15:13 “‘When the man with the discharge becomes clean from his discharge he is to count off for himself seven days for his purification, and he must wash his clothes, bathe in fresh water, 8 and be clean.
15:16 “‘When a man has a seminal emission, 9 he must bathe his whole body in water 10 and be unclean until evening,
17:15 “‘Any person 12 who eats an animal that has died of natural causes 13 or an animal torn by beasts, whether a native citizen or a foreigner, 14 must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening; then he becomes clean.
1 tn Heb “Finally, he”; the referent (the offerer) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Once again, the MT assigns the preparation of the offering (here the entrails and legs) to the offerer because it did not bring him into direct contact with the altar, but reserves the actual placing of the sacrifice on the altar for the officiating priest (cf. the notes on vv. 5a and 6a).
2 tn Heb “toward the altar,” but the so-called locative ה (hey) attached to the word for “altar” can indicate the place where something is or happens (GKC 250 §90.d and GKC 373-74 §118.g; cf. also J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:161). This is a standard way of expressing “on/at the altar” with the verb “to offer up in smoke” (Hiphil of קָטַר [qatar]; cf. also Exod 29:13, 18, 25; Lev 1:9, 13, 15, 17; 2:2, etc.).
3 tc A few Hebrew
4 sn The standard English translation of “gift” (אִשֶּׁה, ’isheh) is “an offering [made] by fire” (cf. KJV, ASV). It is based on a supposed etymological relationship to the Hebrew word for “fire” (אֵשׁ, ’esh) and is still maintained in many versions (e.g., NIV, RSV, NRSV, NLT; B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 7-8). For various reasons, including the fact that some offerings referred to by this term are not burned on the altar (see, e.g., Lev 24:9), it is probably better to understand the term to mean “gift” (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 22) or “food gift” (“food offering” in NEB and TEV; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:161-62). See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:540-49 for a complete discussion.
5 tn Heb “which shall be under him.” The verb is perhaps a future perfect, “which shall have been.”
6 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the previously mentioned items which were under the unclean person) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tn Heb “And all who the man with the discharge touches in him and his hands he has not rinsed in water.”
13 tn For the expression “fresh water” see the note on Lev 14:5 above.
17 tn Heb “And a man when a lying of seed goes out from him”; KJV, ASV “any man’s seed of copulation”; NIV, NRSV, TEV, NLT “an emission of semen.”
18 tn Heb “and he shall bathe all his flesh in water.”
21 tn For “Azazel” see the note on v. 8 above.
25 tn Heb “And any soul” (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh).
26 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.”
27 tn Heb “in the native or in the sojourner.”
29 sn The phrase “any of these” refers back to the unclean things touched in vv. 4b-5.