Leviticus 16:29

Review of the Day of Atonement

16:29 “This is to be a perpetual statute for you. ¹  In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you must humble yourselves ²  and do no work of any kind, ³  both the native citizen and the foreigner who resides ⁴  in your midst,

Leviticus 16:34

16:34 This is to be a perpetual statute for you ⁵  to make atonement for the Israelites for ⁶  all their sins once a year.” ⁷  So he did just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁸ 

Leviticus 18:3

18:3 You must not do as they do in the land of Egypt where you have been living, ⁹  and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan into which I am about to bring you; ¹⁰  you must not ¹¹  walk in their statutes.

Leviticus 20:22

Exhortation to Holiness and Obedience

20:22 “‘You must be sure to obey all my statutes and regulations, ¹²  so that ¹³  the land to which I am about to bring you to take up residence there does not vomit you out.

Leviticus 23:14

23:14 You must not eat bread, roasted grain, or fresh grain until this very day, ¹⁴  until you bring the offering of your God. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations ¹⁵  in all the places where you live.

Leviticus 26:43

26:43 The land will be abandoned by them ¹⁶  in order that it may make up for ¹⁷  its Sabbaths while it is made desolate ¹⁸  without them, ¹⁹  and they will make up for their iniquity because ²⁰  they have rejected my regulations and have abhorred ²¹  my statutes.

[16:29]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “and all work you shall not do.”

[16:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “the native and the sojourner who sojourns.”

[16:34]  ⁵ tn Heb “And this shall be for you to a statute of eternity” (cf. v. 29a above). cf. NASB “a permanent statute”; NIV “a lasting ordinance.”

[16:34]  ⁶ tn Heb “from”; see note on 4:26.

[16:34]  ⁷ tn Heb “one [feminine] in the year.”

[16:34]  ⁸ tn The MT of Lev 16:34b reads literally, “and he did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.” This has been retained here in spite of the fact that it suggests that Aaron immediately performed the rituals outlined in Lev 16 (see, e.g., J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 224 and 243; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:1059; note that Aaron was the one to whom Moses was to speak the regulations in this chapter, v. 2). The problem is that the chapter presents these procedures as regulations for “the tenth day of the seventh month” and calls for their fulfillment at that time (Lev 16:29; cf. Lev 23:26-32 and the remarks in P. J. Budd, Leviticus [NCBC], 237), not during the current (first) month (Exod 40:2; note also that they left Sinai in the second month, long before the next seventh month, Num 10:11). The LXX translates, “once in the year it shall be done as the Lord commanded Moses,” attaching “once in the year” to this clause rather than the former one, and rendering the verb as passive, “it shall be done” (cf. NAB, NIV, etc.). We have already observed the passive use of active verbs in this context (see the note on v. 32 above). The RSV (cf. also the NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT) translates, “And Moses did as the Lord commanded him,” ignoring the fact that the name Moses in the Hebrew text has the direct object indicator. Passive verbs, however, regularly take subjects with direct object indicators (see, e.g., v. 27 above). The NIV renders it “And it was done, as the Lord commanded Moses,” following the LXX passive translation. The NASB translates, “And just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so he did,” transposing the introductory verb to the end of the sentence and supplying “so” in order to make it fit the context.

[18:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “As the work [or “deed”] of the land of Egypt, which you were dwelling in it, you must not do.”

[18:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and as the work [or “deed”] of the land of Canaan which I am bringing you to there, you must not do.” The participle “I am bringing” is inceptive; the Lord is “about to” bring them into the land of Canaan, as opposed to their having dwelt previously in the land of Egypt (see the first part of the verse).

[18:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and you shall not walk.”

[20:22]  ¹³ tn Heb “And you shall keep all my statutes and all my regulations and you shall do them.” This appears to be a kind of verbal hendiadys, where the first verb is a modifier of the action of the second verb (see GKC 386 §120.d, although שָׁמַר [shamar, “to keep”] is not cited there; cf. Lev 22:31, etc.).

[20:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

[23:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “until the bone of this day.”

[23:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “for your generations.”

[26:43]  ²¹ tn Heb “from them.” The preposition “from” refers here to the agent of the action (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 455).

[26:43]  ²² tn The jussive form of the verb with the simple vav (ו) here calls for a translation that expresses purpose.

[26:43]  ²³ tn The verb is the Hophal infinitive construct with the third feminine singular suffix (GKC 182 §67.y; cf. v. 34).

[26:43]  ²⁴ tn Heb “from them.”

[26:43]  ²⁵ tn Heb “because and in because,” a double expression, which is used only here and in Ezek 13:10 (without the vav) for emphasis (GKC 492 §158.b).

[26:43]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and their soul has abhorred.”