18:24 “‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for the nations which I am about to drive out before you 11 have been defiled with all these things. 18:25 Therefore 12 the land has become unclean and I have brought the punishment for its iniquity upon it, 13 so that the land has vomited out its inhabitants. 18:26 You yourselves must obey 14 my statutes and my regulations and must not do any of these abominations, both the native citizen and the resident foreigner in your midst, 15 18:27 for the people who were in the land before you have done all these abominations, 16 and the land has become unclean. 18:28 So do not make the land vomit you out because you defile it 17 just as it has vomited out the nations 18 that were before you. 18:29 For if anyone does any of these abominations, the persons who do them will be cut off from the midst of their people. 19 18:30 You must obey my charge to not practice any of the abominable statutes 20 that have been done before you, so that you do not 21 defile yourselves by them. I am the Lord your God.’”
16:3 “In this way Aaron is to enter into the sanctuary – with a young bull 37 for a sin offering 38 and a ram for a burnt offering. 39
17:1 The Lord spoke to Moses:
21:6 “‘They must be holy to their God, and they must not profane 40 the name of their God, because they are the ones who present the Lord’s gifts, 41 the food of their God. Therefore they must be holy. 42
1:3 “‘If his offering is a burnt offering 44 from the herd he must present it as a flawless male; he must present it at the entrance 45 of the Meeting Tent for its 46 acceptance before the Lord.
106:37 They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. 47
106:38 They shed innocent blood –
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan.
The land was polluted by bloodshed. 48
1 tn Heb “you must not do thus to/for the
2 tn See note on this term at Deut 7:25.
3 tn Heb “every abomination of the
4 tn Heb “And from your seed you shall not give to cause to pass over to Molech.” Smr (cf. also the LXX) has “to cause to serve” rather than “to cause to pass over.” For detailed remarks on Molech and Molech worship see N. H. Snaith, Leviticus and Numbers (NCBC), 87-88; P. J. Budd, Leviticus (NCBC), 259-60; and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 333-37, and the literature cited there. It could refer to either human sacrifice or a devotion of children to some sort of service of Molech, perhaps of a sexual sort (cf. Lev 20:2-5; 2 Kgs 23:10, etc.). The inclusion of this prohibition against Molech worship here may be due to some sexual connection of this kind, or perhaps simply to the lexical link between זֶרַע (zera’) meaning “seed, semen” in v. 20 but “offspring” in v. 21.
5 tn Heb “and you shall not profane.” Regarding “profane,” see the note on Lev 10:10 above.
7 tn Heb “And with a male you shall not lay [as the] lyings of a woman” (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 123). The specific reference here is to homosexual intercourse between males.
8 tn The Hebrew term תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, rendered “detestable act”) refers to the repugnant practices of foreigners, whether from the viewpoint of other peoples toward the Hebrews (e.g., Gen 43:32; 46:34; Exod 8:26) or of the
10 tn See the note on v. 20 above.
11 tn Heb “to copulate with it” (cf. Lev 20:16).
12 tn The Hebrew term תֶּבֶל (tevel, “perversion”) derives from the verb “to mix; to confuse” and therefore refers to illegitimate mixtures of species or violation of the natural order of things.
13 tn Heb “which I am sending away (Piel participle of שָׁלַח [shalakh, “to send”]) from your faces.” The rendering here takes the participle as anticipatory of the coming conquest events.
16 tn Heb “And.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative or even inferential force here.
17 tn Heb “and I have visited its [punishment for] iniquity on it.” See the note on Lev 17:16 above.
19 tn Heb “And you shall keep, you.” The latter emphatic personal pronoun “you” is left out of a few medieval Hebrew
20 tn Heb “the native and the sojourner”; NIV “The native-born and the aliens”; NAB “whether natives or resident aliens.”
22 tn Heb “for all these abominations the men of the land who were before you have done.”
25 tn Heb “And the land will not vomit you out in your defiling it.”
26 tc The MT reads the singular “nation” and is followed by ASV, NASB, NRSV; the LXX, Syriac, and Targum have the plural “nations” (cf. v. 24).
28 sn Regarding the “cut off” penalty see the note on Lev 7:20.
31 tn Heb “to not do from the statutes of the detestable acts.”
32 tn Heb “and you will not.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
34 tn Heb “or from the sojourner who sojourns”; NAB “an alien residing in Israel.”
35 tn Heb “his seed” (so KJV, ASV); likewise in vv. 3-4.
36 tn Regarding Molech and Molech worship see the note on Lev 18:21.
37 tn This is not the most frequently-used Hebrew verb for stoning (see instead סָקַל, saqal), but a word that refers to the action of throwing, slinging, or pelting someone with stones (רָגָם, ragam; see HALOT 1187 s.v. רגם qal.a, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 136).
37 tn Heb “And I, I shall give my faces.”
38 sn On the “cut off” penalty see the notes on Lev 7:20 and 17:4.
39 tn Heb “for the sake of defiling my sanctuary and to profane my holy name.”
40 tn Heb “And if shutting [infinitive absolute] they shut [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.
41 tn Heb “from that man” (so ASV); NASB “disregard that man.”
43 tn The adjective “spiritual” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that this is not a reference to literal prostitution, but figuratively compares idolatry to prostitution.
44 tn Heb “to commit harlotry after Molech.” The translation employs “worshiping” here for clarity (cf. NAB, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT). On the “cut off” penalty see the note on Lev 7:20.
46 tn Heb “or from the sojourner who sojourns”; NAB “an alien residing in Israel.”
47 tn Heb “his seed” (so KJV, ASV); likewise in vv. 3-4.
48 tn Regarding Molech and Molech worship see the note on Lev 18:21.
49 tn This is not the most frequently-used Hebrew verb for stoning (see instead סָקַל, saqal), but a word that refers to the action of throwing, slinging, or pelting someone with stones (רָגָם, ragam; see HALOT 1187 s.v. רגם qal.a, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 136).
49 tn Heb “with a bull, a son of the herd.”
50 sn See the note on Lev 4:3 regarding the term “sin offering.”
51 sn For the “burnt offering” see the note on Lev 1:3.
52 sn Regarding “profane,” see the note on Lev 10:10 above.
53 sn Regarding the Hebrew term for “gifts,” see the note on Lev 1:9 above (cf. also 3:11 and 16 in combination with the word for “food” that follows in the next phrase here).
54 tc Smr and all early versions have the plural adjective “holy” rather than the MT singular noun “holiness.”
55 tn Heb “except for his flesh, the one near to him.”
58 sn The burnt offering (עֹלָה, ’olah) was basically a “a gift of a soothing aroma to the
59 tn Heb “door” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “doorway” (likewise throughout the book of Leviticus). The translation “door” or “doorway” may suggest a framed door in a casing to the modern reader, but here the term refers to the entrance to a tent.
60 tn The NIV correctly has “it” in the text, referring to the acceptance of the animal (cf., e.g., RSV, NEB, NLT), but “he” in the margin, referring to the acceptance of the offerer (cf. ASV, NASB, JB). The reference to a “flawless male” in the first half of this verse suggests that the issue here is the acceptability of the animal to make atonement on behalf of the offerer (Lev 1:4; cf. NRSV “for acceptance in your behalf”).
61 tn The Hebrew term שֵׁדִים (shedim, “demons”) occurs only here and in Deut 32:17. Some type of lesser deity is probably in view.
64 sn Num 35:33-34 explains that bloodshed defiles a land.
67 tn The text merely has “they.” But since a reference is made later to “they” and “their ancestors,” the referent must be to the people that the leaders of the people and leaders of the priests represent.
68 sn Heb “have made this city foreign.” The verb here is one that is built off of the noun and adjective which relate to foreign nations. Comparison may be made to Jer 2:21 where the adjective refers to the strange, wild vine as opposed to the choice vine the
69 tn Heb “fathers.”
70 tn Heb “the blood of innocent ones.” This must be a reference to child sacrifice as explained in the next verse. Some have seen a reference to the sins of social injustice alluded to in 2 Kgs 21:16 and 24:4 but those are connected with the city itself. Hence the word children is supplied in the translation to make the referent explicit.
70 tn The word “here” is not in the text. However, it is implicit from the rest of the context. It is supplied in the translation for clarity.
71 tn The words “such sacrifices” are not in the text. The text merely says “to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal which I did not command.” The command obviously refers not to the qualification “to Baal” but to burning the children in the fire as burnt offerings. The words are supplied in the translation to avoid a possible confusion that the reference is to sacrifices to Baal. Likewise the words should not be translated so literally that they leave the impression that God never said anything about sacrificing their children to other gods. The fact is he did. See Lev 18:21; Deut 12:30; 18:10.
73 tn This phrase (Heb “Oracle of the
74 tn Heb “it will no longer be called to this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom but the Valley of Slaughter.”
76 sn Compare Jer 7:30-31; 19:5 and the study notes on 7:30. The god Molech is especially associated with the practice of child sacrifice (Lev 18:21; 20:2-5; 2 Kgs 23:10). In 1 Kgs 11:7 this god is identified as the god of the Ammonites who is also called Milcom in 1 Kgs 11:5; 2 Kgs 23:13. Child sacrifice, however, was not confined to this god; it was also made to the god Baal (Jer 19:5) and to other idols that the Israelites had set up (Ezek 16:20-21). This practice was, however, strictly prohibited in Israel (Lev 18:21; 20:2-5; Deut 12:31; 18:10). It was this practice as well as other pagan rites that Manasseh had instituted in Judah that ultimately led to Judah’s demise (2 Kgs 24:3-4). Though Josiah tried to root these pagan practices (2 Kgs 23:4-14) out of Judah he could not do so. The people had only made a pretense of following his reforms; their hearts were still far from God (Jer 3:10; 12:2).
77 tn Heb “They built high places to Baal which are in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to cause their sons and daughters to pass through [the fire] to Molech [a thing] which I did not command them and [which] did not go up into my heart [= “mind” in modern psychology] to do this abomination so as to make Judah liable for punishment.” For the use of the Hiphil of חָטָא (khata’) to refer to the liability for punishment see BDB s.v. חָטָא Hiph.3 and compare the usage in Deut 24:8. Coming at the end as this does, this nuance is much more likely than “cause Judah to sin” which is the normal translation assigned to the verb here. The particle לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) that precedes it is here once again introducing a result and not a purpose (compare other clear examples in 27:10, 15). The sentence has been broken down in conformity to contemporary English style and an attempt has been made to make clear that what is detestable and not commanded is not merely child sacrifice to Molech but child sacrifice in general.