Leviticus 17:1-9

The Slaughter of Animals

17:1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 17:2 “Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites, and tell them: ‘This is the word that the Lord has commanded: 17:3 “Blood guilt ¹  will be accounted to any man ²  from the house of Israel ³  who slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat inside the camp or outside the camp, ⁴  17:4 but has not brought it to the entrance of the Meeting Tent ⁵  to present it as ⁶  an offering to the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord. He has shed blood, so that man will be cut off from the midst of his people. ⁷  17:5 This is so that ⁸  the Israelites will bring their sacrifices that they are sacrificing in the open field ⁹  to the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent to the priest and sacrifice them there as peace offering sacrifices to the Lord. 17:6 The priest is to splash ¹⁰  the blood on the altar ¹¹  of the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, and offer the fat up in smoke for a soothing aroma to the Lord. 17:7 So they must no longer offer ¹²  their sacrifices to the goat demons, ¹³  acting like prostitutes by going after them. ¹⁴  This is to be a perpetual statute for them throughout their generations. ¹⁵ 

17:8 “You are to say to them: ‘Any man ¹⁶  from the house of Israel or ¹⁷  from the foreigners who reside ¹⁸  in their ¹⁹  midst, who offers ²⁰  a burnt offering or a sacrifice 17:9 but does not bring it to the entrance of the Meeting Tent to offer it ²¹  to the Lord – that person will be cut off from his people. ²² 

[17:3]  ¹ tn The complex wording of vv. 3-4 requires stating “blood guilt” at the beginning of v. 3 even though it is not mentioned until the middle of v. 4. The Hebrew text has simply “blood,” but in this case it refers to the illegitimate shedding of animal blood, similar to the shedding of the blood of an innocent human being (Deut 19:10, etc.). In order for it to be legitimate the animal must be slaughtered at the tabernacle and its blood handled by the priests in the prescribed way (see, e.g., Lev 1:5; 3:2, 17; 4:5-7; 7:26-27, etc.; cf. vv. 10-16 below for more details).

[17:3]  ² tn Heb “Man man.” The reduplication is way of saying “any man” (cf. Lev 15:2; 22:18, etc.). See the note on Lev 15:2.

[17:3]  ³ tn The original LXX adds “or the sojourners who sojourn in your midst” (cf. Lev 16:29, etc., and note esp. 17:8, 10, and 13 below).

[17:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “or who slaughters from outside to the camp.”

[17:4]  ⁵ tn Smr and LXX add after “tent of meeting” the following: “to make it a burnt offering or a peace offering to the Lord for your acceptance as a soothing aroma, and slaughters it outside, and at the doorway of the tent of meeting has not brought it.”

[17:4]  ⁶ tc Smr includes the suffix “it,” which is needed in any case in the translation to conform to English style.

[17:4]  ⁷ sn The exact meaning of this penalty clause is not certain. It could mean (1) that he will be executed, whether by God or by man, (2) that he will be excommunicated from sanctuary worship and/or community benefits, or (3) that his line will be terminated by God (i.e., extirpation). See also the note on Lev 7:20.

[17:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “So that which.”

[17:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “on the faces of the field.”

[17:6]  ¹⁰ tn For the translation “splash” see the note on Lev 1:5.

[17:6]  ¹¹ tn The LXX adds “all around” (i.e., Hebrew סָבִיב [saviv, “all around”]), which is normal for this overall construction (see, e.g., Lev 1:5; 3:8, etc.).

[17:7]  ¹² tn Heb “sacrifice.” This has been translated as “offer” for stylistic reasons to avoid the redundancy of “sacrifice their sacrifices.”

[17:7]  ¹³ tn On “goat demons” of the desert regions see the note on Lev 16:8.

[17:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “which they are committing harlotry after them.”

[17:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “for your generations.”

[17:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Man, man.” The repetition of the word “man” is distributive, meaning “any [or “every”] man” (GKC 395-96 §123.c; cf. Lev 15:2).

[17:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and.” Here the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) has an alternative sense (“or”).

[17:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “from the sojourner who sojourns.”

[17:8]  ¹⁹ tc The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate have “your” (plural) rather than “their.”

[17:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “causes to go up.”

[17:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “to make it,” meaning “to make the sacrifice.”

[17:9]  ²² tn For remarks on the “cut off” penalty see the note on v. 4 above.