Leviticus 21:17-18

21:17 “Tell Aaron, ‘No man from your descendants throughout their generations ¹  who has a physical flaw ²  is to approach to present the food of his God. 21:18 Certainly ³  no man who has a physical flaw is to approach: a blind man, or one who is lame, or one with a slit nose, ⁴  or a limb too long,

Leviticus 22:3

22:3 Say to them, ‘Throughout your generations, ⁵  if any man from all your descendants approaches the holy offerings which the Israelites consecrate ⁶  to the Lord while he is impure, ⁷  that person must be cut off from before me. ⁸  I am the Lord.

[21:17]  ¹ tn Heb “to their generations.”

[21:17]  ² tn Heb “who in him is a flaw”; cf. KJV, ASV “any blemish”; NASB, NIV “a defect.” The rendering “physical flaw” is used to refer to any birth defect or physical injury of the kind described in the following verses (cf. the same Hebrew word also in Lev 24:19-20). The same term is used for “flawed” animals, which must not be offered to the Lord in Lev 22:20-25.

[21:18]  ³ tn The particle כִּי (ki) in this context is asseverative, indicating absolutely certainty (GKC 498 §159.ee).

[21:18]  ⁴ tn Lexically, the Hebrew term חָרֻם (kharum) seems to refer to a split nose or perhaps any number of other facial defects (HALOT 354 s.v. II חרם qal; cf. G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 292, n. 7); cf. KJV, ASV “a flat nose”; NASB “a disfigured face.” The NJPS translation is “a limb too short” as a balance to the following term which means “extended, raised,” and apparently refers to “a limb too long” (see the explanation in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 146).

[22:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “To your generations.”

[22:3]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “and his impurity [is] on him”; NIV “is ceremonially unclean”; NAB, NRSV “while he is in a state of uncleanness.”

[22:3]  ⁸ 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.”