 13:19

13:19 and in the place of the boil there is a white swelling or a reddish white bright spot, he must show himself to the priest. ¹⁶ 

Imamat 13:43

13:43 The priest is to examine it, ¹⁷  and if ¹⁸  the swelling of the infection is reddish white in the back or front bald area like the appearance of a disease on the skin of the body, ¹⁹ 

Imamat 13:54

13:54 the priest is to command that they wash whatever has the infection and quarantine it for another seven days. ²⁰ 

Imamat 14:5

14:5 The priest will then command that one bird be slaughtered ²¹  into a clay vessel over fresh water. ²² 

Imamat 14:11

14:11 and the priest who pronounces him clean will have the man who is being cleansed stand along with these offerings ²³  before the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent.

Imamat 14:23

14:23 “On the eighth day he must bring them for his purification to the priest at the entrance ²⁴  of the Meeting Tent before the Lord,

Imamat 14:29

14:29 and the remainder of the olive oil that is in the hand ²⁵  of the priest he is to put ²⁶  on the head of the one being cleansed to make atonement for him before the Lord.

Imamat 14:35

14:35 then whoever owns the house ²⁷  must come and declare to the priest, ‘Something like an infection is visible to me in the house.’

Imamat 14:39

14:39 The priest must return on the seventh day and examine it, and if ²⁸  the infection has spread in the walls of the house,

Imamat 14:41

14:41 Then he is to have the house scraped ²⁹  all around on the inside, ³⁰  and the plaster ³¹  which is scraped off ³²  must be dumped outside the city ³³  into an unclean place.

Imamat 14:49

14:49 Then he ³⁴  is to take two birds, a piece of cedar wood, a scrap of crimson fabric, and some twigs of hyssop ³⁵  to decontaminate ³⁶  the house,

Imamat 15:16

15:16 “‘When a man has a seminal emission, ³⁷  he must bathe his whole body in water ³⁸  and be unclean until evening,

Imamat 15:21

15:21 Anyone who touches her bed must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

Imamat 16:5-6

16:5 He must also take ³⁹  two male goats ⁴⁰  from the congregation of the Israelites for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. 16:6 Then Aaron is to present the sin offering bull which is for himself and is to make atonement on behalf of himself and his household.

Imamat 16:8

16:8 and Aaron is to cast lots over the two goats, ⁴¹  one lot for the Lord and one lot for Azazel. ⁴² 

Imamat 16:31

16:31 It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must humble yourselves. ⁴³  It is a perpetual statute. ⁴⁴ 

Imamat 18:4

18:4 You must observe my regulations ⁴⁵  and you must be sure to walk in my statutes. ⁴⁶  I am the Lord your God.

Imamat 22:29

22:29 When you sacrifice a thanksgiving offering to the Lord, you must sacrifice it so that it is acceptable for your benefit. ⁴⁷ 

Imamat 23:16

23:16 You must count fifty days – until the day after the seventh Sabbath – and then ⁴⁸  you must present a new grain offering to the Lord.

Imamat 25:15

25:15 You may buy it from your fellow citizen according to the number of years since ⁴⁹  the last jubilee; he may sell it to you according to the years of produce that are left. ⁵⁰ 

Imamat 25:40

25:40 He must be with you as a hired worker, as a resident foreigner; ⁵¹  he must serve with you until the year of jubilee,

Imamat 25:51

25:51 If there are still many years, in keeping with them ⁵²  he must refund most of the cost of his purchase for his redemption,

Imamat 27:24

27:24 In the jubilee year the field will return to the one from whom he bought it, the one to whom it belongs as landed property.

Imamat 27:31

27:31 If a man redeems ⁵³  part of his tithe, however, he must add one fifth to it. ⁵⁴ 

[1:4]  ¹ tn “To make atonement” is the standard translation of the Hebrew term כִּפֶּר, (kipper); cf. however TEV “as a sacrifice to take away his sins” (CEV similar). The English word derives from a combination of “at” plus Middle English “one[ment],” referring primarily to reconciliation or reparation that is made in order to accomplish reconciliation. The primary meaning of the Hebrew verb, however, is “to wipe [something off (or on)]” (see esp. the goal of the sin offering, Lev 4, “to purge” the tabernacle from impurities), but in some cases it refers metaphorically to “wiping away” anything that might stand in the way of good relations by bringing a gift (see, e.g., Gen 32:20 [21 HT], “to appease; to pacify” as an illustration of this). The translation “make atonement” has been retained here because, ultimately, the goal of either purging or appeasing was to maintain a proper relationship between the Lord (who dwelt in the tabernacle) and Israelites in whose midst the tabernacle was pitched (see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:689-710 for a full discussion of the Hebrew word meaning “to make atonement” and its theological significance).

[1:8]  ² tc A few Hebrew mss, Smr, LXX, Syriac, and Tg. Onq. have the conjunction “and” before “the head,” which would suggest the rendering “and the head and the suet” rather than the rendering of the MT here, “with the head and the suet.”

[1:8]  sn “Suet” is the specific term used for the hard, fatty tissues found around the kidneys of sheep and cattle. A number of modern English versions have simplified this to “fat” (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[1:8]  ³ tn Heb “on the wood, which is on the fire, which is on the altar.” Cf. NIV “on the burning wood”; NLT “on the wood fire.”

[1:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “And if from the flock is his offering, from the sheep or from the goats, for a burnt offering.” Here “flock” specifies the broad category, with “sheep or goats” giving specific examples.

[1:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the [category] ‘bird.’”

[1:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “from the sons of the pigeon,” referring either to “young pigeons” (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NLT) or “various species of pigeon” (contrast J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:168, with J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 14).

[4:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “all the fat of the bull of the sin offering he shall take up from it.”

[4:8]  ⁸ tc The MT has here the preposition עַל (’al, “on, upon” [i.e., “which covers on the entrails,” as awkward in Hebrew as it is in English]), but Smr, LXX, Syriac, and Targums read אֶת (’et), which is what would be expected (i.e., “which covers the entrails”; cf. Lev 3:3, 9, 14). It may have been mistakenly inserted here under the influence of “on (עַל) the entrails” at the end of the verse.

[4:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “and all the fat on the entrails.” The fat layer that covers the entrails as a whole (i.e., “that covers the entrails”) is different from the fat that surrounds and adheres to the various organs (“on the entrails,” i.e., surrounding them; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:205-7).

[4:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “or his sin which he sinned in it is made known to him”; NAB “if he learns of the sin he committed.”

[4:23]  ¹¹ tn Lev 4:22b-23a is difficult. The present translation suggests that there are two possible legal situations envisioned, separated by the Hebrew אוֹ (’o, “or”) at the beginning of v. 23. Lev 4:22b refers to any case in which the leader readily admits his guilt (i.e., “pleads guilty”), whereas v. 23a refers to cases where the leader is convicted of his guilt by legal action (“his sin…is made known to him”). See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:95-96; Lev 4:27-28; and esp. the notes on Lev 5:1 below.

[4:23]  ¹² tn Heb “a he-goat of goats, a male without defect”; cf. NLT “with no physical defects.”

[6:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “offering it, the sons of Aaron.” The verb is a Hiphil infinitive absolute, which is used here in place of the finite verb as either a jussive (GKC 346 §113.cc, “let the sons of Aaron offer”) or more likely an injunctive in light of the verbs that follow (Joüon 2:430 §123.v, “the sons of Aaron shall/must offer”).

[7:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “then he.” This pronoun refers to the offerer, who was responsible for slaughtering the animal. Contrast v. 2 above and v. 5 below.

[7:5]  ¹⁵ tn See the note on Lev 1:9 above.

[13:19]  ¹⁶ tn Some English versions translate “it shall be shown to [or “be seen by”] the priest,” taking the infection to be the subject of the verb (e.g., KJV, NASB, RSV, NRSV). Based on the Hebrew grammar there is no way to be sure which is intended.

[13:43]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and the priest shall see it” (cf. KJV). The MT has “him/it” which some take to refer to the person as a whole (i.e., “him”; see, e.g., J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:770; NIV, NRSV, etc.), while others take it as a reference to the “infection” (נֶגַע, nega’) in v. 42 (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 172, 177). Smr has “her/it,” which would probably refer to “disease” (צָרַעַת, tsara’at) in v. 42. The general pattern in the chapter suggests that “it,” either the infection or the disease, is the object of the examination (see, e.g., v. 3 above and v. 50 below).

[13:43]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and behold.”

[13:43]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “like appearance of disease of skin of flesh.”

[13:54]  ²⁰ tn Heb “a second seven days.”

[14:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “And the priest shall command and he shall slaughter.” See the note on “be taken up” (v. 4).

[14:5]  ²² tn Heb “into a vessel of clay over living water.” The expression “living [i.e., ‘fresh’] water” (cf. Lev 14:50; 15:13; Num 19:17) refers to water that flows. It includes such water sources as artesian wells (Gen 26:19; Song of Songs 4:15), springs (Jer 2:13, as opposed to cisterns; cf. 17:13), and flowing streams (Zech 14:8). In other words, this is water that has not stood stagnant as, for example, in a sealed-off cistern.

[14:5]  sn Although there are those who argue that the water and the blood rites are separate (e.g., E. S. Gerstenberger, Leviticus [OTL], 175-76), it is usually agreed that v. 5b refers to the slaughtering of the bird in such a way that its blood runs into the bowl, which contained fresh water (see, e.g., N. H. Snaith, Leviticus and Numbers [NCBC], 74; G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 208; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:836-38; cf. esp. Lev 14:51b, “and dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and in the fresh water”). This mixture of blood and water was then to be sprinkled on the person being cleansed from the disease.

[14:11]  ²³ tn The MT here is awkward to translate into English. It reads literally, “and the priest who pronounces clean (Piel participle of טָהֵר, taher) shall cause to stand (Hiphil of עָמַד, ’amad) the man who is cleansing himself (Hitpael participle of טָהֵר) and them” (i.e., the offerings listed in v. 10; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity). Alternatively, the Piel of טָהֵר could be rendered “who performs the cleansing/purification” (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:827), perhaps even as a technical term for one who holds the office of “purification priest” (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 87). It is probably better, however, to retain the same meaning here as in v. 7 above (see the note there regarding the declarative Piel use of this verb).

[14:23]  ²⁴ tn Heb “to the doorway of”; KJV, ASV “unto the door of.”

[14:29]  ²⁵ tn Heb “on the hand.”

[14:29]  ²⁶ tn Heb “give.”

[14:35]  ²⁷ tn Heb “who to him the house.”

[14:39]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “If the mark has indeed spread.”

[14:41]  ²⁹ tn Or, according to the plurality of the verb in Smr, LXX, Syriac, and Targums, “Then the house shall be scraped” (cf. NAB, NLT, and the note on v. 40).

[14:41]  ³⁰ tn Heb “from house all around.”

[14:41]  ³¹ tn Heb “dust” (so KJV) or “rubble”; NIV “the material”; NLT “the scrapings.”

[14:41]  ³² tn Heb “which they have scraped off.” The MT term קִיר (qir, “wall” from קָצָה, qatsah, “to cut off”; BDB 892), the original Greek does not have this clause, Smr has הקיצו (with uncertain meaning), and the BHS editors and HALOT 1123-24 s.v. I קצע hif.a suggest emending the verb to הִקְצִעוּ (hiqtsi’u, see the same verb at the beginning of this verse; cf. some Greek mss, Syriac, and the Targums). The emendation seems reasonable and is accepted by many commentators, but the root קָצָה (qatsah, “to cut off”) does occur in the Bible (2 Kgs 10:32; Hab 2:10) and in postbiblical Hebrew (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 179, notes 41c and 43d; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:873; cf. also קָצַץ, qatsats, “to cut off”).

[14:41]  ³³ tn Heb “into from outside to the city.”

[14:49]  ³⁴ tn The pronoun “he” refers to the priest mentioned in the previous verse.

[14:49]  ³⁵ tn Regarding these ritual materials, see the note on v. 4 above.

[14:49]  ³⁶ tn Regarding the Piel of חָטָא (khata’, cf. v. 52) meaning to “decontaminate” or “perform a decontamination,” see the notes on Lev 8:15 and 9:15.

[14:49]  sn In Lev 8:15, for example, the “sin offering” is used to “decontaminate” the burnt offering altar. As argued above (see the note on v. 7 above), these ritual materials and the procedures performed with them do not constitute a “sin offering” (contrast vv. 19 and 31 above). In fact, no sin offering was required for the purification of a house.

[15:16]  ³⁷ tn Heb “And a man when a lying of seed goes out from him”; KJV, ASV “any man’s seed of copulation”; NIV, NRSV, TEV, NLT “an emission of semen.”

[15:16]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and he shall bathe all his flesh in water.”

[16:5]  ³⁹ tn Heb “And he shall take.”

[16:5]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “he-goats of goats”; CEV “two goats, both of them males.”

[16:8]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and Aaron shall give lots on the two he-goats.” See the note on Lev 8:8 for the priestly casting of lots in Israel and the explanation in B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 102, on Lev 16:8-9. J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:1019-20, suggests, however, that the expression here signifies that, the lots having been cast, the priest was to literally “place” (Heb “give”) the one marked “for the Lord” on the head of the goat to be sacrificed and the one marked “for Azazel” on the head of the one to be released in the wilderness in order to avoid confusing them later in the ritual sequence.

[16:8]  ⁴² tn The meaning of the Hebrew term עֲזָאזֵל (’aza’zel, four times in the OT, all of them in this chapter; vv. 8, 10 [2 times], and 26) is much debated. There are three or perhaps four major views (see the summaries and literature cited in J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:1020-21; B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 102; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 237-38; D. P. Wright, The Disposal of Impurity [SBLDS], 21-25; M. V. Van Pelt and W. C. Kaiser, NIDOTTE 3:362-63; and M. S. Moore, NIDOTTE 4:421-22). (1) Some derive the term from a combination of the Hebrew word עֵז (’ez, “goat”; i.e., the word for “goats” in v. 5) and אָזַל (’azal, “to go away”), meaning “the goat that departs” or “scapegoat” (cf., e.g., the LXX and KJV, NASB, NIV, NLT). This meaning suits the ritual practice of sending the so-called “scapegoat” away into the wilderness (vv. 10, 21-22, 26). Similarly, some derive the term from Arabic ’azala (“to banish, remove”), meaning “entire removal” as an abstract concept (see BDB 736 s.v. עֲזָאזֵל). (2) Some see the term as a description of the wilderness area to which the goat was dispatched, deriving it somehow from Arabic ’azazu (“rough ground”) or perhaps עָזָז, (’azaz, “to be strong, fierce”). (3) The most common view among scholars today is that it is the proper name of a particular demon (perhaps even the Devil himself) associated with the wilderness desert regions. Levine has proposed that it may perhaps derive from a reduplication of the ז (zayin) in עֵז combined with אֵל (’el, “mighty”), meaning “mighty goat.” The final consonantal form of עֲזָאזֵל would have resulted from the inversion of the א (aleph) with the second ז. He makes the point that the close association between עֵז and שְׂעִירִים (shÿ’irim), which seems to refer to “goat-demons” of the desert in Lev 17:7 (cf. Isa 13:21, etc.), should not be ignored in the derivation of Azazel, although the term ultimately became the name of “the demonic ruler of the wilderness.” The latter view is supported by the parallel between the one goat “for (לְ, lamed preposition) the Lord” and the one “for (לְ) Azazel” here in v. 8. The rendering as a proper name has been tentatively accepted here (cf. ASV, NAB, NRSV, TEV, CEV). Perhaps a play on words between the proper name and the term for “goat” has occurred so that the etymology has become obscure. Even if a demon or the demonic realm is the source for the name, however, there is no intention here of appeasing the demons. The goal is to remove the impurity and iniquity from the community in order to avoid offending the Lord and the repercussions of such (see esp. vv. 21-22 and cf. Lev 15:31).

[16:31]  ⁴³ tn See the note on v. 29 above.

[16:31]  ⁴⁴ tn Compare v. 29a above.

[18:4]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “My regulations you shall do”; KJV, NASB “my judgments”; NRSV “My ordinances”; NIV, TEV “my laws.”

[18:4]  sn The Hebrew term translated “regulation” (מִשְׁפָּט, mishpat) refers to the set of regulations about to be set forth in the following chapters (cf. Lev 19:37; 20:22; 25:18; 26:46). Note especially the thematic and formulaic relationships between the introduction here in Lev 18:1-5 and the paraenesis in Lev 20:22-26, both of which refer explicitly to the corrupt nations and the need to separate from them by keeping the Lord’s regulations.

[18:4]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and my statutes you shall keep [or “watch; guard”] to walk in them.”

[22:29]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “for your acceptance” (see the notes on Lev 1:3-4 and 22:19 above).

[23:16]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “and.” In the translation “then” is supplied to clarify the sequence.

[25:15]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “in the number of years after.”

[25:15]  ⁵⁰ tn The words “that are left” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[25:15]  sn The purchaser is actually buying only the crops that the land will produce until the next jubilee, since the land will revert to the original owner at that time. The purchaser, therefore, is not actually buying the land itself.

[25:40]  ⁵¹ tn See the note on Lev 25:6 above.

[25:51]  ⁵² tn Heb “to the mouth of them.”

[27:31]  ⁵³ tn Heb “And if redeeming [infinitive absolute] a man redeems [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.

[27:31]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “its one fifth on it.”