Imamat 15:2

15:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When any man ¹  has a discharge ²  from his body, ³  his discharge is unclean.

Imamat 17:3

17:3 “Blood guilt ⁴  will be accounted to any man ⁵  from the house of Israel ⁶  who slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat inside the camp or outside the camp, ⁷ 

Imamat 17:8

17:8 “You are to say to them: ‘Any man ⁸  from the house of Israel or ⁹  from the foreigners who reside ¹⁰  in their ¹¹  midst, who offers ¹²  a burnt offering or a sacrifice

Imamat 20:9

Family Life and Sexual Prohibitions ¹³ 

20:9 “‘If anyone ¹⁴  curses his father and mother ¹⁵  he must be put to death. He has cursed his father and mother; his blood guilt is on himself. ¹⁶ 

Imamat 21:18

21:18 Certainly ¹⁷  no man who has a physical flaw is to approach: a blind man, or one who is lame, or one with a slit nose, ¹⁸  or a limb too long,

[15:2]  ¹ tn Heb “Man man.” The reduplication is a way of saying “any man” (cf. Lev 17:3; 22:18, etc.; see the distributive repetition of the noun in GKC 395-96 §123.c).

[15:2]  ² tn The term “discharge” actually means “to flow,” whether referring to a full flow as at a spring of water (Ps 78:20 and parallels) or in reference to the promised land as “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exod 3:8 and parallels).

[15:2]  ³ tn Heb “man, man when there is a discharge from his flesh.” The repetition of the word “man” is distributive, meaning “any [or “every”] man” (GKC 395-96 §123.c). It is well-recognized that the term “flesh” (i.e., “body”) in this chapter refers regularly and euphemistically to the male and female genital members or areas of the body (HALOT 164 s.v. בָּשָׂר 5.b; see also, e.g., B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 93). The euphemism has been retained in this translation since it is, in fact, intended in the Hebrew text. Some English versions partially remove the euphemism (e.g., NAB “from his private parts”; NRSV “from his member”) while some remove it completely (e.g., NLT “a genital discharge”; TEV “from his penis”; CEV “with an infected penis”).

[17:3]  ⁴ tn The complex wording of vv. 3-4 requires stating “blood guilt” at the beginning of v. 3 even though it is not mentioned until the middle of v. 4. The Hebrew text has simply “blood,” but in this case it refers to the illegitimate shedding of animal blood, similar to the shedding of the blood of an innocent human being (Deut 19:10, etc.). In order for it to be legitimate the animal must be slaughtered at the tabernacle and its blood handled by the priests in the prescribed way (see, e.g., Lev 1:5; 3:2, 17; 4:5-7; 7:26-27, etc.; cf. vv. 10-16 below for more details).

[17:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “Man man.” The reduplication is way of saying “any man” (cf. Lev 15:2; 22:18, etc.). See the note on Lev 15:2.

[17:3]  ⁶ tn The original LXX adds “or the sojourners who sojourn in your midst” (cf. Lev 16:29, etc., and note esp. 17:8, 10, and 13 below).

[17:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “or who slaughters from outside to the camp.”

[17:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “Man, man.” The repetition of the word “man” is distributive, meaning “any [or “every”] man” (GKC 395-96 §123.c; cf. Lev 15:2).

[17:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “and.” Here the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) has an alternative sense (“or”).

[17:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from the sojourner who sojourns.”

[17:8]  ¹¹ tc The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate have “your” (plural) rather than “their.”

[17:8]  ¹² tn Heb “causes to go up.”

[20:9]  ¹³ sn Compare the regulations in Lev 18:6-23.

[20:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “If a man a man who.”

[20:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “makes light of his father and his mother.” Almost all English versions render this as some variation of “curses his father or mother.”

[20:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “his blood [plural] is in him.” Cf. NAB “he has forfeited his life”; TEV “is responsible for his own death.”

[20:9]  sn The rendering “blood guilt” refers to the fact that the shedding of blood brings guilt on those who shed it illegitimately (even the blood of animals shed illegitimately, Lev 17:4; cf. the background of Gen 4:10-11). If the community performs a legitimate execution, however, the blood guilt rests on the person who has been legitimately executed (see the remarks and literature cited in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 328).

[21:18]  ¹⁷ tn The particle כִּי (ki) in this context is asseverative, indicating absolutely certainty (GKC 498 §159.ee).

[21:18]  ¹⁸ tn Lexically, the Hebrew term חָרֻם (kharum) seems to refer to a split nose or perhaps any number of other facial defects (HALOT 354 s.v. II חרם qal; cf. G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 292, n. 7); cf. KJV, ASV “a flat nose”; NASB “a disfigured face.” The NJPS translation is “a limb too short” as a balance to the following term which means “extended, raised,” and apparently refers to “a limb too long” (see the explanation in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 146).