Imamat 17:4-9

17:4 but has not brought it to the entrance of the Meeting Tent ¹  to present it as ²  an offering to the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord. He has shed blood, so that man will be cut off from the midst of his people. ³  17:5 This is so that ⁴  the Israelites will bring their sacrifices that they are sacrificing in the open field ⁵  to the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent to the priest and sacrifice them there as peace offering sacrifices to the Lord. 17:6 The priest is to splash ⁶  the blood on the altar ⁷  of the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, and offer the fat up in smoke for a soothing aroma to the Lord. 17:7 So they must no longer offer ⁸  their sacrifices to the goat demons, ⁹  acting like prostitutes by going after them. ¹⁰  This is to be a perpetual statute for them throughout their generations. ¹¹ 

17:8 “You are to say to them: ‘Any man ¹²  from the house of Israel or ¹³  from the foreigners who reside ¹⁴  in their ¹⁵  midst, who offers ¹⁶  a burnt offering or a sacrifice 17:9 but does not bring it to the entrance of the Meeting Tent to offer it ¹⁷  to the Lord – that person will be cut off from his people. ¹⁸ 

[17:4]  ¹ tn Smr and LXX add after “tent of meeting” the following: “to make it a burnt offering or a peace offering to the Lord for your acceptance as a soothing aroma, and slaughters it outside, and at the doorway of the tent of meeting has not brought it.”

[17:4]  ² tc Smr includes the suffix “it,” which is needed in any case in the translation to conform to English style.

[17:4]  ³ sn The exact meaning of this penalty clause is not certain. It could mean (1) that he will be executed, whether by God or by man, (2) that he will be excommunicated from sanctuary worship and/or community benefits, or (3) that his line will be terminated by God (i.e., extirpation). See also the note on Lev 7:20.

[17:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “So that which.”

[17:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “on the faces of the field.”

[17:6]  ⁶ tn For the translation “splash” see the note on Lev 1:5.

[17:6]  ⁷ tn The LXX adds “all around” (i.e., Hebrew סָבִיב [saviv, “all around”]), which is normal for this overall construction (see, e.g., Lev 1:5; 3:8, etc.).

[17:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “sacrifice.” This has been translated as “offer” for stylistic reasons to avoid the redundancy of “sacrifice their sacrifices.”

[17:7]  ⁹ tn On “goat demons” of the desert regions see the note on Lev 16:8.

[17:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “which they are committing harlotry after them.”

[17:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for your generations.”

[17:8]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “and.” Here the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) has an alternative sense (“or”).

[17:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from the sojourner who sojourns.”

[17:8]  ¹⁵ tc The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate have “your” (plural) rather than “their.”

[17:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “causes to go up.”

[17:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “to make it,” meaning “to make the sacrifice.”

[17:9]  ¹⁸ tn For remarks on the “cut off” penalty see the note on v. 4 above.