2 Chronicles 29:5

29:5 He said to them: “Listen to me, you Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, so you can consecrate the temple of the Lord God of your ancestors! ¹  Remove from the sanctuary what is ceremonially unclean!

2 Chronicles 29:15

29:15 They assembled their brothers and consecrated themselves. Then they went in to purify the Lord’s temple, just as the king had ordered, in accordance with the word ²  of the Lord.

2 Chronicles 29:34

29:34 But there were not enough priests to skin all the animals, ³  so their brothers, the Levites, helped them until the work was finished and the priests could consecrate themselves. (The Levites had been more conscientious about consecrating themselves than the priests.) ⁴ 

2 Chronicles 30:3

30:3 They were unable to observe it at the regular ⁵  time because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not assembled in Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles 30:15-19

30:15 They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and Levites were ashamed, so they consecrated themselves and brought burnt sacrifices to the Lord’s temple. 30:16 They stood at their posts according to the regulations outlined in the law of Moses, the man of God. The priests were splashing the blood as the Levites handed it to them. ⁶  30:17 Because many in the assembly had not consecrated themselves, the Levites slaughtered ⁷  the Passover lambs of all who were ceremonially unclean and could not consecrate their sacrifice to the Lord. ⁸  30:18 The majority of the many people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun were ceremonially unclean, yet they ate the Passover in violation of what is prescribed in the law. ⁹  For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying: “May the Lord, who is good, forgive ¹⁰  30:19 everyone who has determined to follow God, ¹¹  the Lord God of his ancestors, even if he is not ceremonially clean according to the standards of the temple.” ¹² 

Genesis 35:2

35:2 So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. ¹³  Purify yourselves and change your clothes. ¹⁴ 

Exodus 19:10

19:10 The Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and sanctify them ¹⁵  today and tomorrow, and make them wash ¹⁶  their clothes

Exodus 19:15

19:15 He said to the people, “Be ready for the third day. Do not go near your wives.” ¹⁷ 

Numbers 19:11-20

Purification from Uncleanness

19:11 “‘Whoever touches ¹⁸  the corpse ¹⁹  of any person ²⁰  will be ceremonially unclean ²¹  seven days. 19:12 He must purify himself ²²  with water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and the seventh day, then he will not be clean. 19:13 Anyone who touches the corpse of any dead person and does not purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. And that person must be cut off from Israel, ²³  because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him. He will be unclean; his uncleanness remains on him.

19:14 “‘This is the law: When a man dies ²⁴  in a tent, anyone who comes into the tent and all who are in the tent will be ceremonially unclean seven days. 19:15 And every open container that has no covering fastened on it is unclean. 19:16 And whoever touches the body of someone killed with a sword in the open fields, ²⁵  or the body of someone who died of natural causes, ²⁶  or a human bone, or a grave, will be unclean seven days. ²⁷ 

19:17 “‘For a ceremonially unclean person you must take ²⁸  some of the ashes of the heifer ²⁹  burnt for purification from sin and pour ³⁰  fresh running ³¹  water over them in a vessel. 19:18 Then a ceremonially clean person must take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all its furnishings, and on the people who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, or one killed, or one who died, or a grave. 19:19 And the clean person must sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he must purify him, ³²  and then he must wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and he will be clean in the evening. 19:20 But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person must be cut off from among the community, because he has polluted the sanctuary of the Lord; the water of purification was not sprinkled on him, so he is unclean.

Job 1:5

1:5 When ³³  the days of their feasting were finished, ³⁴  Job would send ³⁵  for them and sanctify ³⁶  them; he would get up early ³⁷  in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to ³⁸  the number of them all. For Job thought, “Perhaps ³⁹  my children ⁴⁰  have sinned and cursed ⁴¹  God in their hearts.” This was Job’s customary practice. ⁴² 

Psalms 51:7

51:7 Sprinkle me ⁴³  with water ⁴⁴  and I will be pure; ⁴⁵ 

wash me ⁴⁶  and I will be whiter than snow. ⁴⁷ 

Joel 2:16

2:16 Gather the people;

sanctify an assembly!

Gather the elders;

gather the children and the nursing infants.

Let the bridegroom come out from his bedroom

and the bride from her private quarters. ⁴⁸ 

Hebrews 9:13-14

9:13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkled on those who are defiled consecrated them and provided ritual purity, ⁴⁹  9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our ⁵⁰  consciences from dead works to worship the living God.

[29:5]  ¹ tn Heb “fathers.”

[29:15]  ² tn Heb “words” (plural).

[29:34]  ³ tn Heb “the burnt sacrifices.”

[29:34]  ⁴ tn Heb “for the Levites were more pure of heart to consecrate themselves than the priests.”

[30:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “at that time.”

[30:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “from the hand of the Levites.”

[30:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “were over the slaughter of.”

[30:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “of everyone not pure to consecrate to the Lord.”

[30:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “without what is written.”

[30:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “make atonement for.”

[30:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “everyone [who] has prepared his heart to seek God.”

[30:19]  ¹² tn Heb “and not according to the purification of the holy place.”

[35:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “which are in your midst.”

[35:2]  ¹⁴ sn The actions of removing false gods, becoming ritually clean, and changing garments would become necessary steps in Israel when approaching the Lord in worship.

[19:10]  ¹⁵ tn This verb is a Piel perfect with vav (ו) consecutive; it continues the force of the imperative preceding it. This sanctification would be accomplished by abstaining from things that would make them defiled or unclean, and then by ritual washings and ablutions.

[19:10]  ¹⁶ tn The form is a perfect 3cpl with a vav (ו) consecutive. It is instructional as well, but now in the third person it is like a jussive, “let them wash, make them wash.”

[19:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “do not go near a woman”; NIV “Abstain from sexual relations.”

[19:11]  ¹⁸ tn The form is the participle with the article functioning as a substantive: “the one who touches.”

[19:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the dead.”

[19:11]  ²⁰ tn The expression is full: לְכָל־נֶפֶשׁ אָדָם (lÿkhol-nefesh ’adam) – of any life of a man, i.e., of any person.

[19:11]  ²¹ tn The verb is a perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it follows only the participle used as the subject, but since the case is hypothetical and therefore future, this picks up the future time. The adjective “ceremonially” is supplied in the translation as a clarification.

[19:12]  ²² tn The verb is the Hitpael of חָטָא (khata’), a verb that normally means “to sin.” But the Piel idea in many places is “to cleanse; to purify.” This may be explained as a privative use (“to un-sin” someone, meaning cleanse) or denominative (“make a sin offering for someone”). It is surely connected to the purification offering, and so a sense of purify is what is wanted here.

[19:13]  ²³ sn It is in passages like this that the view that being “cut off” meant the death penalty is the hardest to support. Would the Law prescribe death for someone who touches a corpse and fails to follow the ritual? Besides, the statement in this section that his uncleanness remains with him suggests that he still lives on.

[19:14]  ²⁴ tn The word order gives the classification and then the condition: “a man, when he dies….”

[19:16]  ²⁵ tn The expression for “in the open field” is literally “upon the face of the field” (עַל־פְּנֵי הַשָּׂדֶה, ’al pÿne hassadeh). This ruling is in contrast now to what was contacted in the tent.

[19:16]  ²⁶ tn Heb “a dead body”; but in contrast to the person killed with a sword, this must refer to someone who died of natural causes.

[19:16]  ²⁷ sn See Matt 23:27 and Acts 23:3 for application of this by the time of Jesus.

[19:17]  ²⁸ tn The verb is the perfect tense, third masculine plural, with a vav (ו) consecutive. The verb may be worded as a passive, “ashes must be taken,” but that may be too awkward for this sentence. It may be best to render it with a generic “you” to fit the instruction of the text.

[19:17]  ²⁹ tn The word “heifer” is not in the Hebrew text, but it is implied.

[19:17]  ³⁰ tn Here too the verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; rather than make this passive, it is here left as a direct instruction to follow the preceding one. For the use of the verb נָתַן (natan) in the sense of “pour,” see S. C. Reif, “A Note on a Neglected Connotation of ntn,” VT 20 (1970): 114-16.

[19:17]  ³¹ tn The expression is literally “living water.” Living water is the fresh, flowing spring water that is clear, life-giving, and not the collected pools of stagnant or dirty water.

[19:19]  ³² tn The construction uses a simple Piel of חָטָא (khata’, “to purify”) with a pronominal suffix – “he shall purify him.” Some commentators take this to mean that after he sprinkles the unclean then he must purify himself. But that would not be the most natural way to read this form.

[1:5]  ³³ tn The verse begins with the temporal indicator “and it happened” or “and it came to pass,” which need not be translated. The particle כִּי (ki, “when”) with the initial verbal form indicates it is a temporal clause.

[1:5]  ³⁴ tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect of נָקַף (naqaf, “go around”), here it means “to make the round” or “complete the circuit” (BDB 668-69 s.v. II נָקַף Hiph). It indicates that when the feasting had made its circuit of the seven sons, then Job would sanctify them.

[1:5]  ³⁵ tn The form is a preterite with vav (ו) consecutive. The same emphasis on repeated or frequent action continues here in this verse. The idea here is that Job would send for them, because the sanctification of them would have consisted of washings and changes of garments as well as the sacrifices (see Gen 35:2; 1 Sam 16:5).

[1:5]  ³⁶ tn Or “purify.”

[1:5]  ³⁷ tn The first verb could also be joined with the next to form a verbal hendiadys: “he would rise early and he would sacrifice” would then simply be “he would sacrifice early in the morning” (see M. Delcor, “Quelques cas de survivances du vocabulaire nomade en hébreu biblique,” VT 25 [1975]: 307-22). This section serves to explain in more detail how Job sanctified his children.

[1:5]  ³⁸ tn The text does not have “according to”; the noun “number” is an accusative that defines the extent of his actions (GKC 373-74 §118.e, h).

[1:5]  ³⁹ tn The clause stands as an accusative to the verb, here as the direct object introduced with “perhaps” (IBHS 645-46 §38.8d).

[1:5]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “sons,” but since the three daughters are specifically mentioned in v. 4, “children” has been used in the translation. In this patriarchal culture, however, it is possible that only the sons are in view.

[1:5]  ⁴¹ tn The Hebrew verb is בָּרַךְ (barakh), which means “to bless.” Here is a case where the writer or a scribe has substituted the word “curse” with the word “bless” to avoid having the expression “curse God.” For similar euphemisms in the ancient world, see K. A. Kitchen, Ancient Orient and Old Testament, 166. It is therefore difficult to know exactly what Job feared they might have done. The opposite of “bless” would be “curse,” which normally would convey disowning or removing from blessing. Some commentators try to offer a definition of “curse” from the root in the text, and noting that “curse” is too strong, come to something like “renounce.” The idea of blaspheming is probably not meant; rather, in their festivities they may have said things that renounced God or their interest in him. Job feared this momentary turning away from God in their festivities, perhaps as they thought their good life was more important than their religion.

[1:5]  ⁴² tn The imperfect expresses continual action in past time, i.e., a customary imperfect (GKC 315 §107.e).

[51:7]  ⁴³ tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[51:7]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “cleanse me with hyssop.” “Hyssop” was a small plant (see 1 Kgs 4:33) used to apply water (or blood) in purification rites (see Exod 12:22; Lev 14:4-6, 49-52; Num 19:6-18. The psalmist uses the language and imagery of such rites to describe spiritual cleansing through forgiveness.

[51:7]  ⁴⁵ tn After the preceding imperfect, the imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates result.

[51:7]  ⁴⁶ tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[51:7]  ⁴⁷ sn I will be whiter than snow. Whiteness here symbolizes the moral purity resulting from forgiveness (see Isa 1:18).

[2:16]  ⁴⁸ sn Mosaic law allowed men recently married, or about to be married, to be exempt for a year from certain duties that were normally mandatory, such as military obligation (cf. Deut 20:7; 24:5). However, Joel pictures a time of such urgency that normal expectations must give way to higher requirements.

[9:13]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “for the purifying of the flesh.” The “flesh” here is symbolic of outward or ritual purity in contrast to inner purity, that of the conscience (cf. Heb 9:9).

[9:14]  ⁵⁰ tc The reading adopted by the translation is attested by many authorities (A D* K P 365 1739* al). But many others (א D² 0278 33 1739^c 1881 Ï lat sa) read “your” instead of “our.” The diversity of evidence makes this a difficult case to decide from external evidence alone. The first and second person pronouns differ by only one letter in Greek, as in English, also making this problem difficult to decide based on internal evidence and transcriptional probability. In the context, the author’s description of sacrificial activities seems to invite the reader to compare his own possible participation in OT liturgy as over against the completed work of Christ, so the second person pronoun “your” might make more sense. On the other hand, TCGNT 599 argues that “our” is preferable because the author of Hebrews uses direct address (i.e., the second person) only in the hortatory sections. What is more, the author seems to prefer the first person in explanatory remarks or when giving the logical grounds for an assertion (cf. Heb 4:15; 7:14). It is hard to reach a definitive conclusion in this case, but the data lean slightly in favor of the first person pronoun.