Bible Reading February 4 
Leviticus 24:1--27:34
Context24:1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 24:2 “Command the Israelites to bring 1 to you pure oil of beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually. 2 24:3 Outside the veil-canopy 3 of the congregation in the Meeting Tent Aaron 4 must arrange it from evening until morning before the Lord continually. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations. 5 24:4 On the ceremonially pure lampstand 6 he must arrange the lamps before the Lord continually.
24:5 “You must take choice wheat flour 7 and bake twelve loaves; 8 there must be two tenths of an ephah of flour in 9 each loaf, 24:6 and you must set them in two rows, six in a row, 10 on the ceremonially pure table before the Lord. 24:7 You must put pure frankincense 11 on each row, 12 and it will become a memorial portion 13 for the bread, a gift 14 to the Lord. 24:8 Each Sabbath day 15 Aaron 16 must arrange it before the Lord continually; this portion 17 is from the Israelites as a perpetual covenant. 24:9 It will belong to Aaron and his sons, and they must eat it in a holy place because it is most holy to him, a perpetual allotted portion 18 from the gifts of the Lord.”
24:10 Now 19 an Israelite woman’s son whose father was an Egyptian went out among the Israelites, and the Israelite woman’s son and an Israelite man 20 had a fight in the camp. 24:11 The Israelite woman’s son misused the Name and cursed, 21 so they brought him to Moses. (Now his mother’s name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) 24:12 So they placed him in custody until they were able 22 to make a clear legal decision for themselves based on words from the mouth of the Lord. 23
24:13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 24:14 “Bring the one who cursed outside the camp, and all who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the whole congregation is to stone him to death. 24 24:15 Moreover, 25 you are to tell the Israelites, ‘If any man curses his God 26 he will bear responsibility for his sin, 24:16 and one who misuses 27 the name of the Lord must surely be put to death. The whole congregation must surely stone him, whether he is a foreigner or a native citizen; when he misuses the Name he must be put to death.
24:17 “‘If a man beats any person to death, 28 he must be put to death. 24:18 One who beats an animal to death 29 must make restitution for it, life for life. 30 24:19 If a man inflicts an injury on 31 his fellow citizen, 32 just as he has done it must be done to him – 24:20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth – just as he inflicts an injury on another person 33 that same injury 34 must be inflicted on him. 24:21 One who beats an animal to death 35 must make restitution for it, but 36 one who beats a person to death must be put to death. 24:22 There will be one regulation 37 for you, whether a foreigner or a native citizen, for I am the Lord your God.’”
24:23 Then Moses spoke to the Israelites and they brought the one who cursed outside the camp and stoned him with stones. So the Israelites did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
25:1 The Lord spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai: 25:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land must observe a Sabbath 38 to the Lord. 25:3 Six years you may sow your field, and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather the produce, 39 25:4 but in the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath of complete rest 40 – a Sabbath to the Lord. You must not sow your field or 41 prune your vineyard. 25:5 You must not gather in the aftergrowth of your harvest and you must not pick the grapes of your unpruned 42 vines; the land must have a year of complete rest. 25:6 You may have the Sabbath produce 43 of the land to eat – you, your male servant, your female servant, your hired worker, the resident foreigner who stays with you, 44 25:7 your cattle, and the wild animals that are in your land – all its produce will be for you 45 to eat.
25:8 “‘You must count off 46 seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, 47 and the days of the seven weeks of years will amount to forty-nine years. 48 25:9 You must sound loud horn blasts 49 – in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, on the Day of Atonement – you must sound the horn in your entire land. 25:10 So you must consecrate the fiftieth year, 50 and you must proclaim a release 51 in the land for all its inhabitants. That year will be your jubilee; 52 each one of you must return 53 to his property and each one of you must return to his clan. 25:11 That fiftieth year will be your jubilee; you must not sow the land, harvest its aftergrowth, or pick the grapes of its unpruned vines. 54 25:12 Because that year is a jubilee, it will be holy to you – you may eat its produce 55 from the field.
25:13 “‘In this year of jubilee you must each return 56 to your property. 25:14 If you make a sale 57 to your fellow citizen 58 or buy 59 from your fellow citizen, no one is to wrong his brother. 60 25:15 You may buy it from your fellow citizen according to the number of years since 61 the last jubilee; he may sell it to you according to the years of produce that are left. 62 25:16 The more years there are, 63 the more you may make its purchase price, and the fewer years there are, 64 the less you must make its purchase price, because he is only selling to you a number of years of 65 produce. 25:17 No one is to oppress his fellow citizen, 66 but you must fear your God, because I am the Lord your God. 25:18 You must obey my statutes and my regulations; you must be sure to keep them 67 so that you may live securely in the land. 68
25:19 “‘The land will give its fruit and you may eat until you are satisfied, 69 and you may live securely in the land. 25:20 If you say, ‘What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow and gather our produce?’ 25:21 I will command my blessing for you in the sixth year so that it may yield 70 the produce 71 for three years, 25:22 and you may sow the eighth year and eat from that sixth year’s produce 72 – old produce. Until you bring in the ninth year’s produce, 73 you may eat old produce. 25:23 The land must not be sold without reclaim 74 because the land belongs to me, for you are foreigners and residents with me. 75 25:24 In all your landed property 76 you must provide for the right of redemption of the land. 77
25:25 “‘If your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his property, his near redeemer is to come to you and redeem what his brother sold. 78 25:26 If a man has no redeemer, but he prospers 79 and gains enough for its redemption, 80 25:27 he is to calculate the value of the years it was sold, 81 refund the balance 82 to the man to whom he had sold it, and return to his property. 25:28 If he has not prospered enough to refund 83 a balance to him, then what he sold 84 will belong to 85 the one who bought it until the jubilee year, but it must revert 86 in the jubilee and the original owner 87 may return to his property.
25:29 “‘If a man sells a residential house in a walled city, 88 its right of redemption must extend 89 until one full year from its sale; 90 its right of redemption must extend to a full calendar year. 91 25:30 If it is not redeemed before the full calendar year is ended, 92 the house in the walled city 93 will belong without reclaim 94 to the one who bought it throughout his generations; it will not revert in the jubilee. 25:31 The houses of villages, however, 95 which have no wall surrounding them 96 must be considered as the field 97 of the land; they will have the right of redemption and must revert in the jubilee. 25:32 As for 98 the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities which they possess, 99 the Levites must have a perpetual right of redemption. 25:33 Whatever someone among the Levites might redeem – the sale of a house which is his property in a city – must revert in the jubilee, 100 because the houses of the cities of the Levites are their property in the midst of the Israelites. 25:34 Moreover, 101 the open field areas of their cities 102 must not be sold, because that is their perpetual possession.
25:35 “‘If your brother 103 becomes impoverished and is indebted to you, 104 you must support 105 him; he must live 106 with you like a foreign resident. 107 25:36 Do not take interest or profit from him, 108 but you must fear your God and your brother must live 109 with you. 25:37 You must not lend him your money at interest and you must not sell him food for profit. 110 25:38 I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan – to be your God. 111
25:39 “‘If your brother becomes impoverished with regard to you so that he sells himself to you, you must not subject him to slave service. 112 25:40 He must be with you as a hired worker, as a resident foreigner; 113 he must serve with you until the year of jubilee, 25:41 but then 114 he may go free, 115 he and his children with him, and may return to his family and to the property of his ancestors. 116 25:42 Since they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt, they must not be sold in a slave sale. 117 25:43 You must not rule over him harshly, 118 but you must fear your God.
25:44 “‘As for your male and female slaves 119 who may belong to you – you may buy male and female slaves from the nations all around you. 120 25:45 Also you may buy slaves 121 from the children of the foreigners who reside with you, and from their families that are 122 with you, whom they have fathered in your land, they may become your property. 25:46 You may give them as inheritance to your children after you to possess as property. You may enslave them perpetually. However, as for your brothers the Israelites, no man may rule over his brother harshly. 123
25:47 “‘If a resident foreigner who is with you prospers 124 and your brother becomes impoverished with regard to him so that 125 he sells himself to a resident foreigner who is with you or to a member 126 of a foreigner’s family, 25:48 after he has sold himself he retains a right of redemption. 127 One of his brothers may redeem him, 25:49 or his uncle or his cousin 128 may redeem him, or anyone of the rest of his blood relatives – his family 129 – may redeem him, or if 130 he prospers he may redeem himself. 25:50 He must calculate with the one who bought him the number of years 131 from the year he sold himself to him until the jubilee year, and the cost of his sale must correspond to the number of years, according to the rate of wages a hired worker would have earned while with him. 132 25:51 If there are still many years, in keeping with them 133 he must refund most of the cost of his purchase for his redemption, 25:52 but if only a few years remain 134 until the jubilee, he must calculate for himself in keeping with the remaining years and refund it for his redemption. 25:53 He must be with the one who bought him 135 like a yearly hired worker. 136 The one who bought him 137 must not rule over him harshly in your sight. 25:54 If, however, 138 he is not redeemed in these ways, he must go free 139 in the jubilee year, he and his children with him, 25:55 because the Israelites are my own servants; 140 they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
26:1 “‘You must not make for yourselves idols, 141 so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before 142 it, for I am the Lord your God. 26:2 You must keep my Sabbaths and reverence 143 my sanctuary. I am the Lord.
26:3 “‘If you walk in my statutes and are sure to obey my commandments, 144 26:4 I will give you your rains in their time so that 145 the land will give its yield and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. 146 26:5 Threshing season will extend for you until the season for harvesting grapes, 147 and the season for harvesting grapes will extend until sowing season, so 148 you will eat your bread until you are satisfied, 149 and you will live securely in your land. 26:6 I will grant peace in the land so that 150 you will lie down to sleep without anyone terrifying you. 151 I will remove harmful animals 152 from the land, and no sword of war 153 will pass through your land. 26:7 You will pursue your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword. 154 26:8 Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword. 26:9 I will turn to you, make you fruitful, multiply you, and maintain 155 my covenant with you. 26:10 You will still be eating stored produce from the previous year 156 and will have to clean out what is stored from the previous year to make room for new. 157
26:11 “‘I will put my tabernacle 158 in your midst and I will not abhor you. 159 26:12 I will walk among you, and I will be your God and you will be my people. 26:13 I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves, 160 and I broke the bars of your yoke and caused you to walk upright. 161
26:14 “‘If, however, 162 you do not obey me and keep 163 all these commandments – 26:15 if you reject my statutes and abhor my regulations so that you do not keep 164 all my commandments and you break my covenant – 26:16 I for my part 165 will do this to you: I will inflict horror on you, consumption and fever, which diminish eyesight and drain away the vitality of life. 166 You will sow your seed in vain because 167 your enemies will eat it. 168 26:17 I will set my face against you. You will be struck down before your enemies, those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when there is no one pursuing you.
26:18 “‘If, in spite of all these things, 169 you do not obey me, I will discipline you seven times more on account of your sins. 170 26:19 I will break your strong pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze. 26:20 Your strength will be used up in vain, your land will not give its yield, and the trees of the land 171 will not produce their fruit.
26:21 “‘If you walk in hostility against me 172 and are not willing to obey me, I will increase your affliction 173 seven times according to your sins. 26:22 I will send the wild animals 174 against you and they will bereave you of your children, 175 annihilate your cattle, and diminish your population 176 so that your roads will become deserted.
26:23 “‘If in spite of these things 177 you do not allow yourselves to be disciplined and you walk in hostility against me, 178 26:24 I myself will also walk in hostility against you and strike you 179 seven times on account of your sins. 26:25 I will bring on you an avenging sword, a covenant vengeance. 180 Although 181 you will gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you and you will be given into enemy hands. 182 26:26 When I break off your supply of bread, 183 ten women will bake your bread in one oven; they will ration your bread by weight, 184 and you will eat and not be satisfied.
26:27 “‘If in spite of this 185 you do not obey me but walk in hostility against me, 186 26:28 I will walk in hostile rage against you 187 and I myself will also discipline you seven times on account of your sins. 26:29 You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. 188 26:30 I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars, 189 and I will stack your dead bodies on top of the lifeless bodies of your idols. 190 I will abhor you. 191 26:31 I will lay your cities waste 192 and make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will refuse to smell your soothing aromas. 26:32 I myself will make the land desolate and your enemies who live in it will be appalled. 26:33 I will scatter you among the nations and unsheathe the sword 193 after you, so your land will become desolate and your cities will become a waste.
26:34 “‘Then the land will make up for 194 its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land will rest and make up its Sabbaths. 26:35 All the days of the desolation it will have the rest it did not have 195 on your Sabbaths when you lived on it.
26:36 “‘As for 196 the ones who remain among you, I will bring despair into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a blowing leaf will pursue them, and they will flee as one who flees the sword and fall down even though there is no pursuer. 26:37 They will stumble over each other as those who flee before a sword, though 197 there is no pursuer, and there will be no one to take a stand 198 for you before your enemies. 26:38 You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will consume you.
26:39 “‘As for the ones who remain among you, they will rot away because of 199 their iniquity in the lands of your enemies, and they will also rot away because of their ancestors’ 200 iniquities which are with them. 26:40 However, when 201 they confess their iniquity and their ancestors’ iniquity which they committed by trespassing against me, 202 by which they also walked 203 in hostility against me 204 26:41 (and I myself will walk in hostility against them and bring them into the land of their enemies), and 205 then their uncircumcised hearts become humbled and they make up for 206 their iniquity, 26:42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, 207 and I will remember the land. 26:43 The land will be abandoned by them 208 in order that it may make up for 209 its Sabbaths while it is made desolate 210 without them, 211 and they will make up for their iniquity because 212 they have rejected my regulations and have abhorred 213 my statutes. 26:44 In spite of this, however, when they are in the land of their enemies I will not reject them and abhor them to make a complete end of them, to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. 26:45 I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors 214 whom I brought out from the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’”
26:46 These are the statutes, regulations, and instructions which the Lord established 215 between himself and the Israelites at Mount Sinai through 216 Moses.
27:1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 27:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When a man makes a special votive offering 217 based on the conversion value of persons to the Lord, 218 27:3 the conversion value of the male 219 from twenty years old up to sixty years old 220 is fifty shekels by the standard of the sanctuary shekel. 221 27:4 If the person is a female, the conversion value is thirty shekels. 27:5 If the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, the conversion value of the male is twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. 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, 222 and for the female the conversion value is three shekels of silver. 27:7 If the person is from sixty years old and older, if he is a male the conversion value is fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels. 27:8 If he is too poor to pay the conversion value, he must stand the person before the priest and the priest will establish his conversion value; 223 according to what the man who made the vow can afford, 224 the priest will establish his conversion value.
27:9 “‘If what is vowed is a kind of animal from which an offering may be presented 225 to the Lord, anything which he gives to the Lord from this kind of animal 226 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 227 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, 27:12 and the priest will establish its conversion value, 228 whether good or bad. According to the assessed conversion value of the priest, thus it will be. 27:13 If, however, the person who made the vow redeems the animal, 229 he must add one fifth to 230 its conversion value.
27:14 “‘If a man consecrates his house as holy to the Lord, the priest will establish its conversion value, whether good or bad. Just as the priest establishes its conversion value, thus it will stand. 231 27:15 If the one who consecrates it redeems his house, he must add to it one fifth of its conversion value in silver, and it will belong to him. 232
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, 233 a homer of barley seed being priced at fifty shekels of silver. 234 27:17 If he consecrates his field in the jubilee year, 235 the conversion value will stand, 27:18 but if 236 he consecrates his field after the jubilee, the priest will calculate the price 237 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, 238 he must add to it one fifth of the conversion price 239 and it will belong to him. 240 27:20 If he does not redeem the field, but sells 241 the field to someone else, he may never redeem it. 27:21 When it reverts 242 in the jubilee, the field will be holy to the Lord like a permanently dedicated field; 243 it will become the priest’s property. 244
27:22 “‘If he consecrates to the Lord a field he has purchased, 245 which is not part of his own landed property, 27:23 the priest will calculate for him the amount of its conversion value until the jubilee year, and he must pay 246 the conversion value on that jubilee day as something that is holy to the Lord. 27:24 In the jubilee year the field will return to the one from whom he bought it, the one to whom it belongs as landed property. 27:25 Every conversion value must be calculated by the standard of the sanctuary shekel; 247 twenty gerahs to the shekel.
27:26 “‘Surely no man may consecrate a firstborn that already belongs to the Lord as a firstborn among the animals; whether it is an ox or a sheep, it belongs to the Lord. 248 27:27 If, however, 249 it is among the unclean animals, he may ransom it according to 250 its conversion value and must add one fifth to it, but if it is not redeemed it must be sold according to its conversion value.
27:28 “‘Surely anything which a man permanently dedicates to the Lord 251 from all that belongs to him, whether from people, animals, or his landed property, must be neither sold nor redeemed; anything permanently dedicated is most holy to the Lord. 27:29 Any human being who is permanently dedicated 252 must not be ransomed; such a person must be put to death.
27:30 “‘Any tithe 253 of the land, from the grain of the land or from the fruit of the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. 27:31 If a man redeems 254 part of his tithe, however, he must add one fifth to it. 255 27:32 All the tithe of herd or flock, everything which passes under the rod, the tenth one will be holy to the Lord. 256 27:33 The owner 257 must not examine the animals to distinguish between good and bad, and he must not exchange it. If, however, he does exchange it, 258 both the original animal 259 and its substitute will be holy. 260 It must not be redeemed.’”
27:34 These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses to tell the Israelites 261 at Mount Sinai.
[24:2] 1 tn Heb “and let them take.” The simple vav (ו) on the imperfect/jussive form of the verb לָקַח (laqakh, “to take”) following the imperative (“Command”) indicates a purpose clause (“to bring…”).
[24:2] 2 tn Heb “to cause to ascend a lamp continually.”
[24:3] 3 tn The Hebrew term פָּרֹכֶת (parokhet) is usually translated “veil” or “curtain,” but it seems to have stretched not only in front of but also over the top of the ark of the covenant which stood behind and under it inside the most holy place (see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 3:687-89).
[24:3] 4 tc Several medieval Hebrew
[24:3] 5 tn Heb “for your generations.”
[24:4] 6 tn Alternatively, “pure [gold] lampstand,” based on Exod 25:31, etc., where the term for “gold” actually appears (see NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT, and the remarks in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 395, etc.). However, in Lev 24:4 the adjective “pure” is feminine, corresponding to “lampstand,” not an assumed noun “gold” (contrast Exod 25:31), and the “table” in v. 6 was overlaid with gold, but was not made of pure gold. Therefore, it is probably better to translate “[ceremonially] pure lampstand” (v. 4) and “[ceremonially] pure table” (v. 6); see NEB; cf. KJV, ASV; B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 164-65; and G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 307.
[24:5] 7 sn See the note on Lev 2:1.
[24:5] 8 tn Heb “and bake it twelve loaves”; KJV, NAB, NASB “cakes.”
[24:5] 9 tn The words “of flour” are supplied in the translation for clarity.
[24:6] 10 tn Heb “six of the row.”
[24:7] 11 tn 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).
[24:7] 12 tn Heb “on [עַל, ’al] the row,” probably used distributively, “on each row” (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 395-96). Perhaps the frankincense was placed “with” or “along side of” each row, not actually on the bread itself, and was actually burned as incense to the
[24:7] 13 sn The “memorial portion” (אַזְכָרָה, ’azkharah) was normally the part of the grain offering that was burnt on the altar (see Lev 2:2 and the notes there), as opposed to the remainder, which was normally consumed by the priests (Lev 2:3; see the full regulations in Lev 6:14-23 [6:7-16 HT]).
[24:7] 14 sn See the note on Lev 1:9 regarding the term “gift.”
[24:8] 15 tn Heb “In the day of the Sabbath, in the day of the Sabbath.” The repetition is distributive. A few medieval Hebrew
[24:8] 16 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Aaron) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[24:8] 17 tn The word “portion” is supplied in the translation here for clarity, to specify what “this” refers to.
[24:9] 18 tn Or “a perpetual regulation”; NRSV “a perpetual due.”
[24:10] 20 tn Heb “the Israelite man,” but Smr has no article, and the point is that there was a conflict between the man of mixed background and a man of full Israelite descent.
[24:11] 21 tn The verb rendered “misused” means literally “to bore through, to pierce” (HALOT 719 s.v. נקב qal); it is from נָקַב (naqav), not קָבַב (qavav; see the participial form in v. 16a). Its exact meaning here is uncertain. The two verbs together may form a hendiadys, “he pronounced by cursing blasphemously” (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 166), the idea being one of the following: (1) he pronounced the name “Yahweh” in a way or with words that amounted to “some sort of verbal aggression against Yahweh himself” (E. S. Gerstenberger, Leviticus [OTL], 362), (2) he pronounced a curse against the man using the name “Yahweh” (N. H. Snaith, Leviticus and Numbers [NCBC], 110; G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 311), or (3) he pronounced the name “Yahweh” and thereby blasphemed, since the “Name” was never to be pronounced (a standard Jewish explanation). In one way or another, the offense surely violated Exod 20:7, one of the ten commandments, and the same verb for cursing is used explicitly in Exod 22:28 (27 HT) prohibition against “cursing” God. For a full discussion of these and related options for interpreting this verse see P. J. Budd, Leviticus (NCBC), 335-36; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 408-9; and Levine, 166.
[24:12] 22 tn The words “until they were able” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.
[24:12] 23 tn The Hebrew here is awkward. A literal reading would be something like the following: “And they placed him in custody to give a clear decision [HALOT 976 s.v. פרשׁ qal] for themselves on the mouth of the
[24:14] 24 tn The words “to death” are supplied in the translation as a clarification; they are clearly implied from v. 16.
[24:15] 26 sn See the note on v. 11 above and esp. Exod 22:28 [27 HT].
[24:16] 27 sn See the note on v. 11 above.
[24:17] 28 tn Heb “And if a man strikes any soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] of mankind.” The idiom seems to derive from the idea of striking a fatal blow to the very “life” (literally, “soul”) of a human being, not just landing a blow on their body (HALOT 698 s.v. נכה hif.2). On the difficult of the meaning and significance of the term נֶפֶשׁ see the notes on Lev 17:10-11.
[24:18] 29 tn Heb “And one who strikes a soul of an animal.”
[24:18] 30 tn Heb “soul under soul.” Cf. KJV “beast for beast”; NCV “must give…another animal to take its place.”
[24:19] 31 tn Heb “gives a flaw in”; KJV, ASV “cause a blemish in.”
[24:19] 32 tn Or “neighbor” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); TEV, NLT “another person.”
[24:20] 33 tn Heb “in the man [אָדָם, ’adam].”
[24:20] 34 tn Heb “just as he inflicts an injury…it must be inflicted on him.” The referent (“that same injury”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[24:21] 35 sn See the note on v. 18 above.
[24:21] 36 tn Heb “and,” but here the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) is adversative, contrasting the consequences of beating an animal to death with those of beating a person to death.
[24:22] 37 tn Heb “a regulation of one”; KJV, ASV “one manner of law”; NASB “one standard.”
[25:2] 38 tn Heb “the land shall rest a Sabbath.”
[25:3] 39 tn Heb “its produce,” but the feminine pronoun “its” probably refers to the “land” (a feminine noun in Hebrew; cf. v. 2), not the “field” or the “vineyard,” both of which are normally masculine nouns (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 170).
[25:4] 40 tn Heb “and in the seventh year a Sabbath of complete rest shall be to the land.” The expression “a Sabbath of complete rest” is superlative, emphasizing the full and all inclusive rest of the seventh year of the sabbatical cycle. Cf. ASV “a sabbath of solemn rest”; NAB “a complete rest.”
[25:4] 41 tn Heb “and.” Here the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) has an alternative sense (“or”).
[25:5] 42 tn Heb “consecrated, devoted, forbidden” (נָזִיר, nazir). The same term is used for the “consecration” of the “Nazirite” (and his hair, Num 6:2, 18, etc.), a designation which, in turn, derives from the very same root.
[25:6] 43 tn The word “produce” is not in the Hebrew text but is implied; cf. NASB “the sabbath products.”
[25:6] 44 tn A “resident who stays” would be a foreign person who was probably residing as another kind of laborer in the household of a landowner (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 170-71). See v. 35 below.
[25:7] 45 tn The words “for you” are implied.
[25:8] 46 tn Heb “And you shall count off for yourself.”
[25:8] 47 tn Heb “seven years seven times.”
[25:8] 48 tn Heb “and they shall be for you, the days of the seven Sabbaths of years, forty-nine years.”
[25:9] 49 sn On the “loud horn blasts” see the note on Lev 23:24, but unlike the language there, the Hebrew term for “horn” (שׁוֹפָר, shofar) actually appears here in this verse (twice).
[25:10] 50 tn Heb “the year of the fifty years,” or perhaps “the year, fifty years” (GKC 435 §134.o, note 2).
[25:10] 51 tn Cf. KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “liberty”; TEV, CEV “freedom.” The characteristics of this “release” are detailed in the following verses. For substantial summaries and bibliography on the biblical and ancient Near Eastern material regarding such a “release” see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 427-34, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 270-74.
[25:10] 52 tn Heb “A jubilee that shall be to you.” Although there has been some significant debate about the original meaning of the Hebrew word translated “jubilee” (יוֹבֵל, yovel; see the summary in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 434), the term most likely means “ram” and can refer also to a “ram’s horn.” The fiftieth year would, therefore, be called the “jubilee” because of the associated sounding of the “ram’s horn” (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 172, and the literature cited there).
[25:10] 53 tn Heb “you [plural] shall return, a man.”
[25:11] 54 tn Heb “you shall not sow and you shall not…and you shall not….”
[25:12] 55 tn That is, the produce of the land (fem.; cf. v. 7 above).
[25:13] 56 tn Heb “you [plural] shall return, a man.”
[25:14] 57 tn Heb “sell a sale.”
[25:14] 58 tn Or “to one of your countrymen” (NIV); NASB “to your friend.”
[25:14] 59 tn The Hebrew infinitive absolute קָנֹה (qanoh, “buying”) substitutes for the finite verb here in sequence with the previous finite verb “sell” at the beginning of the verse (see GKC 345 §113.z).
[25:14] 60 tn Heb “do not oppress a man his brother.” Here “brother” does not refer only to a sibling, but to a fellow Israelite.
[25:15] 61 tn Heb “in the number of years after.”
[25:15] 62 tn The words “that are left” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.
[25:16] 63 tn Heb “To the mouth of the many years.”
[25:16] 64 tn Heb “to the mouth of the few years.”
[25:16] 65 tn Heb “a number of produce”; the words “years of” are implied. As an alternative this could be translated “a number of harvests” (cf. NRSV, NLT).
[25:17] 66 tn Heb “And you shall not oppress a man his fellow citizen.”
[25:18] 67 tn Heb “And you shall keep and 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 20:8, etc.).
[25:18] 68 tn Heb “and you shall dwell on the land to security.”
[25:19] 69 tn Heb “eat to satisfaction”; KJV, ASV “ye shall eat your fill.”
[25:21] 70 tn Heb “and it [i.e., the land] shall make the produce.” The Hebrew term וְעָשָׂת (vÿ’asat, “and it shall make”) is probably an older third feminine singular form of the verb (GKC 210 §75.m). Smr has the normal form.
[25:21] 71 tn Smr and LXX have “its produce” (cf. 25:3, 7, etc.) rather than “the produce.”
[25:22] 72 tn Heb “the produce,” referring to “the produce” of the sixth year of v. 21. The words “sixth year” are supplied for clarity.
[25:22] 73 tn Heb “until the ninth year, until bringing [in] its produce.”
[25:23] 74 tn The term rendered “without reclaim” means that the land has been bought for the full price and is, therefore, not subject to reclaim under any circumstances. This was not to be done with land in ancient Israel (contrast the final full sale of houses in v. 30; see the evidence cited in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 174).
[25:23] 75 tn That is, the Israelites were strangers and residents who were attached to the
[25:24] 76 tn Heb “And in all the land of your property.”
[25:24] 77 tn Heb “right of redemption you shall give to the land”; NAB “you must permit the land to be redeemed.”
[25:25] 78 tn Heb “the sale of his brother.”
[25:26] 79 tn Heb “and his hand reaches.”
[25:26] 80 tn Heb “and he finds as sufficiency of its redemption.”
[25:27] 81 tn Heb “and he shall calculate its years of sale.”
[25:27] 82 tn Heb “and return the excess.”
[25:28] 83 tn Heb “And if his hand has not found sufficiency of returning.” Although some versions take this to mean that he has not made enough to regain the land (e.g., NASB, NRSV; see also B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 176), the combination of terms in Hebrew corresponds to the portion of v. 27 that refers specifically to refunding the money (cf. v. 27; see NIV and G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 315).
[25:28] 85 tn Heb “will be in the hand of.” This refers to the temporary control of the one who purchased its produce until the next year of jubilee, at which time it would revert to the original owner.
[25:28] 86 tn Heb “it shall go out” (so KJV, ASV; see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 176).
[25:28] 87 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the original owner of the land) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[25:29] 88 tn Heb “a house of a residence of a walled city.”
[25:29] 90 tn Heb “of its sale.”
[25:29] 91 tn Heb “days its right of redemption shall be” (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 176).
[25:30] 92 tn Heb “until fulfilling to it a complete year.’
[25:30] 93 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] 94 tn See the note on v. 23 above.
[25:31] 95 tn Heb “And the houses of the villages.”
[25:31] 96 tn Heb “which there is not to them a wall.”
[25:31] 97 tn Heb “on the field.”
[25:32] 99 tn Heb “the houses of the cities of their property.”
[25:33] 100 tn Heb “And which he shall redeem from the Levites shall go out, sale of house and city, his property in the jubilee.” Although the end of this verse is clear, the first part is notoriously difficult. There are five main views. (1) The first clause of the verse actually attaches to the previous verse, and refers to the fact that their houses retain a perpetual right of redemption (v. 32b), “which any of the Levites may exercise” (v. 33a; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 418, 421). (2) It refers to property that one Levite sells to another Levite, which is then redeemed by still another Levite (v. 33a). In such cases, the property reverts to the original Levite owner in the jubilee year (v. 33b; G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 321). (3) It refers to houses in a city that had come to be declared as a Levitical city but had original non-Levitical owners. Once the city was declared to belong to the Levites, however, an owner could only sell his house to a Levite, and he could only redeem it back from a Levite up until the time of the first jubilee after the city was declared to be a Levitical city. In this case the first part of the verse would be translated, “Such property as may be redeemed from the Levites” (NRSV, NJPS). At the first jubilee, however, all such houses became the property of the Levites (v. 33b; P. J. Budd, Leviticus [NCBC], 353). (4) It refers to property “which is appropriated from the Levites” (not “redeemed from the Levites,” v. 33a) by those who have bought it or taken it as security for debts owed to them by Levites who had fallen on bad times. Again, such property reverts back to the original Levite owners at the jubilee (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 177). (5) It simply refers to the fact that a Levite has the option of redeeming his house (i.e., the prefix form of the verb is taken to be subjunctive, “may or might redeem”), which he had to sell because he had fallen into debt or perhaps even become destitute. Even if he never gained the resources to do so, however, it would still revert to him in the jubilee year. The present translation is intended to reflect this latter view.
[25:34] 102 sn This refers to the region of fields just outside and surrounding the city where cattle were kept and garden crops were grown (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 177).
[25:35] 103 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] 104 tn Heb “and his hand slips with you.”
[25:35] 105 tn Heb “strengthen”; NASB “sustain.”
[25:35] 106 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] 107 tn Heb “a foreigner and resident,” which is probably to be combined (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 170-71).
[25:36] 108 tn The meaning of the terms rendered “interest” and “profit” is much debated (see the summaries in P. J. Budd, Leviticus [NCBC], 354-55 and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 178). Verse 37, however, suggests that the first refers to a percentage of money and the second percentage of produce (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 421).
[25:36] 109 tn In form the Hebrew term וְחֵי (vÿkhey, “shall live”) is the construct plural noun (i.e., “the life of”), but here it is used as the finite verb (cf. v. 35 and GKC 218 §76.i).
[25:37] 110 tn Heb “your money” and “your food.” With regard to “interest” and “profit” see the note on v. 36 above.
[25:38] 111 tn Heb “to be to you for a God.”
[25:39] 112 tn Heb “you shall not serve against him service of a slave.” A distinction is being made here between the status of slave and indentured servant.
[25:40] 113 tn See the note on Lev 25:6 above.
[25:41] 114 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have adversative force here.
[25:41] 115 tn Heb “may go out from you.”
[25:42] 117 tn Or perhaps reflexive Niphal rather than passive, “they shall not sell themselves [as in] a slave sale.”
[25:43] 118 tn Heb “You shall not rule in him in violence”; cf. NASB “with severity”; NIV “ruthlessly.”
[25:44] 119 tn Heb “And your male slave and your female slave.” Smr has these as plural terms, “slaves,” not singular.
[25:44] 120 tn Heb “ from the nations which surround you, from them you shall buy male slave and female slave.”
[25:45] 121 tn The word “slaves” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied here.
[25:45] 122 tn Heb “family which is” (i.e., singular rather than plural).
[25:46] 123 tn Heb “and your brothers, the sons of Israel, a man in his brother you shall not rule in him in violence.”
[25:47] 124 tn Heb “And if the hand of a foreigner and resident with you reaches” (cf. v. 26 for this idiom).
[25:47] 125 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
[25:47] 126 tn Heb “offshoot, descendant.”
[25:48] 127 tn Heb “right of redemption shall be to him.”
[25:49] 128 tn Heb “the son of his uncle.”
[25:49] 129 tn Heb “or from the remainder of his flesh from his family.”
[25:49] 130 tc The LXX, followed by the Syriac, actually has “if,” which is not in the MT.
[25:50] 131 tn Heb “the years.”
[25:50] 132 tn Heb “as days of a hired worker he shall be with him.” For this and the following verses see the explanation in P. J. Budd, Leviticus (NCBC), 358-59.
[25:51] 133 tn Heb “to the mouth of them.”
[25:52] 134 tn Heb “but if a little remains in the years.”
[25:53] 135 tn Heb “be with him”; the referent (the one who bought him) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[25:53] 136 tn Heb “As a hired worker year in year.”
[25:53] 137 tn Heb “He”; the referent (the one who bought him) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[25:55] 140 tn Heb “because to me the sons of Israel are servants.”
[26:1] 141 sn For the literature regarding the difficult etymology and meaning of the term for “idols” (אֱלִילִם, ’elilim), see the literature cited in the note on Lev 19:4. It appears to be a diminutive play on words with אֵל (’el, “god, God”) and, perhaps at the same time, recalls a common Semitic word for “worthless, weak, powerless, nothingness.” Snaith suggests a rendering of “worthless godlings.”
[26:1] 142 tn Heb “on.” The “sculpted stone” appears to be some sort of stone with images carved into (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 181, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 449).
[26:2] 143 tn Heb “and my sanctuary you shall fear.” Cf. NCV “respect”; CEV “honor.”
[26:3] 144 tn Heb “and my commandments you shall keep and 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 20:8; 25:18, etc.).
[26:4] 145 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
[26:4] 146 tn Heb “the tree of the field will give its fruit.” As a collective singular this has been translated as plural.
[26:5] 147 tn Heb “will reach for you the vintage season.”
[26:5] 148 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
[26:5] 149 tn Heb “to satisfaction”; KJV, ASV, NASB “to the full.”
[26:6] 150 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
[26:6] 151 tn Heb “and there will be no one who terrifies.” The words “to sleep” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[26:6] 152 tn Heb “harmful animal,” singular, but taken here as a collective plural (so almost all English versions).
[26:6] 153 tn Heb “no sword”; the words “of war” are supplied in the translation to indicate what the metaphor of the sword represents.
[26:7] 154 tn Heb “to the sword.”
[26:9] 155 tn Heb “cause to arise,” but probably used here for the
[26:10] 156 tn Heb “old [produce] growing old.”
[26:10] 157 tn Heb “and old from the presence of new you will bring out.”
[26:11] 158 tn LXX codexes Vaticanus and Alexandrinus have “my covenant” rather than “my tabernacle.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV “my dwelling.”
[26:11] 159 tn Heb “and my soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] will not abhor you.”
[26:13] 160 tn Heb “from being to them slaves.”
[26:13] 161 tn In other words, to walk as free people and not as slaves. Cf. NIV “with (+ your CEV, NLT) heads held high”; NCV “proudly.”
[26:14] 163 tn Heb “and do not do.”
[26:15] 164 tn Heb “to not do.”
[26:16] 165 tn Or “I also” (see HALOT 76 s.v. אַף 6.b).
[26:16] 166 tn Heb “soul.” These expressions may refer either to the physical effects of consumption and fever as the rendering in the text suggests (e.g., J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 452, 454, “diminishing eyesight and loss of appetite”), or perhaps the more psychological effects, “which exhausts the eyes” because of anxious hope “and causes depression” (Heb “causes soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] to pine away”), e.g., B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 185.
[26:16] 167 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have causal force here.
[26:16] 168 tn That is, “your enemies will eat” the produce that grows from the sown seed.
[26:18] 169 tn Heb “And if until these.”
[26:18] 170 tn Heb “I will add to discipline you seven [times] on your sins.”
[26:20] 171 tn Heb “the tree of the land will not give its fruit.” The collective singular has been translated as a plural. Tg. Onq., some medieval Hebrew
[26:21] 172 tn Heb “hostile with me,” but see the added preposition בְּ (bet) on the phrase “in hostility” in v. 24 and 27.
[26:21] 173 tn Heb “your blow, stroke”; cf. TEV “punishment”; NLT “I will inflict you with seven more disasters.”
[26:22] 174 tn Heb “the animal of the field.” This collective singular has been translated as a plural. The expression “animal of the field” refers to a wild (i.e., nondomesticated) animal.
[26:22] 175 tn The words “of your children” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.
[26:22] 176 tn Heb “and diminish you.”
[26:23] 177 tn Heb “And if in these.”
[26:23] 178 tn Heb “with me,” but see the added preposition בְּ (bet) on the phrase “in hostility” in vv. 24 and 27.
[26:24] 179 tn Heb “and I myself will also strike you.”
[26:25] 180 tn Heb “vengeance of covenant”; cf. NAB “the avenger of my covenant.”
[26:25] 181 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) has a concessive force in this context.
[26:25] 182 tn Heb “in hand of enemy,” but Tg. Ps.-J. and Tg. Neof. have “in the hands of your enemies” (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 454).
[26:26] 183 tn Heb “When I break to you staff of bread” (KJV, ASV, and NASB all similar).
[26:26] 184 tn Heb “they will return your bread in weight.”
[26:27] 185 tn Heb “And if in this.”
[26:28] 187 tn Heb “in rage of hostility with you”; NASB “with wrathful hostility”; NRSV “I will continue hostile to you in fury”; CEV “I’ll get really furious.”
[26:29] 188 tn Heb “and the flesh of your daughters you will eat.” The phrase “you will eat” has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[26:30] 189 sn Regarding these cultic installations, see the remarks in B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 188, and R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:903. The term rendered “incense altars” might better be rendered “sanctuaries [of foreign deities]” or “stelae.”
[26:30] 190 tn The translation reflects the Hebrew wordplay “your corpses…the corpses of your idols.” Since idols, being lifeless, do not really have “corpses,” the translation uses “dead bodies” for people and “lifeless bodies” for the idols.
[26:30] 191 tn Heb “and my soul will abhor you.”
[26:31] 192 tn Heb “And I will give your cities a waste”; NLT “make your cities desolate.”
[26:33] 193 tn Heb “and I will empty sword” (see HALOT 1228 s.v. ריק 3).
[26:34] 194 tn There are two Hebrew roots רָצָה (ratsah), one meaning “to be pleased with; to take pleasure” (HALOT 1280-81 s.v. רצה; cf. “enjoy” in NASB, NIV, NRSV, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 452), and the other meaning “to restore” (HALOT 1281-82 s.v. II רצה; cf. NAB “retrieve” and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 189).
[26:35] 195 tn Heb “it shall rest which it did not rest.”
[26:37] 197 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) is used in a concessive sense here.
[26:37] 198 tn The term rendered “to stand up” is a noun, not an infinitive. It occurs only here and appears to designate someone who would take a powerful stand for them against their enemies.
[26:39] 199 tn Heb “in” (so KJV, ASV; also later in this verse).
[26:39] 200 tn Heb “fathers’” (also in the following verse).
[26:40] 201 tn Heb “And.” Many English versions take this to be a conditional clause (“if…”) though there is no conditional particle (see, e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV; but see the very different rendering in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 190). The temporal translation offered here (“when”) takes into account the particle אָז (’az, “then”), which occurs twice in v. 41. The obvious contextual contrast between vv. 39 and 40 is expressed by “however” in the translation.
[26:40] 202 tn Heb “in their trespassing which they trespassed in me.” See the note on Lev 5:15, although the term is used in a more technical sense there in relation to the “guilt offering.”
[26:40] 203 tn Heb “and also which they walked.”
[26:41] 205 tn Heb “or then,” although the LXX has “then” and the Syriac “and then.”
[26:41] 206 tn Heb “and then they make up for.” On the verb “make up for” see the note on v. 34 above.
[26:42] 207 tn Heb “my covenant with Abraham I will remember.” The phrase “I will remember” has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[26:43] 208 tn Heb “from them.” The preposition “from” refers here to the agent of the action (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 455).
[26:43] 209 tn The jussive form of the verb with the simple vav (ו) here calls for a translation that expresses purpose.
[26:43] 210 tn The verb is the Hophal infinitive construct with the third feminine singular suffix (GKC 182 §67.y; cf. v. 34).
[26:43] 211 tn Heb “from them.”
[26:43] 212 tn Heb “because and in because,” a double expression, which is used only here and in Ezek 13:10 (without the vav) for emphasis (GKC 492 §158.b).
[26:43] 213 tn Heb “and their soul has abhorred.”
[26:45] 214 tn Heb “covenant of former ones.”
[26:46] 215 tn Heb “gave” (so NLT); KJV, ASV, NCV “made.”
[26:46] 216 tn Heb “by the hand of” (so KJV).
[27:2] 217 tn Cf. the note on Lev 22:21. Some take this as an expression for fulfilling a vow, “to fulfill a vow” (e.g., HALOT 927-28 s.v. פלא piel and NASB; cf. NRSV “in fulfillment of a vow”) or, alternatively, “to make a vow” or “for making a vow” (HALOT 928 s.v. פלא piel [II פלא]). Perhaps it refers to the making a special vow, from the verb פָלָא (pala’, “to be wonderful; to be remarkable”), cf. Milgrom, Numbers [JPSTC], 44. B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 151 and 193, suggests that this is a special term for “setting aside a votive offering” (related to פָלָה, palah, “to set aside”). In general, the point of the expression seems to be that this sacrifice is a special gift to God that arose out of special circumstances in the life of the worshiper.
[27:2] 218 tn Heb “in your valuation, persons to the
[27:3] 219 tn Heb “your conversion value shall be [for] the male.”
[27:3] 220 tn Heb “from a son of twenty years and until a son of sixty years.”
[27:3] 221 tn See the note on Lev 5:15.
[27:6] 222 tn Heb “five shekels silver.”
[27:8] 223 tn Heb “and the priest shall cause him to be valued.”
[27:8] 224 tn Heb “on the mouth which the hand of the one who vowed reaches.”
[27:9] 225 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
[27:9] 226 tn Heb “from it.” The masculine suffix “it” here is used for the feminine in the MT, but one medieval Hebrew
[27:10] 227 tn Heb “it and its substitute.” The referent (the original animal offered) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[27:12] 228 tn Heb “and the priest shall cause it to be valued.” See the note on v. 8 above.
[27:13] 229 tn Heb “And if redeeming [infinitive absolute] he redeems it [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p. The referent of “he” (the person who made the vow) and “it” (the animal) have both been specified in the translation for clarity.
[27:13] 230 tn Heb “on,” meaning “on top of, in addition to” (likewise in v. 15).
[27:14] 231 tn The expression “it shall stand” may be a technical term for “it shall be legally valid”; cf. NLT “assessment will be final.”
[27:15] 232 tn Heb “and it shall be to him.”
[27:16] 233 tn Heb “a conversion value shall be to the mouth of its seed.”
[27:16] 234 tn Heb “seed of a homer of barley in fifty shekels of silver.”
[27:17] 235 tn Heb “from the year of the jubilee.” For the meaning of “jubilee,” see the note on Lev 25:10 above.
[27:18] 236 tn Heb “And if.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have adversative force here.
[27:18] 237 tn Heb “the silver.”
[27:19] 238 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] 239 tn Heb “the silver of the conversion value.”
[27:19] 240 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).
[27:20] 241 tn Heb “and if he sells.”
[27:21] 242 tn Heb “When it goes out” (cf. Lev 25:25-34).
[27:21] 243 tn Heb “like the field of the permanent dedication.” The Hebrew word חֵרֶם (kherem) is a much discussed term. In this and the following verses it refers in a general way to the fact that something is permanently devoted to the
[27:21] 244 tn Heb “to the priest it shall be his property.”
[27:22] 245 tn Heb “his field of purchase,” which is to be distinguished from his own ancestral “landed property” (cf. v. 16 above).
[27:23] 246 tn Heb “give” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NLT).
[27:25] 247 tn See the note on Lev 5:15.
[27:26] 248 tn Heb “to the
[27:27] 250 tn Heb “in” or “by.”
[27:28] 251 tn Heb “Surely, any permanently dedicated [thing] which a man shall permanently dedicate to the
[27:29] 252 tn Heb “permanently dedicated from among men.”
[27:30] 253 tn On the “tithe” system in Israel, see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:1035-55 and esp. pp. 1041-42 on Lev 27:30-33.
[27:31] 254 tn Heb “And if redeeming [infinitive absolute] a man redeems [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.
[27:31] 255 tn Heb “its one fifth on it.”
[27:32] 256 sn The tithed animal was the tenth one that passed under the shepherd’s rod or staff as they were being counted (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 485, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 200).
[27:33] 257 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the owner of the animal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[27:33] 258 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] 259 tn Heb “it and its substitute.” The referent (the original animal offered) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[27:33] 260 tn Heb “it shall be and its substitute shall be holy.”
[27:34] 261 tn Most of the commentaries and English versions translate, “which the
