Imamat 2:1

Grain Offering Regulations: Offering of Raw Flour

2:1 “‘When a person presents a grain offering ¹  to the Lord, his offering must consist of choice wheat flour, ²  and he must pour olive oil on it and put frankincense ³  on it.

Imamat 2:11

Additional Grain Offering Regulations

2:11 “‘No grain offering which you present to the Lord can be made with yeast, ⁴  for you must not offer up in smoke any yeast or honey as a gift to the Lord. ⁵ 

Imamat 4:13

For the Whole Congregation

4:13 “‘If the whole congregation of Israel strays unintentionally ⁶  and the matter is not noticed by ⁷  the assembly, and they violate one of the Lord’s commandments, which must not be violated, ⁸  so they become guilty,

Imamat 7:19

7:19 The meat which touches anything ceremonially ⁹  unclean must not be eaten; it must be burned up in the fire. As for ceremonially clean meat, ¹⁰  everyone who is ceremonially clean may eat the meat.

Imamat 8:16

8:16 Then he ¹¹  took all the fat on the entrails, the protruding lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and their fat, ¹²  and Moses offered it all up in smoke on the altar, ¹³ 

Imamat 11:33-35

11:33 As for any clay vessel they fall into, ¹⁴  everything in it ¹⁵  will become unclean and you must break it. 11:34 Any food that may be eaten which becomes soaked with water ¹⁶  will become unclean. Anything drinkable ¹⁷  in any such vessel will become unclean. ¹⁸  11:35 Anything their carcass may fall on will become unclean. An oven or small stove must be smashed to pieces; they are unclean, and they will stay unclean ¹⁹  to you.

Imamat 12:4-5

12:4 Then she will remain ²⁰  thirty-three days in blood purity. ²¹  She must not touch anything holy and she must not enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are fulfilled. ²²  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 13:57

13:57 Then if ²⁵  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 ²⁶  and examines it, and the ²⁷  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 16:1

The Day of Atonement

16:1 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron’s two sons when they approached the presence of the Lord ²⁸  and died,

Imamat 19:23

The Produce of Fruit Trees

19:23 “‘When you enter the land and plant any fruit tree, ²⁹  you must consider its fruit to be forbidden. ³⁰  Three years it will be forbidden to you; ³¹  it must not be eaten.

Imamat 20:22

Exhortation to Holiness and Obedience

20:22 “‘You must be sure to obey all my statutes and regulations, ³²  so that ³³  the land to which I am about to bring you to take up residence there does not vomit you out.

Imamat 22:14

22:14 “‘If a man eats a holy offering by mistake, ³⁴  he must add one fifth to it and give the holy offering to the priest. ³⁵ 

Imamat 22:23

22:23 As for an ox ³⁶  or a sheep with a limb too long or stunted, ³⁷  you may present it as a freewill offering, but it will not be acceptable for a votive offering. ³⁸ 

Imamat 22:27

22:27 “When an ox, lamb, or goat is born, it must be under the care of ³⁹  its mother seven days, but from the eighth day onward it will be acceptable as an offering gift ⁴⁰  to the Lord.

[2:1]  ¹ sn The “grain offering” ( מִנְחָה[minkhah]; here קָרְבַּן מִנְחָה, [qorbban minkhah], “an offering of a grain offering”) generally accompanied a burnt or peace offering to supplement the meat with bread (the libation provided the drink; cf. Num 15:1-10), thus completing the food “gift” to the Lord. It made atonement (see the note on Lev 1:4) along with the burnt offering (e.g., Lev 14:20) or alone as a sin offering for the poor (Lev 5:11-13).

[2:1]  ² tn The Hebrew term for “choice wheat flour” (סֹלֶת, selet) is often translated “fine flour” (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NCV), but it refers specifically to wheat as opposed to barley (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 10). Moreover, the translation “flour” might be problematic, since the Hebrew term may designate the “grits” rather than the more finely ground “flour” (see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:179 as opposed to Levine, 10, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 30).

[2:1]  ³ sn This is not just any “incense” (קְטֹרֶת, qÿtoret; R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 3:913-16), but specifically “frankincense” (לְבֹנָה, lÿvonah; R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:756-57).

[2:11]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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.”

[4:13]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “is concealed from the eyes of”; NASB, NRSV, NLT “escapes the notice of.”

[4:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “and they do one from all the commandments of the Lord which must not be done” (cf. v. 2).

[7:19]  ⁹ tn The word “ceremonially” has been supplied in the translation both here and in the following sentence to clarify that the uncleanness involved is ritual or ceremonial in nature.

[7:19]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew has simply “the flesh,” but this certainly refers to “clean” flesh in contrast to the unclean flesh in the first half of the verse.

[8:16]  ¹¹ tn Again, Aaron probably performed the slaughter and collected the fat parts (v. 16a), but Moses presented it all on the altar (v. 16b; cf. the note on v. 15 above).

[8:16]  ¹² sn See Lev 3:3-4 for the terminology of fat and kidneys here.

[8:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “toward the altar” (see the note on Lev 1:9).

[11:33]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “And any earthenware vessel which shall fall from them into its midst.”

[11:33]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all which is in its midst.”

[11:34]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “which water comes on it.”

[11:34]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “any drink which may be drunk”; NASB “any liquid which may be drunk”; NLT “any beverage that is in such an unclean container.”

[11:34]  ¹⁸ tn This half of the verse assumes that the unclean carcass has fallen into the food or drink (cf. v. 33 and also vv. 35-38).

[11:35]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “be unclean.”

[12:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “sit, dwell” (יָשָׁב, yashav) normally means “to sit, to dwell”), but here it means “to remain, to stay” in the same condition for a period of time (cf., e.g., Gen 24:55).

[12:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “in bloods of purification” or “purifying” or “purity”; NASB “in the blood of her purification”; NRSV “her time of blood purification.” See the following note.

[12:4]  ²² tn The initial seven days after the birth of a son were days of blood impurity for the woman as if she were having her menstrual period. Her impurity was contagious during this period, so no one should touch her or even furniture on which she has sat or reclined (Lev 15:19-23), lest they too become impure. Even her husband would become impure for seven days if he had sexual intercourse with her during this time (Lev 15:24; cf. 18:19). The next thirty-three days were either “days of purification, purifying” or “days of purity,” depending on how one understands the abstract noun טֹהֳרָה (toharah, “purification, purity”) in this context. During this time the woman could not touch anything holy or enter the sanctuary, but she was no longer contagious like she had been during the first seven days. She could engage in normal everyday life, including sexual intercourse, without fear of contaminating anyone else (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 73-74; cf. J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:749-50). Thus, in a sense, the thirty-three days were a time of blood “purity” (cf. the present translation) as compared to the previous seven days of blood “impurity,” but they were also a time of blood “purification” (or “purifying”) as compared to the time after the thirty-three days, when the blood atonement had been made and she was pronounced “clean” by the priest (see vv. 6-8 below). In other words, the thirty-three day period was a time of “blood” (flow), but this was “pure blood,” as opposed to the blood of the first seven days.

[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).

[13:57]  ²⁵ tn Heb “And if”; NIV, NCV “But if”; NAB “If, however.”

[14:48]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “and the mark has not indeed spread.”

[16:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “in their drawing near to the faces of the Lord.” The rendering here relies on the use of this expression for the very “presence” of God in Exod 33:14-15 and in the Lev 9:24-10:2 passage, where the Nadab and Abihu catastrophe referred to here is narrated.

[19:23]  ²⁹ tn Heb “tree of food”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV “trees for food.”

[19:23]  ³⁰ tn Heb “you shall circumcise its fruit [as] its foreskin,” taking the fruit to be that which is to be removed and, therefore, forbidden. Since the fruit is uncircumcised it is forbidden (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 306, and esp. B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 131-32).

[19:23]  ³¹ tn Heb “it shall be to you uncircumcised.”

[20:22]  ³² tn Heb “And you shall keep all my statutes and all my regulations and you shall do them.” This appears to be a kind of verbal hendiadys, where the first verb is a modifier of the action of the second verb (see GKC 386 §120.d, although שָׁמַר [shamar, “to keep”] is not cited there; cf. Lev 22:31, etc.).

[20:22]  ³³ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

[22:14]  ³⁴ tn Heb “And a man, if he eats a holy thing in error” (see the Lev 4:2 not on “straying,” which is the term rendered “by mistake” here).

[22:14]  ³⁵ sn When a person trespassed in regard to something sacred to the Lord, reparation was to be made for the trespass, involving restitution of that which was violated plus one fifth of its value as a fine. It is possible that the restoration of the offering and the additional one fifth of its value were made as a monetary payment (see, e.g., B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 150). See the regulations for the “guilt offering” in Lev 5:16; 6:5 [5:24 HT] and the notes there.

[22:23]  ³⁶ tn Heb “And an ox.”

[22:23]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and stunted” (see HALOT 1102 s.v. I קלט).

[22:23]  ³⁸ sn The freewill offering was voluntary, so the regulations regarding it were more relaxed. Once a vow was made, the paying of it was not voluntary (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 151-52, for very helpful remarks on this verse).

[22:27]  ³⁹ tn The words “the care of” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied. Although many modern English versions render “with its mother” (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), the literal phrase “under its mother” refers to the young animal nursing from its mother. Cf. KJV, ASV “it shall be seven days under the dam,” which would probably be misunderstood.

[22:27]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “for an offering of a gift.”