Leviticus 2:2

2:2 Then he must bring it to the sons of Aaron, the priests, and the priest ¹  must scoop out from there a handful of its choice wheat flour and some of its olive oil in addition to all of its frankincense, and the priest must offer its memorial portion ²  up in smoke on the altar – it is ³  a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord.

Leviticus 5:16

5:16 And whatever holy thing he violated ⁴  he must restore and must add one fifth to it and give it to the priest. So the priest will make atonement ⁵  on his behalf with the guilt offering ram and he will be forgiven.” ⁶ 

Leviticus 6:20

6:20 “This is the offering of Aaron and his sons which they must present to the Lord on the day when he is anointed: a tenth of an ephah ⁷  of choice wheat flour ⁸  as a continual grain offering, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening.

Leviticus 11:32

11:32 Also, anything they fall on ⁹  when they die will become unclean – any wood vessel or garment or article of leather or sackcloth. Any such vessel with which work is done must be immersed in water ¹⁰  and will be unclean until the evening. Then it will become clean.

Leviticus 12:6

12:6 “‘When ¹¹  the days of her purification are completed for a son or for a daughter, she must bring a one year old lamb ¹²  for a burnt offering ¹³  and a young pigeon or turtledove for a sin offering ¹⁴  to the entrance of the Meeting Tent, to the priest.

Leviticus 17:15

Regulations for Eating Carcasses

17:15 “‘Any person ¹⁵  who eats an animal that has died of natural causes ¹⁶  or an animal torn by beasts, whether a native citizen or a foreigner, ¹⁷  must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening; then he becomes clean.

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 ¹⁸  who gives any of his children ¹⁹  to Molech ²⁰  must be put to death; the people of the land must pelt him with stones. ²¹ 

Leviticus 22:3

22:3 Say to them, ‘Throughout your generations, ²²  if any man from all your descendants approaches the holy offerings which the Israelites consecrate ²³  to the Lord while he is impure, ²⁴  that person must be cut off from before me. ²⁵  I am the Lord.

Leviticus 25:33

25:33 Whatever someone among the Levites might redeem – the sale of a house which is his property in a city – must revert in the jubilee, ²⁶  because the houses of the cities of the Levites are their property in the midst of the Israelites.

[2:2]  ¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. The syntax is strange here and might suggest that it was the offerer who scooped out a handful of the grain offering for the memorial portion (G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 66), but based on v. 9 below it should be understood that it was the priest who performed this act (see, e.g., NRSV “After taking from it a handful of the choice flour and oil…the priest shall…”; see also J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:177, 181 and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 30).

[2:2]  ² sn The “memorial portion” (אַזְכָרָה, ’azkharah) was the part of the grain offering that was burnt on the altar (see the previous clause), as opposed to the remainder, which was normally consumed by the priests (v. 3; see the full regulations in Lev 6:14-23[7-16]). It was probably intended to call to mind (i.e., memorialize) before the Lord the reason for the presentation of the particular offering (see the remarks in R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:335-39).

[2:2]  ³ tn The words “it is” have been supplied. See the notes on Lev 1:9 and 2:3. There is no text critical problem here, but the syntax suggests the same translation.

[5:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “and which he sinned from the holy thing.”

[5:16]  ⁵ sn Regarding “make atonement” see the note on Lev 1:4.

[5:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV similar).

[6:20]  ⁷ sn A tenth of an ephah is about 2.3 liters, one day’s ration for a single person (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:306).

[6:20]  ⁸ tn For the rendering “choice wheat flour” see the note on Lev 2:1.

[11:32]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “And all which it shall fall on it from them.”

[11:32]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in water it shall be brought.”

[12:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “And when” (so KJV, NASB). Many recent English versions leave the conjunction untranslated.

[12:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a lamb the son of his year”; KJV “a lamb of the first year” (NRSV “in its first year”); NAB “a yearling lamb.”

[12:6]  ¹⁵ sn See the note on Lev 1:3 regarding the “burnt offering.”

[12:6]  ¹⁶ sn See the note on Lev 4:3 regarding the term “sin offering.”

[17:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “And any soul” (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh).

[17:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “carcass,” referring to the carcass of an animal that has died on its own, not the carcass of an animal slaughtered for sacrifice or killed by wild beasts. This has been clarified in the translation by supplying the phrase “of natural causes”; cf. NAB “that died of itself”; TEV “that has died a natural death.”

[17:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in the native or in the sojourner.”

[20:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “or from the sojourner who sojourns”; NAB “an alien residing in Israel.”

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

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

[20:2]  ²² 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).

[22:3]  ²² tn Heb “To your generations.”

[22:3]  ²³ tn The Piel (v. 2) and Hiphil (v. 3) forms of the verb קָדַשׁ (qadash) appear to be interchangeable in this context. Both mean “to consecrate” (Heb “make holy [or “sacred”]”).

[22:3]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and his impurity [is] on him”; NIV “is ceremonially unclean”; NAB, NRSV “while he is in a state of uncleanness.”

[22:3]  ²⁵ sn Regarding the “cut off” penalty, see the note on Lev 7:20. Cf. the interpretive translation of TEV “he can never again serve at the altar.”

[25:33]  ²⁵ tn Heb “And which he shall redeem from the Levites shall go out, sale of house and city, his property in the jubilee.” Although the end of this verse is clear, the first part is notoriously difficult. There are five main views. (1) The first clause of the verse actually attaches to the previous verse, and refers to the fact that their houses retain a perpetual right of redemption (v. 32b), “which any of the Levites may exercise” (v. 33a; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 418, 421). (2) It refers to property that one Levite sells to another Levite, which is then redeemed by still another Levite (v. 33a). In such cases, the property reverts to the original Levite owner in the jubilee year (v. 33b; G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 321). (3) It refers to houses in a city that had come to be declared as a Levitical city but had original non-Levitical owners. Once the city was declared to belong to the Levites, however, an owner could only sell his house to a Levite, and he could only redeem it back from a Levite up until the time of the first jubilee after the city was declared to be a Levitical city. In this case the first part of the verse would be translated, “Such property as may be redeemed from the Levites” (NRSV, NJPS). At the first jubilee, however, all such houses became the property of the Levites (v. 33b; P. J. Budd, Leviticus [NCBC], 353). (4) It refers to property “which is appropriated from the Levites” (not “redeemed from the Levites,” v. 33a) by those who have bought it or taken it as security for debts owed to them by Levites who had fallen on bad times. Again, such property reverts back to the original Levite owners at the jubilee (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 177). (5) It simply refers to the fact that a Levite has the option of redeeming his house (i.e., the prefix form of the verb is taken to be subjunctive, “may or might redeem”), which he had to sell because he had fallen into debt or perhaps even become destitute. Even if he never gained the resources to do so, however, it would still revert to him in the jubilee year. The present translation is intended to reflect this latter view.