21:1 During David’s reign there was a famine for three consecutive years. So David inquired of the Lord. 1 The Lord said, “It is because of Saul and his bloodstained family, 2 because he murdered the Gibeonites.”
26:1 “‘You must not make for yourselves idols, 4 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 5 it, for I am the Lord your God.
17:1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 17:2 “Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites, and tell them: ‘This is the word that the Lord has commanded: 17:3 “Blood guilt 6 will be accounted to any man 7 from the house of Israel 8 who slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat inside the camp or outside the camp, 9 17:4 but has not brought it to the entrance of the Meeting Tent 10 to present it as 11 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. 12 17:5 This is so that 13 the Israelites will bring their sacrifices that they are sacrificing in the open field 14 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 15 the blood on the altar 16 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 17 their sacrifices to the goat demons, 18 acting like prostitutes by going after them. 19 This is to be a perpetual statute for them throughout their generations. 20
17:1 The Lord spoke to Moses:
14:21 “For this is what the sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send my four terrible judgments – sword, famine, wild animals, and plague – to Jerusalem 23 to kill both people and animals!
1 tn Heb “sought the face of the
2 tn Heb “and the house of bloodshed.”
3 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
4 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.”
5 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).
6 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).
7 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.
8 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).
9 tn Heb “or who slaughters from outside to the camp.”
10 tn Smr and LXX add after “tent of meeting” the following: “to make it a burnt offering or a peace offering to the
11 tc Smr includes the suffix “it,” which is needed in any case in the translation to conform to English style.
12 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.
13 tn Heb “So that which.”
14 tn Heb “on the faces of the field.”
15 tn For the translation “splash” see the note on Lev 1:5.
16 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 tn Heb “sacrifice.” This has been translated as “offer” for stylistic reasons to avoid the redundancy of “sacrifice their sacrifices.”
18 tn On “goat demons” of the desert regions see the note on Lev 16:8.
19 tn Heb “which they are committing harlotry after them.”
20 tn Heb “for your generations.”
21 sn Regarding “profane,” see the note on Lev 10:10 above.
22 tn Heb “break its staff of bread.”
23 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
24 sn Elijah’s days. Jesus, by discussing Elijah and Elisha, pictures one of the lowest periods in Israel’s history. These examples, along with v. 24, also show that Jesus is making prophetic claims as well as messianic ones. See 1 Kgs 17-18.
25 tn Or “the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. Since the context here refers to a drought (which produced the famine), “sky” is preferable.
26 tn Grk “as.” The particle ὡς can also function temporally (see BDAG 1105-6 s.v. 8).