Leviticus 1:11

1:11 and must slaughter it on the north side of the altar before the Lord, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, will splash its blood against the altar’s sides.

Leviticus 3:2

3:2 He must lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, must splash the blood against the altar’s sides. ¹ 

Leviticus 3:13

3:13 lay his hand on its head, and slaughter it before the Meeting Tent, and the sons of Aaron must splash its blood against the altar’s sides.

Leviticus 4:8

4:8 “‘Then he must take up all the fat from the sin offering bull: ²  the fat covering the entrails ³  and all the fat surrounding the entrails, ⁴ 

Leviticus 6:3

6:3 or has found something lost and denies it and swears falsely ⁵  concerning any one of the things that someone might do to sin ⁶  –

Leviticus 9:24

9:24 Then fire went out from the presence of the Lord ⁷  and consumed the burnt offering and the fat parts on the altar, and all the people saw it, so they shouted loudly and fell down with their faces to the ground. ⁸ 

Leviticus 11:27

11:27 All that walk on their paws among all the creatures that walk on all fours ⁹  are unclean to you. Anyone who touches their carcass will be unclean until the evening,

Leviticus 14:7

14:7 and sprinkle it seven times on the one being cleansed ¹⁰  from the disease, pronounce him clean, ¹¹  and send the live bird away over the open countryside. ¹² 

Leviticus 14:18

14:18 and the remainder of the olive oil ¹³  that is in his hand the priest is to put on the head of the one being cleansed. So the priest is to make atonement for him before the Lord.

Leviticus 14:29

14:29 and the remainder of the olive oil that is in the hand ¹⁴  of the priest he is to put ¹⁵  on the head of the one being cleansed to make atonement for him before the Lord.

Leviticus 14:31

14:31 a sin offering and the other a burnt offering along with the grain offering. ¹⁶  So the priest is to make atonement for the one being cleansed before the Lord.

Leviticus 15:23

15:23 If there is something on the bed or on the furniture she sits on, ¹⁷  when he touches it ¹⁸  he will be unclean until evening,

Leviticus 16:13

16:13 He must then put the incense on the fire before the Lord, and the cloud of incense will cover the atonement plate which is above the ark of the testimony, ¹⁹  so that he will not die. ²⁰ 

Leviticus 17:11

17:11 for the life of every living thing ²¹  is in the blood. ²²  So I myself have assigned it to you ²³  on the altar to make atonement for your lives, for the blood makes atonement by means of the life. ²⁴ 

Leviticus 23:20

23:20 and the priest is to wave them – the two lambs ²⁵  – along with the bread of the first fruits, as a wave offering before the Lord; they will be holy to the Lord for the priest.

[3:2]  ¹ tn See the remarks on Lev 1:3-5 above for some of the details of translation here.

[4:8]  ¹ tn Heb “all the fat of the bull of the sin offering he shall take up from it.”

[4:8]  ² tc The MT has here the preposition עַל (’al, “on, upon” [i.e., “which covers on the entrails,” as awkward in Hebrew as it is in English]), but Smr, LXX, Syriac, and Targums read אֶת (’et), which is what would be expected (i.e., “which covers the entrails”; cf. Lev 3:3, 9, 14). It may have been mistakenly inserted here under the influence of “on (עַל) the entrails” at the end of the verse.

[4:8]  ³ tn Heb “and all the fat on the entrails.” The fat layer that covers the entrails as a whole (i.e., “that covers the entrails”) is different from the fat that surrounds and adheres to the various organs (“on the entrails,” i.e., surrounding them; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:205-7).

[6:3]  ¹ tn Heb “and swears on falsehood”; cf. CEV “deny something while under oath.”

[6:3]  ² tn Heb “on one from all which the man shall do to sin in them.”

[9:24]  ¹ tn Heb “from to the faces of the Lord.” The rendering here is based on the use of “my faces” and “your faces” referring to the very “presence” of the Lord in Exod 33:14-15.

[9:24]  ² tn Heb “fell on their faces.” Many English versions and commentaries render here “shouted for joy” (e.g., NIV; cf. NCV, NLT) or “shouted joyfully,” but the fact the people “fell on their faces” immediately afterward suggests that they were frightened as, for example, in Exod 19:16b; 20:18-21.

[11:27]  ¹ tn Heb “the one walking on four.” Compare Lev 11:20-23.

[14:7]  ¹ tn Heb “the one cleansing himself” (i.e., Hitpael participle of טָהֵר [taher, “to be clean”]).

[14:7]  ² tn Heb “and he shall make him clean.” The verb is the Piel of טָהֵר (taher, “to be clean”), here used as a so-called “declarative” Piel (i.e., “to declare clean”; cf. 13:6, etc.).

[14:7]  ³ sn The reddish color of cedar wood and the crimson colored fabric called for in v. 4 (see the note there, esp. the association with the color of blood) as well as the priestly commands to bring “two live” birds (v. 4a), to slaughter one of them “over fresh water” (literally “living water,” v. 5b), and the subsequent ritual with the (second) “live” bird (vv. 6-7) combine to communicate the concept of “life” and “being alive” in this passage. This contrasts with the fear of death associated with the serious skin diseases in view here (see, e.g., Aaron’s description of Miriam’s skin disease in Num 12:12, “Do not let her be like the dead one when it goes out from its mother’s womb and its flesh half eaten away”). Since the slaughtered bird here is not sacrificed at the altar and is not designated as an expiatory “sin offering,” this ritual procedure probably symbolizes the renewed life of the diseased person and displays it publicly for all to see. It is preparatory to the expiatory rituals that will follow (vv. 10-20, esp. vv. 18-20), but is not itself expiatory. Thus, although there are important similarities between the bird ritual here, the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:20-22), and the red heifer for cleansing from corpse contamination (Num 19), this bird ritual is different in that the latter two constitute “sin offerings” (Lev 16:5, 8-10; Num 19:9, 17). Neither of the birds in Lev 14:4-7 is designated or treated as a “sin offering.” Nevertheless, the very nature of the live bird ritual itself and its obvious similarity to the scapegoat ritual suggests that the patient’s disease has been removed far away so that he or she is free from its effects both personally and communally.

[14:18]  ¹ tn Heb “and the remainder in the oil.”

[14:29]  ¹ tn Heb “on the hand.”

[14:29]  ² tn Heb “give.”

[14:31]  ¹ tn Heb “and the one a burnt offering on the grain offering.”

[15:23]  ¹ tn Heb “and if on the bed it (הוּא, hu’) is or on the vessel which she sits on it, when he touches it….” The translation and meaning of this verse is a subject of much debate in the commentaries (see the summary in J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:938-40). It is difficult to determine what הוּא refers to, whether it means “he” referring to the one who does the touching, “it” for the furniture or the seat in v. 22, “she” referring to the woman herself (see Smr היא rather than הוא), or perhaps anything that was lying on the furniture or the bed of vv. 21-22. The latter view is taken here (cf. J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 202).

[15:23]  ² tn The MT accent suggest that “when he touches it” goes with the preceding line, but it seems to be better to take it as an introduction to what follows (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 202).

[16:13]  ¹ tn The text here has only “above the testimony,” but this is surely a shortened form of “above the ark of the testimony” (see Exod 25:22 etc.; cf. Lev 16:2). The term “testimony” in this expression refers to the ark as the container of the two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments written on them (see Exod 25:16 with Deut 10:1, 5, etc.).

[16:13]  ² tn Heb “and he will not die,” but it is clear that the purpose for the incense cloud was to protect the priest from death in the presence of the Lord (cf. vv. 1-2 above).

[17:11]  ¹ tn Heb “the life of the flesh.” Here “flesh” stands for “every living thing,” that is, all creatures (cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT “every creature”; CEV “every living creature.”

[17:11]  ² tn Heb “for the soul/life (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh) of the flesh, it is in the blood” (cf. the note of v. 10 above and v. 14 below). Although most modern English versions begin a new sentence in v. 11, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood” (see, e.g., NJPS, NASB, NIV, NRSV), the כִּי (ki, “for, because”) at the beginning of the verse suggests continuation from v. 10, as the rendering here indicates (see, e.g., NEB, NLT; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 261; and G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 239).

[17:11]  ³ tn Heb “And I myself have given it to you.”

[17:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “for the blood, it by (בְּ, bet preposition, “in”] the life makes atonement.” The interpretation of the preposition is pivotal here. Some scholars have argued that it is a bet of exchange; that is, “the blood makes atonement in exchange for the life [of the slaughtered animal]” (see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:694-95, 697 for analysis and criticism of this view). It is more likely that, as in the previous clause (“your lives”), “life/soul” (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh) here refers to the person who makes the offering, not the animal offered. The blood of the animal makes atonement for the person who offers it either “by means of” (instrumental bet) the “life/soul” of the animal, which it symbolizes or embodies (the meaning of the translation given here); or perhaps the blood of the animal functions as “the price” (bet of price) for ransoming the “life/soul” of the person.

[23:20]  ¹ tn Smr and LXX have the Hebrew article on “lambs.” The syntax of this verse is difficult. The object of the verb (two lambs) is far removed from the verb itself (shall wave) in the MT, and the preposition עַל (’al, “upon”), rendered “along with” in this verse, is also added to the far removed subject (literally, “upon [the] two lambs”; see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 159). It is clear, however, that the two lambs and the loaves (along with their associated grain and drink offerings) constituted the “wave offering,” which served as the prebend “for the priest.” Burnt and sin offerings (vv. 18-19a) were not included in this (see Lev 7:11-14, 28-36).