Discovery BoxLeviticus 1:2
Context1:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When 1 someone 2 among you presents an offering 3 to the Lord, 4 you 5 must present your offering from the domesticated animals, either from the herd or from the flock. 6
Leviticus 11:4
Context11:4 However, you must not eat these 7 from among those that chew the cud and have divided hooves: The camel is unclean to you 8 because it chews the cud 9 even though its hoof is not divided. 10
Leviticus 19:10
Context19:10 You must not pick your vineyard bare, 11 and you must not gather up the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You must leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 26:1
Context26:1 “‘You must not make for yourselves idols, 12 so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before 13 it, for I am the Lord your God.
[1:2] 1 tn “When” here translates the MT’s כִּי (ki, “if, when”), which regularly introduces main clauses in legislative contexts (see, e.g., Lev 2:1, 4; 4:2, etc.) in contrast to אִם (’im, “if”), which usually introduces subordinate sections (see, e.g., Lev 1:3, 10, 14; 2:5, 7, 14; 4:3, 13, etc.; cf. כִּי in Exod 21:2 and 7 as opposed to אִם in vv. 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, and 11).
[1:2] 2 tn Heb “a man, human being” (אָדָם, ’adam), which in this case refers to any person among “mankind,” male or female, since women could also bring such offerings (see, e.g., Lev 12:6-8; 15:29-30; cf. HALOT 14 s.v. I אָדָם); cf. NIV “any of you.”
[1:2] 3 tn The verb “presents” is cognate to the noun “offering” in v. 2 and throughout the book of Leviticus (both from the root קרב [qrb]). One could translate the verb “offers,” but this becomes awkward and, in fact, inaccurate in some passages. For example, in Lev 9:9 this verb is used for the presenting or giving of the blood to Aaron so that he could offer it to the
[1:2] 4 tn The whole clause reads more literally, “A human being (אָדָם, ’adam), if he brings from among you an offering to the
[1:2] 5 tn The shift to the second person plural verb here corresponds to the previous second person plural pronoun “among you.” It is distinct from the regular pattern of third person singular verbs throughout the rest of Lev 1-3. This too labels Lev 1:1-2 as an introduction to all of Lev 1-3, not just the burnt offering regulations in Lev 1 (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:146; cf. note 3 above).
[1:2] 6 tn Heb “from the domesticated animal, from the herd, and from the flock.” It is clear from the subsequent division between animals from the “herd” (בָּקָר, baqar, in Lev 1:3-9) and the “flock” (צֹאן, tso’n; see Lev 1:10-13) that the term for “domesticated animal” (בְּהֵמָה, bÿhemah) is a general term meant to introduce the category of pastoral quadrupeds. The stronger disjunctive accent over בְּהֵמָה in the MT as well as the lack of a vav (ו) between it and בָּקָר also suggest בְּהֵמָה is an overall category that includes both “herd” and “flock” quadrupeds.
[11:4] 7 tn Heb “this,” but as a collective plural (see the following context).
[11:4] 8 sn Regarding “clean” versus “unclean,” see the note on Lev 10:10.
[11:4] 9 tn Heb “because a chewer of the cud it is” (see also vv. 5 and 6).
[11:4] 10 tn Heb “and hoof there is not dividing” (see also vv. 5 and 6).
[19:10] 13 tn Heb “And you shall not deal severely with your vineyard.”
[26:1] 19 sn For the literature regarding the difficult etymology and meaning of the term for “idols” (אֱלִילִם, ’elilim), see the literature cited in the note on Lev 19:4. It appears to be a diminutive play on words with אֵל (’el, “god, God”) and, perhaps at the same time, recalls a common Semitic word for “worthless, weak, powerless, nothingness.” Snaith suggests a rendering of “worthless godlings.”
[26:1] 20 tn Heb “on.” The “sculpted stone” appears to be some sort of stone with images carved into (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 181, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 449).
