17:15 “‘Any person 2 who eats an animal that has died of natural causes 3 or an animal torn by beasts, whether a native citizen or a foreigner, 4 must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening; then he becomes clean. 17:16 But if he does not wash his clothes 5 and does not bathe his body, he will bear his punishment for iniquity.’” 6
19:21 “‘So this will be a perpetual ordinance for them: The one who sprinkles 14 the water of purification must wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water of purification will be unclean until evening. 15
1 tn For “Azazel” see the note on v. 8 above.
2 tn Heb “And any soul” (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh).
3 tn Heb “carcass,” referring to the carcass of an animal that has died on its own, not the carcass of an animal slaughtered for sacrifice or killed by wild beasts. This has been clarified in the translation by supplying the phrase “of natural causes”; cf. NAB “that died of itself”; TEV “that has died a natural death.”
4 tn Heb “in the native or in the sojourner.”
3 tn The words “his clothes” are not in the Hebrew text, but are repeated in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “and he shall bear his iniquity.” The rendering “bear the punishment for the iniquity” reflects the use of the word “iniquity” to refer to the punishment for iniquity. This is sometimes referred to as the consequential use of the term (cf. Lev 5:17; 7:18; 10:17; etc.).
4 tn The sequence continues with the perfect tense and vav (ו) consecutive.
5 tn Heb “his flesh.”
6 tn This is the imperfect of permission.
5 sn Here the text makes clear that he had at least one assistant.
6 tn The verb is the Hitpael of חָטָא (khata’), a verb that normally means “to sin.” But the Piel idea in many places is “to cleanse; to purify.” This may be explained as a privative use (“to un-sin” someone, meaning cleanse) or denominative (“make a sin offering for someone”). It is surely connected to the purification offering, and so a sense of purify is what is wanted here.
7 sn It is in passages like this that the view that being “cut off” meant the death penalty is the hardest to support. Would the Law prescribe death for someone who touches a corpse and fails to follow the ritual? Besides, the statement in this section that his uncleanness remains with him suggests that he still lives on.
8 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.
9 tn The form has the conjunction with it: וּמַזֵּה (umazzeh). The conjunction subordinates the following as the special law. It could literally be translated “and this shall be…that the one who sprinkles.”
10 sn This gives the indication of the weight of the matter, for “until the evening” is the shortest period of ritual uncleanness in the Law. The problem of contamination had to be taken seriously, but this was a relatively simple matter to deal with – if one were willing to obey the Law.
10 tn Grk “only for foods and drinks.”
11 tc Most witnesses (D1 Ï) have “various washings, and external regulations” (βαπτισμοῖς καὶ δικαιώμασιν, baptismoi" kai dikaiwmasin), with both nouns in the dative. The translation “washings; they are… regulations” renders βαπτισμοῖς, δικαιώματα (baptismoi", dikaiwmata; found in such important
12 tn Grk “until the time of setting things right.”