Imamat 4:17

4:17 and that priest must dip his finger in the blood ¹  and sprinkle ²  some of the blood seven times ³  before the Lord toward ⁴  the front of the veil-canopy. ⁵ 

Bilangan 19:19

19:19 And the clean person must sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he must purify him, ⁶  and then he must wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and he will be clean in the evening.

Yesaya 52:15

52:15 his form was so marred he no longer looked human ⁷  –

so now ⁸  he will startle ⁹  many nations.

Kings will be shocked by his exaltation, ¹⁰ 

for they will witness something unannounced to them,

and they will understand something they had not heard about.

Yehezkiel 36:25

36:25 I will sprinkle you with pure water ¹¹  and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols.

[4:17]  ¹ tn The words “in the blood” are not repeated in the Hebrew text at this point, but must be supplied in the English translation for clarity.

[4:17]  ² tn The Hebrew verb וְהִזָּה (vÿhizzah, Hiphil of נָזָה, nazah) does indeed mean “sprinkle” or “splatter.” Contrast the different Hebrew verb translated “splash” in Lev 1:5 (זָרָק, zaraq).

[4:17]  ³ tc The MT reads literally, “and the priest shall dip his finger from the blood and sprinkle seven times.” This is awkward. Compare v. 6, which has literally, “and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle from the blood seven times.” The MT appears to be corrupt by haplography (i.e., assuming v. 6 to be the correct form, in v. 17 the scribe skipped from “his finger” to “from the blood,” thus missing “in the blood”) and metathesis (i.e., this also resulted in a text where “from the blood” stands before “sprinkle” rather than after it; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 47).

[4:17]  ⁴ tn See the note on v. 6 above.

[4:17]  ⁵ tn See the note on v. 6 above.

[19:19]  ⁶ tn The construction uses a simple Piel of חָטָא (khata’, “to purify”) with a pronominal suffix – “he shall purify him.” Some commentators take this to mean that after he sprinkles the unclean then he must purify himself. But that would not be the most natural way to read this form.

[52:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “and his form from the sons of men.” The preposition מִן (min) here carries the sense “away from,” i.e., “so as not to be.”

[52:15]  ⁸ tn This statement completes the sentence begun in v. 14a. The introductory כֵּן (ken) answers to the introductory כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher) of v. 14a. Verses 14b-15a are parenthetical, explaining why many were horrified.

[52:15]  ⁹ tn Traditionally the verb יַזֶּה (yazzeh, a Hiphil stem) has been understood as a causative of נָזָה (nazah, “spurt, spatter”) and translated “sprinkle.” In this case the passage pictures the servant as a priest who “sprinkles” (or spiritually cleanses) the nations. Though the verb נָזָה does occur in the Hiphil with the meaning “sprinkle,” the usual interpretation is problematic. In all other instances where the object or person sprinkled is indicated, the verb is combined with a preposition. This is not the case in Isaiah 52:15, unless one takes the following עָלָיו (’alayv, “on him”) with the preceding line. But then one would have to emend the verb to a plural, make the nations the subject of the verb “sprinkle,” and take the servant as the object. Consequently some interpreters doubt the cultic idea of “sprinkling” is present here. Some emend the text; others propose a homonymic root meaning “spring, leap,” which in the Hiphil could mean “cause to leap, startle” and would fit the parallelism of the verse nicely.

[52:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Because of him kings will shut their mouths,” i.e., be speechless.

[36:25]  ¹¹ sn The Lord here uses a metaphor from the realm of ritual purification. For the use of water in ritual cleansing, see Exod 30:19-20; Lev 14:51; Num 19:18; Heb 10:22.