Leviticus 22:10-13

22:10 “‘No lay person ¹  may eat anything holy. Neither a priest’s lodger ²  nor a hired laborer may eat anything holy, 22:11 but if a priest buys a person with his own money, ³  that person ⁴  may eat the holy offerings, ⁵  and those born in the priest’s ⁶  own house may eat his food. ⁷  22:12 If a priest’s daughter marries a lay person, ⁸  she may not eat the holy contribution offerings, ⁹  22:13 but if a priest’s daughter is a widow or divorced, and she has no children so that she returns to live in ¹⁰  her father’s house as in her youth, ¹¹  she may eat from her father’s food, but no lay person may eat it.

Numbers 18:10

18:10 You are to eat it as a most holy offering; every male may eat it. It will be holy to you.

Numbers 18:19

18:19 All the raised offerings of the holy things that the Israelites offer to the Lord, I have given to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual ordinance. It is a covenant of salt ¹²  forever before the Lord for you and for your descendants with you.”

[22:10]  ¹ tn Heb “No stranger” (so KJV, ASV), which refers here to anyone other than the Aaronic priests. Some English versions reverse the negation and state positively: NIV “No one outside a priest’s family”; NRSV “Only a member of a priestly family”; CEV “Only you priests and your families.”

[22:10]  ² tn Heb “A resident [תּוֹשָׁב (toshav) from יָשַׁב (yashav, “to dwell, to reside”)] of a priest.” The meaning of the term is uncertain. It could refer to a “guest” (NIV) or perhaps “bound servant” (NRSV; see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 149). In the translation “lodger” was used instead of “boarder” precisely because a boarder would be provided meals with his lodging, the very issue at stake here.

[22:11]  ³ tn Heb “and a priest, if he buys a person, the property of his silver.”

[22:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the person whom the priest has purchased) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “eat it”; the referent (the holy offerings) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “his”; the referent (the priest) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the [slave] born of his house, they shall eat in his food.” The LXX, Syriac, Tg. Onq., Tg. Ps.-J., and some mss of Smr have plural “ones born,” which matches the following plural “they” pronoun and the plural form of the verb.

[22:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “And a daughter of a priest, if she is to a man, a stranger” (cf. the note on v. 10 above).

[22:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “she in the contribution of the holy offerings shall not eat.” For “contribution [offering]” see the note on Lev 7:14 and the literature cited there. Cf. NCV “the holy offerings”; TEV, NLT “the sacred offerings.”

[22:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to”; the words “live in” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[22:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and seed there is not to her and she returns to the house of her father as her youth.” The mention of having “no children” appears to imply that her children, if she had any, should support her; this is made explicit by NLT’s “and has no children to support her.”

[18:19]  ¹² sn Salt was used in all the offerings; its importance as a preservative made it a natural symbol for the covenant which was established by sacrifice. Even general agreements were attested by sacrifice, and the phrase “covenant of salt” speaks of such agreements as binding and irrevocable. Note the expression in Ezra 4:14, “we have been salted with the salt of the palace.” See further J. F. Ross, IDB 4:167.