Leviticus 22:25

22:25 Even from a foreigner ¹  you must not present the food of your God from such animals as these, for they are ruined and flawed; ²  they will not be acceptable for your benefit.’”

Deuteronomy 15:21

15:21 If they have any kind of blemish – lameness, blindness, or anything else ³  – you may not offer them as a sacrifice to the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 17:1

17:1 You must not sacrifice to him ⁴  a bull or sheep that has a blemish or any other defect, because that is considered offensive ⁵  to the Lord your God.

Malachi 1:8

1:8 For when you offer blind animals as a sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you offer the lame and sick, ⁶  is that not wrong as well? Indeed, try offering them ⁷  to your governor! Will he be pleased with you ⁸  or show you favor?” asks the Lord who rules over all.

Malachi 1:13-14

1:13 You also say, ‘How tiresome it is.’ You turn up your nose at it,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and instead bring what is stolen, lame, or sick. You bring these things for an offering! Should I accept this from you?” ⁹  asks the Lord. 1:14 “There will be harsh condemnation for the hypocrite who has a valuable male animal in his flock but vows and sacrifices something inferior to the Lord. For I am a great king,” ¹⁰  says the Lord who rules over all, “and my name is awesome among the nations.”

¹ tn Heb “And from the hand of a son of a foreigner.”

² tn Heb “for their being ruined [is] in them, flaw is in them”; NRSV “are mutilated, with a blemish in them”; NIV “are deformed and have defects.” The MT term מָשְׁחָתָם (moshkhatam, “their being ruined”) is a Muqtal form (= Hophal participle) from שָׁחַת (shakhat, “to ruin”). Smr has plural בהם משׁחתים (“deformities in them”; cf. the LXX translation). The Qumran Leviticus scroll (11QpaleoLev) has תימ הם[…], in which case the restored participle would appear to be the same as Smr, but there is no בְּ (bet) preposition before the pronoun, yielding “they are deformed” (see D. N. Freedman and K. A. Mathews, The Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus Scroll, 41 and the remarks in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 358).

³ tn Heb “any evil blemish”; NASB “any (+ other NAB, TEV) serious defect.”

⁴ tn Heb “to the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 16:1.

⁵ tn The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “an abomination”; cf. NAB) describes persons, things, or practices offensive to ritual or moral order. See M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 4:314-18; see also the note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25.

⁶ sn Offerings of animals that were lame or sick were strictly forbidden by the Mosaic law (see Deut 15:21).

⁷ tn Heb “it” (so NAB, NASB). Contemporary English more naturally uses a plural pronoun to agree with “the lame and sick” in the previous question (cf. NIV, NCV).

⁸ tc The LXX and Vulgate read “with it” (which in Hebrew would be הֲיִרְצֵהוּ, hayirtsehu, a reading followed by NAB) rather than “with you” of the MT (הֲיִרְצְךָ, hayirtsÿkha). The MT (followed here by most English versions) is to be preferred because of the parallel with the following phrase פָנֶיךָ (fanekha, “receive you,” which the present translation renders as “show you favor”).

⁹ tn Heb “from your hand,” a metonymy of part (the hand) for whole (the person).

¹⁰ sn The epithet great king was used to describe the Hittite rulers on their covenant documents and so, in the covenant ideology of Malachi, is an apt description of the Lord.