Leviticus 6:18

6:18 Every male among the sons of Aaron may eat it. It is a perpetual allotted portion ¹  throughout your generations ²  from the gifts of the Lord. Anyone who touches these gifts ³  must be holy.’” ⁴ 

Leviticus 6:27

6:27 Anyone who touches its meat must be holy, and whoever spatters some of its blood on a garment, ⁵  you must wash ⁶  whatever he spatters it on in a holy place.

¹ tn Or “a perpetual regulation”; cf. NASB “a permanent ordinance”; NRSV “as their perpetual due.”

² tn Heb “for your generations”; cf. NIV “for the generations to come.”

³ tn Heb “touches them”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. In this context “them” must refer to the “gifts” of the Lord.

⁴ tn Or “anyone/anything that touches them shall become holy” (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:443-56). The question is whether this refers to the contagious nature of holy objects (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) or whether it simply sets forth a demand that anyone who touches the holy gifts of the Lord must be a holy person (cf. CEV). See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:900-902.

⁵ tn Heb “on the garment”; NCV “on any clothes”; CEV “on the clothes of the priest.”

⁶ tc The translation “you must wash” is based on the MT as it stands (cf. NASB, NIV). Smr, LXX, Syriac, Tg. Ps.-J., and the Vulgate have a third person masculine singular passive form (Pual), “[the garment] must be washed” (cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT). This could also be supported from the verbs in the following verse, and it requires only a repointing of the Hebrew text with no change in consonants. See the remarks in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 90 and J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:404.