Imamat 1:9

1:9 Finally, the one presenting the offering ¹  must wash its entrails and its legs in water and the priest must offer all of it up in smoke on the altar ²  – it is ³  a burnt offering, a gift ⁴  of a soothing aroma to the Lord.

Imamat 1:13

1:13 Then the one presenting the offering must wash the entrails and the legs in water, and the priest must present all of it and offer it up in smoke on the altar – it is a burnt offering, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord.

Imamat 2:11

Additional Grain Offering Regulations

2:11 “‘No grain offering which you present to the Lord can be made with yeast, ⁵  for you must not offer up in smoke any yeast or honey as a gift to the Lord. ⁶ 

Imamat 3:3

3:3 Then the one presenting the offering ⁷  must present a gift to the Lord from the peace offering sacrifice: He must remove the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that surrounds the entrails, ⁸ 

Imamat 3:5

3:5 Then the sons of Aaron must offer it up in smoke on the altar atop the burnt offering that is on the wood in the fire as a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord. ⁹ 

Imamat 3:14

3:14 Then he must present from it his offering as a gift to the Lord: the fat which covers the entrails and all the fat on the entrails, ¹⁰ 

Imamat 7:25

7:25 If anyone eats fat from the animal from which he presents a gift to the Lord, that person will be cut off from his people. ¹¹ 

Imamat 8:28

8:28 Moses then took them from their palms and offered them up in smoke on the altar ¹²  on top of the burnt offering – they were an ordination offering for a soothing aroma; it was a gift to the Lord.

Imamat 12:2

12:2 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When a woman produces offspring ¹³  and bears a male child, ¹⁴  she will be unclean seven days, as she is unclean during the days of her menstruation. ¹⁵ 

Imamat 20:13-14

20:13 If a man has sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman, ¹⁶  the two of them have committed an abomination. They must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves. 20:14 If a man has sexual intercourse with both a woman and her mother, ¹⁷  it is lewdness. ¹⁸  Both he and they must be burned to death, ¹⁹  so there is no lewdness in your midst.

Imamat 20:27

Prohibition against Spiritists and Mediums

20:27 “‘A man or woman who ²⁰  has in them a spirit of the dead or a familiar spirit ²¹  must be put to death. They must pelt them with stones; ²²  their blood guilt is on themselves.’”

Imamat 21:7

21:7 They must not take a wife defiled by prostitution, ²³  nor are they to take a wife divorced from her husband, ²⁴  for the priest ²⁵  is holy to his God. ²⁶ 

Imamat 21:14

21:14 He must not marry ²⁷  a widow, a divorced woman, or one profaned by prostitution; he may only take a virgin from his people ²⁸  as a wife.

Imamat 23:8

23:8 You must present a gift to the Lord for seven days, and the seventh day is a holy assembly; you must not do any regular work.’”

Imamat 23:13

23:13 along with its grain offering, two tenths of an ephah of ²⁹  choice wheat flour ³⁰  mixed with olive oil, as a gift to the Lord, a soothing aroma, ³¹  and its drink offering, one fourth of a hin of wine. ³² 

Imamat 23:27

23:27 “The ³³  tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. ³⁴  It is to be a holy assembly for you, and you must humble yourselves ³⁵  and present a gift to the Lord.

Imamat 23:37

23:37 “‘These are the appointed times of the Lord that you must proclaim as holy assemblies to present a gift to the Lord – burnt offering, grain offering, sacrifice, and drink offerings, ³⁶  each day according to its regulation, ³⁷ 

Imamat 24:10

A Case of Blaspheming the Name

24:10 Now ³⁸  an Israelite woman’s son whose father was an Egyptian went out among the Israelites, and the Israelite woman’s son and an Israelite man ³⁹  had a fight in the camp.

[1:9]  ¹ tn Heb “Finally, he”; the referent (the offerer) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Once again, the MT assigns the preparation of the offering (here the entrails and legs) to the offerer because it did not bring him into direct contact with the altar, but reserves the actual placing of the sacrifice on the altar for the officiating priest (cf. the notes on vv. 5a and 6a).

[1:9]  ² tn Heb “toward the altar,” but the so-called locative ה (hey) attached to the word for “altar” can indicate the place where something is or happens (GKC 250 §90.d and GKC 373-74 §118.g; cf. also J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:161). This is a standard way of expressing “on/at the altar” with the verb “to offer up in smoke” (Hiphil of קָטַר [qatar]; cf. also Exod 29:13, 18, 25; Lev 1:9, 13, 15, 17; 2:2, etc.).

[1:9]  ³ tc A few Hebrew mss and possibly the Leningrad B19a ms itself (the basis of the BHS Hebrew text of the MT), under an apparent erasure, plus Smr, LXX, Syriac, and Tg. Ps.-J. suggest that Hebrew הוּא (hu’, translated as “it is”) should be added here as in vv. 13 and 17. Whether or not the text should be changed, the meaning is the same as in vv. 13 and 17, so it has been included in the translation here.

[1:9]  ⁴ sn The standard English translation of “gift” (אִשֶּׁה, ’isheh) is “an offering [made] by fire” (cf. KJV, ASV). It is based on a supposed etymological relationship to the Hebrew word for “fire” (אֵשׁ, ’esh) and is still maintained in many versions (e.g., NIV, RSV, NRSV, NLT; B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 7-8). For various reasons, including the fact that some offerings referred to by this term are not burned on the altar (see, e.g., Lev 24:9), it is probably better to understand the term to mean “gift” (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 22) or “food gift” (“food offering” in NEB and TEV; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:161-62). See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:540-49 for a complete discussion.

[2:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “Every grain offering which you offer to the Lord must not be made leavened.” The noun “leaven” is traditional in English versions (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV), but “yeast” is more commonly used today.

[2:11]  ⁶ tc A few Hebrew mss, Smr, LXX, and Tg. Ps.-J. have the verb “present” rather than “offer up in smoke,” but the MT is clearly correct. One could indeed present leavened and honey sweetened offerings as first fruit offerings, which were not burned on the altar (see v. 12 and the note there), but they could not be offered up in fire on the altar. Cf. the TEV’s ambiguous “you must never use yeast or honey in food offered to the Lord.”

[2:11]  tn Heb “for all leaven and all honey you must not offer up in smoke from it a gift to the Lord.”

[3:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “Then he”; the referent (the person presenting the offering) has been specified in the translation for clarity (cf. the note on Lev 1:5).

[3:3]  ⁸ 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).

[3:5]  ⁹ tn Or “on the fire – [it is] a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord” (see Lev 1:13b, 17b, and the note on 1:9b).

[3:14]  ¹⁰ sn See the note on this phrase in 3:3.

[7:25]  ¹¹ sn See the note on Lev 7:20.

[8:28]  ¹² tn Heb “toward the altar” (see the note on Lev 1:9).

[12:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “produces seed” (Hiphil of זָרַע, zara’; used only elsewhere in Gen 1:11-12 for plants “producing” their own “seed”), referring to the process of childbearing as a whole, from conception to the time of birth (H. D. Preuss, TDOT 4:144; cf. J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 164-65; and J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:742-43). Smr and LXX have Niphal “be impregnated” (see, e.g., Num 5:28); note KJV “If a woman have conceived seed” (cf. ASV, NAB, NRSV; also NIV, NLT “becomes pregnant”).

[12:2]  ¹⁴ sn The regulations for the “male child” in vv. 2-4 contrast with those for the “female child” in v. 5 (see the note there).

[12:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “as the days of the menstrual flow [nom.] of her menstruating [q. inf.] she shall be unclean” (R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:925-26; the verb appears only in this verse in the OT). Cf. NASB “as in the days of her menstruation”; NLT “during her menstrual period”; NIV “during her monthly period.”

[12:2]  sn See Lev 15:19-24 for the standard purity regulations for a woman’s menstrual period.

[20:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “[as the] lyings of a woman.” The specific reference here is to homosexual intercourse between males.

[20:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “And a man who takes a woman and her mother.” The Hebrew verb “to take” in this context means “to engage in sexual intercourse.”

[20:14]  ¹⁸ tn Regarding “lewdness,” see the note on Lev 18:17 above.

[20:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in fire they shall burn him and them.” The active plural verb sometimes requires a passive translation (GKC 460 §144.f, g), esp. when no active plural subject has been expressed in the context. The present translation specifies “burned to death” because the traditional rendering “burnt with fire” (KJV, ASV; NASB “burned with fire”) could be understood to mean “branded” or otherwise burned, but not fatally.

[20:27]  ²⁰ tc Smr, LXX, Syriac, and some Targum mss have the relative pronoun אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “who, which”), rather than the MT’s כִּי (ki, “for, because, that”).

[20:27]  ²¹ tn See the note on the phrase “familiar spirit” in Lev 19:31 above.

[20:27]  ²² tn This is not the most frequently-used Hebrew verb for stoning, but a word that refers to the action of throwing, slinging, or pelting someone with stones (see the note on v. 2 above). Smr and LXX have “you [plural] shall pelt them with stones.”

[20:27]  sn At first glance Lev 20:27 appears to be out of place but, on closer examination, one could argue that it constitutes the back side of an envelope around the case laws in 20:9-21, with Lev 20:6 forming the front of the envelope (note also that execution of mediums and spiritists by stoning in v. 27 is not explicitly stated in v. 6). This creates a chiastic structure: prohibition against mediums and spiritists (vv. 6 and 27), variations of the holiness formula (vv. 7 and 25-26), and exhortations to obey the Lord’s statutes (and judgments; vv. 8 and 22-24). Again, in the middle are the case laws (vv. 9-21).

[21:7]  ²³ tn Heb “A wife harlot and profaned they shall not take.” The structure of the verse (e.g., “wife” at the beginning of the two main clauses) suggests that “harlot and profaned” constitutes a hendiadys, meaning “a wife defiled by harlotry” (see the explanation in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 143, as opposed to that in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 343, 348; cf. v. 14 below). Cf. NASB “a woman who is profaned by harlotry.”

[21:7]  ²⁴ sn For a helpful discussion of divorce in general and as it relates to this passage see B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 143-44.

[21:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the priest) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:7]  ²⁶ tn The pronoun “he” in this clause refers to the priest, not the former husband of the divorced woman.

[21:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “take.” In context this means “take as wife,” i.e., “marry.”

[21:14]  ²⁸ tc The MT has literally, “from his peoples,” but Smr, LXX, Syriac, Targum, and Tg. Ps.-J. have “from his people,” referring to the Israelites as a whole.

[23:13]  ²⁹ sn See the note on Lev 5:11.

[23:13]  ³⁰ sn See the note on Lev 2:1.

[23:13]  ³¹ sn See the note on Lev 1:9.

[23:13]  ³² tn Heb “wine, one fourth of the hin.” A pre-exilic hin is about 3.6 liters (= ca. 1 quart), so one fourth of a hin would be about one cup.

[23:27]  ³³ tn Heb “Surely the tenth day” or perhaps “Precisely the tenth day.” The Hebrew adverbial particle אַךְ (’akh) is left untranslated by most recent English versions; cf. however NASB “On exactly the tenth day.”

[23:27]  ³⁴ sn See the description of this day and its regulations in Lev 16 and the notes there.

[23:27]  ³⁵ tn Heb “you shall humble your souls.” See the note on Lev 16:29 above.

[23:37]  ³⁶ tn The LXX has “[their] burnt offerings, and their sacrifices, and their drink offerings.”

[23:37]  ³⁷ tn Heb “a matter of a day in its day”; NAB “as prescribed for each day”; NRSV, NLT “each on its proper day.”

[24:10]  ³⁸ tn Heb “And.”

[24:10]  ³⁹ tn Heb “the Israelite man,” but Smr has no article, and the point is that there was a conflict between the man of mixed background and a man of full Israelite descent.