Leviticus 8:21

8:21 but the entrails and the legs he washed with water, ¹  and Moses offered the whole ram up in smoke on the altar – it was a burnt offering for a soothing aroma, a gift to the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ² 

Leviticus 11:32

11:32 Also, anything they fall on ³  when they die will become unclean – any wood vessel or garment or article of leather or sackcloth. Any such vessel with which work is done must be immersed in water ⁴  and will be unclean until the evening. Then it will become clean.

Leviticus 14:6

14:6 Then ⁵  he is to take the live bird along with the piece of cedar wood, the scrap of crimson fabric, and the twigs of hyssop, and he is to dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird slaughtered over the fresh water,

Leviticus 14:8-9

The Seven Days of Purification

14:8 “The one being cleansed ⁶  must then wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe in water, and so be clean. ⁷  Then afterward he may enter the camp, but he must live outside his tent seven days. 14:9 When the seventh day comes ⁸  he must shave all his hair – his head, his beard, his eyebrows, all his hair – and he must wash his clothes, bathe his body in water, and so be clean. ⁹ 

Leviticus 14:51

14:51 He must then take the piece of cedar wood, the twigs of hyssop, the scrap of crimson fabric, and the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and in the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times.

Leviticus 16:4

16:4 He must put on a holy linen tunic, ¹⁰  linen leggings are to cover his body, ¹¹  and he is to wrap himself with a linen sash ¹²  and wrap his head with a linen turban. ¹³  They are holy garments, so he must bathe ¹⁴  his body in water and put them on.

Leviticus 16:24

16:24 Then he must bathe his body in water in a holy place, put on his clothes, and go out and make his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering. So he is to make atonement ¹⁵  on behalf of himself and the people. ¹⁶ 

¹ tn Again, Aaron probably did the washing (v. 21a), but Moses presented the portions on the altar (v. 21b; cf. the note on v. 15 above).

² tn See Lev 1:9, 13.

³ tn Heb “And all which it shall fall on it from them.”

⁴ tn Heb “in water it shall be brought.”

⁵ tc Heb “the live bird he [i.e., the priest] shall take it.” Although the MT has no ו (vav, “and”) at the beginning of this clause, a few medieval Hebrew mss and Smr have one and the LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate translate as if it is there. The “but” in the present translation reflects this text critical background, the object-first word order in the clause with the resumptive pronoun at the end, and the obvious contrast between the slaughtered bird in v. 5 and the live bird in v. 6.

⁷ tn Heb “the one cleansing himself” (i.e., Hitpael participle of טָהֵר [taher, “to be clean”]).

⁸ tn Heb “and he shall be clean” (so ASV). The end result of the ritual procedures in vv. 4-7 and the washing and shaving in v. 8a is that the formerly diseased person has now officially become clean in the sense that he can reenter the community (see v. 8b; contrast living outside the community as an unclean diseased person, Lev 13:46). There are, however, further cleansing rituals and pronouncements for him to undergo in the tabernacle as outlined in vv. 10-20 (see Qal “be[come] clean” in vv. 9 and 20, Piel “pronounce clean” in v. 11, and Hitpael “the one being cleansed” in vv. 11, 14, 17, 18, and 19). Obviously, in order to enter the tabernacle he must already “be clean” in the sense of having access to the community.

⁹ tn Heb “And it shall be on the seventh day.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “and he shall be clean” (see the note on v. 8).

¹¹ sn The term “tunic” refers to a shirt-like garment worn next to the skin and, therefore, put on first (cf. Exod 28:4, 39-40; 29:5, 8; 39:27). It covered the upper body only. For detailed remarks on the terminology for the priestly clothing in this verse (except the “linen leggings”) see the notes on Lev 8:7-9 and the literature cited there.

¹² tn Heb “shall be on his flesh.” As in many instances in Lev 15, the term “flesh” or “body” here is euphemistic for the male genitals (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:1017, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 222; cf. the note on Lev 15:2), which the priest must be careful not to expose during such ritual procedures (see Exod 20:26 with 28:42-43).

¹³ sn The sash fastened the tunic around the waist (Exod 28:4, 39; 29:9; 39:29).

¹⁴ tn Heb “and in a turban of linen he shall wrap.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “and he shall bathe….”

¹³ tn Heb “And he shall make atonement.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “on behalf of himself and on behalf of the people.” After “on behalf of himself” the LXX adds the expected “and on behalf of his household” (cf. vv. 6, 11, and 17).