Leviticus 22:18-21

22:18 “Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites and tell them, ‘When any man ¹  from the house of Israel or from the foreigners in Israel ²  presents his offering for any of the votive or freewill offerings which they present to the Lord as a burnt offering, 22:19 if it is to be acceptable for your benefit ³  it must be a flawless male from the cattle, sheep, or goats. 22:20 You must not present anything that has a flaw, ⁴  because it will not be acceptable for your benefit. ⁵  22:21 If a man presents a peace offering sacrifice to the Lord for a special votive offering ⁶  or for a freewill offering from the herd or the flock, it must be flawless to be acceptable; ⁷  it must have no flaw. ⁸ 

Deuteronomy 12:6-7

12:6 And there you must take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, ⁹  your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 12:7 Both you and your families ¹⁰  must feast there before the Lord your God and rejoice in all the output of your labor with which he ¹¹  has blessed you.

Matthew 6:2

6:2 Thus whenever you do charitable giving, ¹²  do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in synagogues ¹³  and on streets so that people will praise them. I tell you the truth, ¹⁴  they have their reward.

¹ tn Heb “Man, man.” The reduplication is a way of saying “any man” (cf. Lev 15:2; 17:3, etc.; see the distributive repetition of the noun in GKC 395-96 §123.c).

² tn Heb “and from the foreigner [singular] in Israel.” Some medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate add “who resides” after “foreigner”: “the foreigner who resides in Israel” (cf., e.g., Lev 20:2 above).

³ tn Heb “for your acceptance.” See Lev 1:3-4 above and the notes there.

⁴ tn Heb “all which in it [is] a flaw.” Note that the same term is used for physical flaws of people in Lev 21:17-24. Cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV “blemish”; NASB, NIV, TEV “defect”; NLT “with physical defects.”

⁵ tn Heb “not for acceptance shall it be for you”; NIV “it will not be accepted on your behalf” (NRSV and NLT both similar).

⁶ tn The meaning of the expression לְפַלֵּא־נֶדֶר (lÿfalle’-neder) rendered here “for a special votive offering” is much debated. Some take it as an expression for fulfilling a vow, “to fulfill a vow” (e.g., HALOT 927-28 s.v. פלא piel and NASB; cf. NAB, 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 פָלַא (pala’, “to be wonderful, to be remarkable”); cf. J. 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 arises as a special gift to God out of special circumstances in the life of the worshiper.

⁷ tn Heb “for acceptance”; NAB “if it is to find acceptance.”

⁸ tn Heb “all/any flaw shall not be in it.”

⁹ tn Heb “heave offerings of your hand.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “and your houses,” referring to entire households. The pronouns “you” and “your” are plural in the Hebrew text.

¹¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 12:5.

¹² tn Grk “give alms,” but this term is not in common use today. The giving of alms was highly regarded in the ancient world (Deut 15:7-11).

¹³ sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.

¹⁴ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”