Leviticus 11:43

11:43 Do not make yourselves detestable by any of the swarming things. ¹  You must not defile yourselves by them and become unclean by them,

Leviticus 16:31

16:31 It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must humble yourselves. ²  It is a perpetual statute. ³ 

Leviticus 17:11

17:11 for the life of every living thing ⁴  is in the blood. ⁵  So I myself have assigned it to you ⁶  on the altar to make atonement for your lives, for the blood makes atonement by means of the life. ⁷ 

Leviticus 23:27

23:27 “The ⁸  tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. ⁹  It is to be a holy assembly for you, and you must humble yourselves ¹⁰  and present a gift to the Lord.

Leviticus 23:32

23:32 It is a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you must humble yourselves on the ninth day of the month in the evening, from evening until evening you must observe your Sabbath.” ¹¹ 

Leviticus 11:44

11:44 for I am the Lord your God and you are to sanctify yourselves and be holy because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any of the swarming things that creep on the ground,

Leviticus 16:29

Review of the Day of Atonement

16:29 “This is to be a perpetual statute for you. ¹²  In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you must humble yourselves ¹³  and do no work of any kind, ¹⁴  both the native citizen and the foreigner who resides ¹⁵  in your midst,

Leviticus 20:25

20:25 Therefore you must distinguish ¹⁶  between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean, and you must not make yourselves detestable by means of an animal or bird or anything that creeps on the ground – creatures ¹⁷  I have distinguished for you as unclean. ¹⁸ 

[11:43]  ¹ tn Heb “by any of the swarming things that swarm.”

[16:31]  ² tn See the note on v. 29 above.

[16:31]  ³ tn Compare v. 29a above.

[17:11]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “And I myself have given it to you.”

[17:11]  ⁶ 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.

[23:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “Surely the tenth day” or perhaps “Precisely the tenth day.” The Hebrew adverbial particle אַךְ (’akh) is left untranslated by most recent English versions; cf. however NASB “On exactly the tenth day.”

[23:27]  ⁵ sn See the description of this day and its regulations in Lev 16 and the notes there.

[23:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “you shall humble your souls.” See the note on Lev 16:29 above.

[23:32]  ⁵ tn Heb “you shall rest your Sabbath.”

[16:29]  ⁶ tn Heb “And it [feminine] shall be for you a perpetual statute.” Verse 34 begins with the same clause except for the missing demonstrative pronoun “this” here in v. 29. The LXX has “this” in both places and it suits the sense of the passage, although both the verb and the pronoun are sometimes missing in this clause elsewhere in the book (see, e.g., Lev 3:17).

[16:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “you shall humble your souls.” The verb “to humble” here refers to various forms of self-denial, including but not limited to fasting (cf. Ps 35:13 and Isa 58:3, 10). The Mishnah (m. Yoma 8:1) lists abstentions from food and drink, bathing, using oil as an unguent to moisten the skin, wearing leather sandals, and sexual intercourse (cf. 2 Sam 12:16-17, 20; see the remarks in J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:1054; B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 109; and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 242).

[16:29]  ⁸ tn Heb “and all work you shall not do.”

[16:29]  ⁹ tn Heb “the native and the sojourner who sojourns.”

[20:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “And you shall distinguish.” The verb is the same as “set apart” at the end of the previous verse. The fact that God had “set them apart” from the other peoples roundabout them called for them to “distinguish between” the clean and the unclean, etc.

[20:25]  ⁸ tn The word “creatures” has been supplied in the translation to make it clear that the following relative clause modifies the animal, bird, or creeping thing mentioned earlier, and not the ground itself.

[20:25]  ⁹ tc The MT has “to defile,” but Smr, LXX, and Syriac have “to uncleanness.”