Exodus 12:19-20

12:19 For seven days ¹  yeast must not be found in your houses, for whoever eats what is made with yeast – that person ²  will be cut off from the community of Israel, whether a foreigner ³  or one born in the land. 12:20 You will not eat anything made with yeast; in all the places where you live you must eat bread made without yeast.’”

Exodus 31:14

31:14 So you must keep the Sabbath, for it is holy for you. Everyone who defiles it ⁴  must surely be put to death; indeed, ⁵  if anyone does ⁶  any ⁷  work on it, then that person will be cut off from among his ⁸  people.

Genesis 17:14

17:14 Any uncircumcised male ⁹  who has not been circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin will be cut off ¹⁰  from his people – he has failed to carry out my requirement.” ¹¹ 

Leviticus 17:10

Prohibition against Eating Blood

17:10 “‘Any man ¹²  from the house of Israel or from the foreigners who reside ¹³  in their ¹⁴  midst who eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats the blood, and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, ¹⁵ 

Leviticus 17:14

17:14 for the life of all flesh is its blood. ¹⁶  So I have said to the Israelites: You must not eat the blood of any living thing ¹⁷  because the life of every living thing is its blood – all who eat it will be cut off. ¹⁸ 

Numbers 9:13

9:13 But ¹⁹  the man who is ceremonially clean, and was not on a journey, and fails ²⁰  to keep the Passover, that person must be cut off from his people. ²¹  Because he did not bring the Lord’s offering at its appointed time, that man must bear his sin. ²² 

Malachi 2:12

2:12 May the Lord cut off from the community ²³  of Jacob every last person who does this, ²⁴  as well as the person who presents improper offerings to the Lord who rules over all!

Galatians 5:12

5:12 I wish those agitators ²⁵  would go so far as to ²⁶  castrate themselves! ²⁷ 

[12:19]  ¹ tn “Seven days” is an adverbial accusative of time (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 12, §56).

[12:19]  ² tn The term is נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh), often translated “soul.” It refers to the whole person, the soul within the body. The noun is feminine, agreeing with the feminine verb “be cut off.”

[12:19]  ³ tn Or “alien”; or “stranger.”

[31:14]  ⁴ tn This clause is all from one word, a Piel plural participle with a third, feminine suffix: מְחַלְלֶיהָ (mÿkhalleha, “defilers of it”). This form serves as the subject of the sentence. The word חָלַל (khalal) is the antonym of קָדַשׁ (qadash, “to be holy”). It means “common, profane,” and in the Piel stem “make common, profane” or “defile.” Treating the Sabbath like an ordinary day would profane it, make it common.

[31:14]  ⁵ tn This is the asseverative use of כִּי (ki) meaning “surely, indeed,” for it restates the point just made (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §449).

[31:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “the one who does.”

[31:14]  ⁷ tn “any” has been supplied.

[31:14]  ⁸ tn Literally “her” (a feminine pronoun agreeing with “soul/life,” which is grammatically feminine).

[17:14]  ⁹ tn The disjunctive clause calls attention to the “uncircumcised male” and what will happen to him.

[17:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “that person will be cut off.” The words “that person” have not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[17:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he has broken my covenant.” The noun בְּרִית (bÿrit) here refers to the obligation required by God in conjunction with the covenantal agreement. For the range of meaning of the term, see the note on the word “requirement” in v. 9.

[17:10]  ¹² tn Heb “And man, man.” The repetition of the word “man” is distributive, meaning “any (or every) man” (GKC 395-96 §123.c; cf. Lev 15:2).

[17:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “from the sojourner who sojourns.”

[17:10]  ¹⁴ tc The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate have “your” (plural) rather than “their.”

[17:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I will give my faces against [literally “in”] the soul/person/life [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh, feminine] who eats the blood and I will cut it [i.e., that נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] off from the midst of its people.” The uses of נֶפֶשׁ in this and the following verse are most significant for the use of animal blood in Israel’s sacrificial system. Unfortunately, it is a most difficult word to translate accurately and consistently, and this presents a major problem for the rendering of these verses (see, e.g., G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 244-45). No matter which translation of נֶפֶשׁ one uses here, it is important to see that both man and animal have נֶפֶשׁ and that this נֶפֶשׁ is identified with the blood. See the further remarks on v. 11 below. On the “cutting off” penalty see the note on v. 4 above. In this instance, God takes it on himself to “cut off” the person (i.e., extirpation).

[17:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for the life/soul (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh) of all flesh, its blood in its life/soul (נֶפֶשׁ) it is.” The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate leave out “in its life/soul,” which would naturally yield “for the life of all flesh, its blood it is” (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 261, 263). The present translation is something of an oversimplification, but the meaning is basically the same in any case. Cf. NRSV “For the life of every creature – its blood is its life.”

[17:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “of all flesh” (also later in this verse). See the note on “every living thing” in v. 11.

[17:14]  ¹⁸ tn For remarks on the “cut off” penalty see the note on v. 4 above.

[9:13]  ¹⁹ tn The disjunctive vav (ו) signals a contrastive clause here: “but the man” on the other hand….

[9:13]  ²⁰ tn The verb חָדַל (khadal) means “to cease; to leave off; to fail.” The implication here is that it is a person who simply neglects to do it. It does not indicate that he forgot, but more likely that he made the decision to leave it undone.

[9:13]  ²¹ sn The pronouncement of such a person’s penalty is that his life will be cut off from his people. There are at least three possible interpretations for this: physical death at the hand of the community (G. B. Gray, Numbers [ICC], 84-85), physical and/or spiritual death at the hand of God (J. Milgrom, “A Prolegomenon to Lev 17:11,” JBL 90 [1971]: 154-55), or excommunication or separation from the community (R. A. Cole, Exodus [TOTC], 109). The direct intervention of God seem to be the most likely in view of the lack of directions for the community to follow. Excommunication from the camp in the wilderness would have been tantamount to a death sentence by the community, and so there really are just two views.

[9:13]  ²² tn The word for “sin” here should be interpreted to mean the consequences of his sin (so a metonymy of effect). Whoever willingly violates the Law will have to pay the consequences.

[2:12]  ²³ tn Heb “tents,” used figuratively for the community here (cf. NCV, TEV); NLT “the nation of Israel.”

[2:12]  ²⁴ tc Heb “every man who does this, him who is awake and him who answers.” For “answers” the LXX suggests an underlying Hebrew text of עָנָה (’anah, “to be humbled”), and then the whole phrase is modified slightly: “until he is humbled.” This requires also that the MT עֵר (’er, “awake”) be read as עֵד (’ed, “until”; here the LXX reads ἕως, Jews). The reading of the LXX is most likely an alteration to correct what is arguably a difficult text.

[5:12]  ²⁵ tn Grk “the ones who are upsetting you.” The same verb is used in Acts 21:38 to refer to a person who incited a revolt. Paul could be alluding indirectly to the fact that his opponents are inciting the Galatians to rebel against his teaching with regard to circumcision and the law.

[5:12]  ²⁶ tn Grk “would even.”

[5:12]  ²⁷ tn Or “make eunuchs of themselves”; Grk “cut themselves off.” This statement is rhetorical hyperbole on Paul’s part. It does strongly suggest, however, that Paul’s adversaries in this case (“those agitators”) were men. Some interpreters (notably Erasmus and the Reformers) have attempted to soften the meaning to a figurative “separate themselves” (meaning the opponents would withdraw from fellowship) but such an understanding dramatically weakens the rhetorical force of Paul’s argument. Although it has been argued that such an act of emasculation would be unthinkable for Paul, it must be noted that Paul’s statement is one of biting sarcasm, obviously not meant to be taken literally. See further G. Stählin, TDNT 3:853-55.