Leviticus 17:10

Prohibition against Eating Blood

17:10 “‘Any man ¹  from the house of Israel or from the foreigners who reside ²  in their ³  midst who eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats the blood, and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, ⁴ 

Leviticus 17:13

17:13 “‘Any man from the Israelites ⁵  or from the foreigners who reside ⁶  in their ⁷  midst who hunts a wild animal ⁸  or a bird that may be eaten ⁹  must pour out its blood and cover it with soil,

Leviticus 20:2

20:2 “You are to say to the Israelites, ‘Any man from the Israelites or from the foreigners who reside in Israel ¹⁰  who gives any of his children ¹¹  to Molech ¹²  must be put to death; the people of the land must pelt him with stones. ¹³ 

[17:10]  ¹ tn Heb “And man, man.” The repetition of the word “man” is distributive, meaning “any (or every) man” (GKC 395-96 §123.c; cf. Lev 15:2).

[17:10]  ² tn Heb “from the sojourner who sojourns.”

[17:10]  ³ tc The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate have “your” (plural) rather than “their.”

[17:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “I will give my faces against [literally “in”] the soul/person/life [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh, feminine] who eats the blood and I will cut it [i.e., that נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] off from the midst of its people.” The uses of נֶפֶשׁ in this and the following verse are most significant for the use of animal blood in Israel’s sacrificial system. Unfortunately, it is a most difficult word to translate accurately and consistently, and this presents a major problem for the rendering of these verses (see, e.g., G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 244-45). No matter which translation of נֶפֶשׁ one uses here, it is important to see that both man and animal have נֶפֶשׁ and that this נֶפֶשׁ is identified with the blood. See the further remarks on v. 11 below. On the “cutting off” penalty see the note on v. 4 above. In this instance, God takes it on himself to “cut off” the person (i.e., extirpation).

[17:13]  ⁵ tc A few medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, and Tg. Ps.-J. have “from the house of Israel” as in vv. 3, 8, and 10, but the LXX agrees with the MT.

[17:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “from the sojourner who sojourns.”

[17:13]  ⁷ tc The LXX, Syriac, Vulgate, and certain mss of Smr have “your” (plural) rather than “their” (cf. v. 10 above).

[17:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “[wild] game of animal.”

[17:13]  ⁹ tn That is, it must be a clean animal, not an unclean animal (cf. Lev 11).

[20:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “or from the sojourner who sojourns”; NAB “an alien residing in Israel.”

[20:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “his seed” (so KJV, ASV); likewise in vv. 3-4.

[20:2]  ¹¹ tn Regarding Molech and Molech worship see the note on Lev 18:21.

[20:2]  ¹² tn This is not the most frequently-used Hebrew verb for stoning (see instead סָקַל, saqal), but a word that refers to the action of throwing, slinging, or pelting someone with stones (רָגָם, ragam; see HALOT 1187 s.v. רגם qal.a, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 136).