Leviticus 1:1

Introduction to the Sacrificial Regulations

1:1 Then the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him ¹  from the Meeting Tent: ² 

Leviticus 9:13

9:13 The burnt offering itself they handed ³  to him by its parts, including the head, ⁴  and he offered them up in smoke on the altar,

Leviticus 21:2-3

21:2 except for his close relative who is near to him: ⁵  his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 21:3 and his virgin sister who is near to him, ⁶  who has no husband; he may defile himself for her.

Leviticus 4:23

4:23 or his sin that he committed ⁷  is made known to him, ⁸  he must bring a flawless male goat as his offering. ⁹ 

Leviticus 4:28

4:28 or his sin that he committed ¹⁰  is made known to him, ¹¹  he must bring a flawless female goat ¹²  as his offering for the sin ¹³  that he committed.

Leviticus 9:12

The Burnt Offering for the Priests

9:12 He then slaughtered the burnt offering, and his sons ¹⁴  handed ¹⁵  the blood to him and he splashed ¹⁶  it against the altar’s sides.

Leviticus 25:25

25:25 “‘If your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his property, his near redeemer is to come to you and redeem what his brother sold. ¹⁷ 

Leviticus 9:9

9:9 Then Aaron’s sons presented the blood to him and he dipped his finger in the blood and put it on the horns of the altar, and the rest of the blood he poured out at the base of the altar.

Leviticus 9:18

9:18 Then he slaughtered the ox and the ram – the peace offering sacrifices which were for the people – and Aaron’s sons handed ¹⁸  the blood to him and he splashed it against the altar’s sides.

[1:1]  ¹ tn Heb “And he (the Lord) called (וַיִּקְרָא, vayyiqra’) to Moses and the Lord spoke (וַיְדַבֵּר, vayÿdabber) to him from the tent of meeting.” The MT assumes “Lord” in the first clause but places it in the second clause (after “spoke”). This is somewhat awkward, especially in terms of English style; most English versions reverse this and place “Lord” in the first clause (right after “called”). The Syriac version does the same.

[1:1]  ² sn The second clause of v. 1, “and the Lord spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying,” introduces the following discourse. This is a standard introductory formula (see, e.g., Exod 20:1; 25:1; 31:1; etc.). The combination of the first and second clauses is, therefore, “bulky” because of the way they happen to be juxtaposed in this transitional verse (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 8). The first clause of v. 1 connects the book back to the end of the Book of Exodus while the second looks forward the ritual legislation that follows in Lev 1:2ff. There are two “Tents of Meeting”: the one that stood outside the camp (see, e.g., Exod 33:7) and the one that stood in the midst of the camp (Exod 40:2; Num 2:2ff) and served as the Lord’s residence until the construction of the temple in the days of Solomon (Exod 27:21; 29:4; 1 Kgs 8:4; 2 Chr 5:5, etc.; cf. 2 Sam 7:6). Exod 40:35 uses both “tabernacle” and “tent of meeting” to refer to the same tent: “Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” It is clear that “tent of meeting” in Lev 1:1 refers to the “tabernacle.” The latter term refers to the tent as a “residence,” while the former refers to it as a divinely appointed place of “meeting” between God and man (see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:873-77 and 2:1130-34). This corresponds to the change in terms in Exod 40:35, where “tent of meeting” is used when referring to Moses’ inability to enter the tent, but “tabernacle” when referring to the Lord taking up residence there in the form of the glory cloud. The quotation introduced here extends from Lev 1:2 through 3:17, and encompasses the burnt, grain, and peace offering regulations. Compare the notes on Lev 4:1; 5:14; and 6:1 [5:20 HT] below.

[9:13]  ³ tn See the note on v. 12.

[9:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the burnt offering they handed to him to its parts and the head.”

[21:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “except for his flesh, the one near to him.”

[21:3]  ⁷ tn Cf. v. 2a.

[4:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “or his sin which he sinned in it is made known to him”; NAB “if he learns of the sin he committed.”

[4:23]  ¹⁰ tn Lev 4:22b-23a is difficult. The present translation suggests that there are two possible legal situations envisioned, separated by the Hebrew אוֹ (’o, “or”) at the beginning of v. 23. Lev 4:22b refers to any case in which the leader readily admits his guilt (i.e., “pleads guilty”), whereas v. 23a refers to cases where the leader is convicted of his guilt by legal action (“his sin…is made known to him”). See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:95-96; Lev 4:27-28; and esp. the notes on Lev 5:1 below.

[4:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a he-goat of goats, a male without defect”; cf. NLT “with no physical defects.”

[4:28]  ¹¹ tn Heb “or his sin which he sinned is made known to him”; cf. NCV “when that person learns about his sin.”

[4:28]  ¹² tn Lev 4:27b-28a is essentially the same as 4:22b-23a (see the notes there).

[4:28]  ¹³ tn Heb “a she-goat of goats, a female without defect”; NAB “an unblemished she-goat.”

[4:28]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “on his sin.”

[9:12]  ¹³ tn For smoothness in the English translation, “his” was used in place of “Aaron’s.”

[9:12]  ¹⁴ tn The verb is a Hiphil form of מָצָא, matsa’, “to find” (i.e., causative, literally “to cause to find,” but here the meaning is “to hand to” or “pass to”; see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 117-18, and J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:581-82). The distinction between this verb and “presented” in v. 9 above (see the note there) is that in v. 9 Aaron’s sons held the bowl while Aaron manipulated some of the blood at the altar, while here in v. 12 they simply handed the bowl to him so he could splash all the blood around on the altar (Milgrom, 581).

[9:12]  ¹⁵ tn For “splashed” (also in v. 18) see the note on Lev 1:5.

[25:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the sale of his brother.”

[9:18]  ¹⁷ tn See the note on Lev 9:12.