Imamat 1:3

Burnt Offering Regulations: Animal from the Herd

1:3 “‘If his offering is a burnt offering ¹  from the herd he must present it as a flawless male; he must present it at the entrance ²  of the Meeting Tent for its ³  acceptance before the Lord.

Imamat 2:5

2:5 If your offering is a grain offering made on the griddle, it must be choice wheat flour mixed with olive oil, unleavened.

Imamat 2:14

2:14 “‘If you present a grain offering of first ripe grain to the Lord, you must present your grain offering of first ripe grain as soft kernels roasted in fire – crushed bits of fresh grain. ⁴ 

Imamat 4:13

For the Whole Congregation

4:13 “‘If the whole congregation of Israel strays unintentionally ⁵  and the matter is not noticed by ⁶  the assembly, and they violate one of the Lord’s commandments, which must not be violated, ⁷  so they become guilty,

Imamat 4:27

For the Common Person

4:27 “‘If an ordinary individual ⁸  sins by straying unintentionally ⁹  when he violates one of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated, ¹⁰  and he pleads guilty

Imamat 5:1

Additional Sin Offering Regulations

5:1 “‘When a person sins ¹¹  in that he hears a public curse against one who fails to testify ¹²  and he is a witness (he either saw or knew what had happened ¹³ ) and he does not make it known, ¹⁴  then he will bear his punishment for iniquity. ¹⁵ 

Imamat 5:4

5:4 or when a person swears an oath, speaking thoughtlessly ¹⁶  with his lips, whether to do evil or to do good, with regard to anything which the individual might speak thoughtlessly in an oath, even if he did not realize it, but he himself has later come to know it and is guilty with regard to one of these oaths ¹⁷  –

Imamat 6:28

6:28 Any clay vessel it is boiled in must be broken, and if it was boiled in a bronze vessel, then that vessel ¹⁸  must be rubbed out and rinsed in water.

Imamat 7:16

7:16 “‘If his offering is a votive or freewill sacrifice, ¹⁹  it may be eaten on the day he presents his sacrifice, and also the leftovers from it may be eaten on the next day, ²⁰ 

Imamat 7:18

7:18 If some of the meat of his peace offering sacrifice is ever eaten on the third day it will not be accepted; it will not be accounted to the one who presented it, since it is spoiled, ²¹  and the person who eats from it will bear his punishment for iniquity. ²² 

Imamat 12:5

12:5 If she bears a female child, she will be impure fourteen days as during her menstrual flow, and she will remain sixty-six days in ²³  blood purity. ²⁴ 

Imamat 13:4

A Bright Spot on the Skin

13:4 “If ²⁵  it is a white bright spot on the skin of his body, but it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, ²⁶  and the hair has not turned white, then the priest is to quarantine the person with the infection for seven days. ²⁷ 

Imamat 13:12-13

13:12 If, however, the disease breaks out ²⁸  on the skin so that the disease covers all the skin of the person with the infection ²⁹  from his head to his feet, as far as the priest can see, ³⁰  13:13 the priest must then examine it, ³¹  and if ³²  the disease covers his whole body, he is to pronounce the person with the infection clean. ³³  He has turned all white, so he is clean. ³⁴ 

Imamat 13:27-28

13:27 The priest must then examine it on the seventh day, and if it is spreading further ³⁵  on the skin, then the priest is to pronounce him unclean. It is a diseased infection. ³⁶  13:28 But if the bright spot stays in its place, has not spread on the skin, ³⁷  and it has faded, then it is the swelling of the burn, so the priest is to pronounce him clean, ³⁸  because it is the scar of the burn.

Imamat 13:37

13:37 If, as far as the priest can see, the scall has stayed the same ³⁹  and black hair has sprouted in it, the scall has been healed; the person is clean. So the priest is to pronounce him clean. ⁴⁰ 

Imamat 13:56-57

13:56 But if the priest has examined it and ⁴¹  the infection has faded after it has been washed, he is to tear it out of ⁴²  the garment or the leather or the warp or the woof. 13:57 Then if ⁴³  it still appears again in the garment or the warp or the woof, or in any article of leather, it is an outbreak. Whatever has the infection in it you must burn up in the fire.

Imamat 14:48

14:48 “If, however, the priest enters ⁴⁴  and examines it, and the ⁴⁵  infection has not spread in the house after the house has been replastered, then the priest is to pronounce the house clean because the infection has been healed.

Imamat 15:24

15:24 and if a man actually has sexual intercourse with her so that her menstrual impurity touches him, ⁴⁶  then he will be unclean seven days and any bed he lies on will be unclean.

Imamat 25:30

25:30 If it is not redeemed before the full calendar year is ended, ⁴⁷  the house in the walled city ⁴⁸  will belong without reclaim ⁴⁹  to the one who bought it throughout his generations; it will not revert in the jubilee.

Imamat 25:35

Debt and Slave Regulations

25:35 “‘If your brother ⁵⁰  becomes impoverished and is indebted to you, ⁵¹  you must support ⁵²  him; he must live ⁵³  with you like a foreign resident. ⁵⁴ 

Imamat 26:21

26:21 “‘If you walk in hostility against me ⁵⁵  and are not willing to obey me, I will increase your affliction ⁵⁶  seven times according to your sins.

Imamat 27:6

27:6 If the person is one month old up to five years old, the conversion value of the male is five shekels of silver, ⁵⁷  and for the female the conversion value is three shekels of silver.

Imamat 27:9-11

Redemption of Vowed Animals

27:9 “‘If what is vowed is a kind of animal from which an offering may be presented ⁵⁸  to the Lord, anything which he gives to the Lord from this kind of animal ⁵⁹  will be holy. 27:10 He must not replace or exchange it, good for bad or bad for good, and if he does indeed exchange one animal for another animal, then both the original animal ⁶⁰  and its substitute will be holy. 27:11 If what is vowed is an unclean animal from which an offering must not be presented to the Lord, then he must stand the animal before the priest,

Imamat 27:16

Redemption of Vowed Fields

27:16 “‘If a man consecrates to the Lord some of his own landed property, the conversion value must be calculated in accordance with the amount of seed needed to sow it, ⁶¹  a homer of barley seed being priced at fifty shekels of silver. ⁶² 

Imamat 27:18-19

27:18 but if ⁶³  he consecrates his field after the jubilee, the priest will calculate the price ⁶⁴  for him according to the years that are left until the next jubilee year, and it will be deducted from the conversion value. 27:19 If, however, the one who consecrated the field redeems it, ⁶⁵  he must add to it one fifth of the conversion price ⁶⁶  and it will belong to him. ⁶⁷ 

Imamat 27:33

27:33 The owner ⁶⁸  must not examine the animals to distinguish between good and bad, and he must not exchange it. If, however, he does exchange it, ⁶⁹  both the original animal ⁷⁰  and its substitute will be holy. ⁷¹  It must not be redeemed.’”

[1:3]  ¹ sn The burnt offering (עֹלָה, ’olah) was basically a “a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord” (vv. 9, 13, 17). It could serve as a votive or freewill offering (e.g., Lev 22:18-20), an accompaniment of prayer and supplication (e.g., 1 Sam 7:9-10), part of the regular daily, weekly, monthly, and festival cultic pattern (e.g., Num 28-29), or to make atonement either alone (e.g., Lev 1:4; 16:24) or in combination with the grain offering (e.g., Lev 14:20) or sin offering (e.g., Lev 5:7; 9:7). See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 4:996-1022.

[1:3]  ² tn Heb “door” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “doorway” (likewise throughout the book of Leviticus). The translation “door” or “doorway” may suggest a framed door in a casing to the modern reader, but here the term refers to the entrance to a tent.

[1:3]  ³ tn The NIV correctly has “it” in the text, referring to the acceptance of the animal (cf., e.g., RSV, NEB, NLT), but “he” in the margin, referring to the acceptance of the offerer (cf. ASV, NASB, JB). The reference to a “flawless male” in the first half of this verse suggests that the issue here is the acceptability of the animal to make atonement on behalf of the offerer (Lev 1:4; cf. NRSV “for acceptance in your behalf”).

[2:14]  ⁴ tn The translation of this whole section of the clause is difficult. Theoretically, it could describe one, two, or three different ways of preparing first ripe grain offerings (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 27). The translation here takes it as a description of only one kind of prepared grain. This is suggested by the fact that v. 16 uses only one term “crushed bits” (גֶּרֶשׂ, geres) to refer back to the grain as it is prepared in v. 14 (a more technical translation is “groats”; see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:178, 194). Cf. NAB “fresh grits of new ears of grain”; NRSV “coarse new grain from fresh ears.”

[4:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “strays”; KJV “sin through ignorance.” The verb “strays” here is the verbal form of the noun in the expression “by straying” (see the note on Lev 4:2 above).

[4:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “is concealed from the eyes of”; NASB, NRSV, NLT “escapes the notice of.”

[4:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “and they do one from all the commandments of the Lord which must not be done” (cf. v. 2).

[4:27]  ⁸ tn Heb “an individual from the people of the land”; cf. NASB “anyone of the common people” (KJV, ASV both similar); NAB “a private person.”

[4:27]  ⁹ tn Heb “If one person sins by straying, from the people of the land.” See Lev 4:2 for a note on “straying.”

[4:27]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “by doing it, one from the commandments of the Lord which must not be done.”

[5:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “And a person when he sins.” Most English versions translate this as the protasis of a conditional clause: “if a person sins” (NASB, NIV).

[5:1]  sn The same expression occurs in Lev 4:2 where it introduces sins done “by straying unintentionally from any of the commandments of the Lord which must not be done” (see the notes there). Lev 5:1-13 is an additional section of sin offering regulations directed at violations other than those referred to by this expression in Lev 4:2 (see esp. 5:1-6), and expanding on the offering regulations for the common person in Lev 4:27-35 with concessions to the poor common person (5:7-13).

[5:1]  ¹² tn The words “against one who fails to testify” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied to make sense of the remark about the “curse” (“imprecation” or “oath”; cf. ASV “adjuration”; NIV “public charge”) for the modern reader. For the interpretation of this verse reflected in the present translation see J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:292-97.

[5:1]  ¹³ tn The words “what had happened” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[5:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and hears a voice of curse, and he is a witness or he saw or he knew, if he does not declare.”

[5:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and he shall bear his iniquity.” The rendering “bear the punishment (for the iniquity)” reflects the use of the word “iniquity” to refer to the punishment for iniquity (cf. NRSV, NLT “subject to punishment”). It is sometimes referred to as the consequential use of the term (cf. Lev 5:17; 7:18; 10:17; etc.).

[5:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to speak thoughtlessly”; cf. NAB “rashly utters an oath.”

[5:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and is guilty to one from these,” probably referring here to any of “these” things about which one might swear a thoughtless oath (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 45), with the word “oath” supplied in the translation for clarity. Another possibility is that “to one from these” is a dittography from v. 5 (cf. the note on v. 5a), and that v. 4 ends with “and is guilty” like vv. 2 and 3 (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:300).

[6:28]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “it”; the words “that vessel” are supplied in the translation to clarify the referent.

[7:16]  ¹⁹ tn For the distinction between votive and freewill offerings see the note on Lev 22:23 and the literature cited there.

[7:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and on the next day and the left over from it shall be eaten.”

[7:18]  ²¹ tn Or “desecrated,” or “defiled,” or “forbidden.” For this difficult term see J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:422. Cf. NIV “it is impure”; NCV “it will become unclean”; NLT “will be contaminated.”

[7:18]  ²² tn Heb “his iniquity he shall bear” (cf. Lev 5:1); NIV “will be held responsible”; NRSV “shall incur guilt”; TEV “will suffer the consequences.”

[12:5]  ²³ tn Heb “on purity blood.” The preposition here is עַל (’al) rather than בְּ (bÿ, as it is in the middle of v. 4), but no doubt the same meaning is intended.

[12:5]  ²⁴ tn For clarification of the translation here, see the notes on vv. 2-4 above.

[12:5]  sn The doubling of the time after the birth of a female child is puzzling (see the remarks in J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:750-51; and G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 188). Some have argued, for example, that it derives from the relative status of the sexes, or a supposed longer blood flow for the birth of a woman, or even to compensate for the future menstrual periods of the female just born. Perhaps there is a better explanation. First, a male child must be circumcised on the eighth day, so the impurity of the mother could not last beyond the first seven days lest it interfere with the circumcision rite. A female child, of course, was not circumcised, so the impurity of the mother would not interfere and the length of the impure time could be extended further. Second, it would be natural to expect that the increased severity of the blood flow after childbirth, as compared to that of a woman’s menstrual period, would call for a longer period of impurity than the normal seven days of the menstrual period impurity (compare Lev 15:19 with 15:25-30). Third, this suggests that the fourteen day impurity period for the female child would have been more appropriate, and the impurity period for the birth of a male child had to be shortened. Fourth, not only the principle of multiples of seven but also multiples of forty applies to this reckoning. Since the woman’s blood discharge after bearing a child continues for more than seven days, her discharge keeps her from contact with sacred things for a longer period of time in order to avoid contaminating the tabernacle (note Lev 15:31). This ended up totaling forty days for the birth of a male child (seven plus thirty-three) and a corresponding doubling of the second set of days for the woman (fourteen plus sixty-six). See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:368-70. The fact that the offerings were the same for either a male or a female infant (vv. 6-8) suggests that the other differences in the regulations are not due to the notion that a male child had greater intrinsic value than a female child (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 169).

[13:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and if.”

[13:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and deep is not its appearance from the skin”; cf. NAB “does not seem to have penetrated below the skin.”

[13:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and the priest will shut up the infection seven days.”

[13:12]  ²⁸ tn Heb “And if spreading [infinitive absolute] it spreads out [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.

[13:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “all the skin of the infection,” but see v. 4 above.

[13:12]  ³⁰ tn Heb “to all the appearance of the eyes of the priest.”

[13:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “and the priest shall see.” The pronoun “it” is unexpressed, but it should be assumed and it refers to the infection (cf. the note on v. 8 above).

[13:13]  ³² tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, ASV, NASB).

[13:13]  ³³ tn Heb “he shall pronounce the infection clean,” but see v. 4 above. Also, this is another use of the declarative Piel of the verb טָהֵר (taher; cf. the note on v. 6 above).

[13:13]  ³⁴ tn Heb “all of him has turned white, and he is clean.”

[13:27]  ³⁵ tn Heb “is indeed spreading.”

[13:27]  ³⁶ tn For the rendering “diseased infection” see the note on v. 2 above.

[13:28]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and if under it the bright spot stands, it has not spread in the skin.”

[13:28]  ³⁸ tn This is the declarative Piel of the verb טָהֵר (taher; cf. the note on v. 6 above).

[13:37]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and if in his eyes the infection has stood.”

[13:37]  ⁴⁰ tn This is the declarative Piel of the verb טָהֵר (taher, cf. the note on v. 6 above).

[13:56]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “And if the priest saw and behold….”

[13:56]  ⁴² tn Heb “and he shall tear it from.”

[13:57]  ⁴³ tn Heb “And if”; NIV, NCV “But if”; NAB “If, however.”

[14:48]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “And if the priest entering [infinitive absolute] enters [finite verb]” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.

[14:48]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “and the mark has not indeed spread.”

[15:24]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and if a man indeed lies with her and her menstrual impurity is on him.”

[25:30]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “until fulfilling to it a complete year.’

[25:30]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “the house which [is] in the city which to it [is] a wall.” The Kethib has לֹא (lo’, “no, not”) rather than לוֹ (lo, “to it”) which is the Qere.

[25:30]  ⁴⁹ tn See the note on v. 23 above.

[25:35]  ⁵⁰ tn It is not clear to whom this refers. It is probably broader than “sibling” (cf. NRSV “any of your kin”; NLT “any of your Israelite relatives”) but some English versions take it to mean “fellow Israelite” (so TEV; cf. NAB, NIV “countrymen”) and others are ambiguous (cf. CEV “any of your people”).

[25:35]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “and his hand slips with you.”

[25:35]  ⁵² tn Heb “strengthen”; NASB “sustain.”

[25:35]  ⁵³ tn The form וָחַי (vakhay, “and shall live”) looks like the adjective “living,” but the MT form is simply the same verb written as a double ayin verb (see HALOT 309 s.v. חיה qal, and GKC 218 §76.i; cf. Lev 18:5).

[25:35]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “a foreigner and resident,” which is probably to be combined (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 170-71).

[26:21]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “hostile with me,” but see the added preposition בְּ (bet) on the phrase “in hostility” in v. 24 and 27.

[26:21]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “your blow, stroke”; cf. TEV “punishment”; NLT “I will inflict you with seven more disasters.”

[27:6]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “five shekels silver.”

[27:9]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “which they may present from it an offering.” The plural active verb is sometimes best rendered in the passive (GKC 460 §144.f, g). Some medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, a ms of the Targum, and the Vulgate all have the singular verb instead (cf. similarly v. 11).

[27:9]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “from it.” The masculine suffix “it” here is used for the feminine in the MT, but one medieval Hebrew ms, some mss of Smr, the LXX, and the Syriac have the feminine. The referent (this kind of animal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:10]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “it and its substitute.” The referent (the original animal offered) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:16]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “a conversion value shall be to the mouth of its seed.”

[27:16]  ⁶² tn Heb “seed of a homer of barley in fifty shekels of silver.”

[27:18]  ⁶³ tn Heb “And if.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have adversative force here.

[27:18]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “the silver.”

[27:19]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “And if redeeming [infinitive absolute] he redeems [finite verb] the field, the one who consecrated it.” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.

[27:19]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “the silver of the conversion value.”

[27:19]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “and it shall rise to him.” See HALOT 1087 s.v. קום 7 for the rendering offered here, but see also the note on the end of v. 14 above (cf. J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 476, 478).

[27:33]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the owner of the animal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:33]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “And if exchanging [infinitive absolute] he exchanges it [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.

[27:33]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “it and its substitute.” The referent (the original animal offered) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:33]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “it shall be and its substitute shall be holy.”