Leviticus 22:18-21

22:18 “Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites and tell them, ‘When any man ¹  from the house of Israel or from the foreigners in Israel ²  presents his offering for any of the votive or freewill offerings which they present to the Lord as a burnt offering, 22:19 if it is to be acceptable for your benefit ³  it must be a flawless male from the cattle, sheep, or goats. 22:20 You must not present anything that has a flaw, ⁴  because it will not be acceptable for your benefit. ⁵  22:21 If a man presents a peace offering sacrifice to the Lord for a special votive offering ⁶  or for a freewill offering from the herd or the flock, it must be flawless to be acceptable; ⁷  it must have no flaw. ⁸ 

Leviticus 23:38

23:38 besides ⁹  the Sabbaths of the Lord and all your gifts, votive offerings, and freewill offerings which you must give to the Lord.

Numbers 15:3

15:3 and you make an offering by fire to the Lord from the herd or from the flock (whether a burnt offering or a sacrifice for discharging a vow or as a freewill offering or in your solemn feasts) to create a pleasing aroma to the Lord,

Deuteronomy 12:6

12:6 And there you must take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, ¹⁰  your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

Deuteronomy 12:11

12:11 Then you must come to the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to reside, bringing ¹¹  everything I am commanding you – your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, ¹²  and all your choice votive offerings which you devote to him. ¹³ 

Deuteronomy 12:17

12:17 You will not be allowed to eat in your villages your tithe of grain, new wine, olive oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, any votive offerings you have vowed, or your freewill and personal offerings.

Deuteronomy 12:26

12:26 Only the holy things and votive offerings that belong to you, you must pick up and take to the place the Lord will choose. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 66:13

66:13 I will enter ¹⁵  your temple with burnt sacrifices;

I will fulfill the vows I made to you,

Psalms 116:14

116:14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord

before all his people.

Psalms 116:18

116:18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord

before all his people,

Nahum 1:15

Proclamation of the Deliverance of Judah

1:15 (2:1) ¹⁶  Look! A herald is running ¹⁷  on the mountains!

A messenger is proclaiming deliverance: ¹⁸ 

“Celebrate your sacred festivals, O Judah!

Fulfill your sacred vows to praise God! ¹⁹ 

For never again ²⁰  will the wicked ²¹  Assyrians ²²  invade ²³  you,

they ²⁴  have been completely destroyed.” ²⁵ 

[22:18]  ¹ tn Heb “Man, man.” The reduplication is a way of saying “any man” (cf. Lev 15:2; 17:3, etc.; see the distributive repetition of the noun in GKC 395-96 §123.c).

[22:18]  ² tn Heb “and from the foreigner [singular] in Israel.” Some medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate add “who resides” after “foreigner”: “the foreigner who resides in Israel” (cf., e.g., Lev 20:2 above).

[22:19]  ³ tn Heb “for your acceptance.” See Lev 1:3-4 above and the notes there.

[22:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “all which in it [is] a flaw.” Note that the same term is used for physical flaws of people in Lev 21:17-24. Cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV “blemish”; NASB, NIV, TEV “defect”; NLT “with physical defects.”

[22:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “not for acceptance shall it be for you”; NIV “it will not be accepted on your behalf” (NRSV and NLT both similar).

[22:21]  ⁶ tn The meaning of the expression לְפַלֵּא־נֶדֶר (lÿfalle’-neder) rendered here “for a special votive offering” is much debated. Some take it as an expression for fulfilling a vow, “to fulfill a vow” (e.g., HALOT 927-28 s.v. פלא piel and NASB; cf. NAB, NRSV “in fulfillment of a vow”) or, alternatively, “to make a vow” or “for making a vow” (HALOT 928 s.v. פלא piel [II פלא]). Perhaps it refers to the making a special vow, from the verb פָלַא (pala’, “to be wonderful, to be remarkable”); cf. J. Milgrom, Numbers (JPSTC), 44. B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 151 and 193, suggests that this is a special term for “setting aside a votive offering” (related to פָלָה [palah, “to set aside”]). In general, the point of the expression seems to be that this sacrifice arises as a special gift to God out of special circumstances in the life of the worshiper.

[22:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “for acceptance”; NAB “if it is to find acceptance.”

[22:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “all/any flaw shall not be in it.”

[23:38]  ⁹ tn Heb “from to separation.” See BDB 94 s.v. בַּד 1.e for an explanation of this phrase. This phrase is repeated in front of each of the four items in this verse in the Hebrew text, but these have not been translated into English for stylistic reasons. Cf. KJV, NASB “besides”; NRSV “apart from.”

[12:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “heave offerings of your hand.”

[12:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and it will be (to) the place where the Lord your God chooses to cause his name to dwell you will bring.”

[12:11]  ¹² tn Heb “heave offerings of your hand.”

[12:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 12:5.

[12:26]  ¹⁴ tc Again, to complete a commonly attested wording the LXX adds after “choose” the phrase “to place his name there.” This shows insensitivity to deliberate departures from literary stereotypes. The MT reading is to be preferred.

[66:13]  ¹⁵ sn Here the psalmist switches to the singular; he speaks as the representative of the nation.

[1:15]  ¹⁶ sn Beginning with 1:15, the verse numbers through 2:13 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 1:15 ET = 2:1 HT, 2:1 ET = 2:2 HT, etc., through 2:13 ET = 2:14 HT. Beginning with 3:1, the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.

[1:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the feet of a herald.”

[1:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a messenger of peace.” The Hebrew noun translated “peace” is sometimes used in reference to deliverance or freedom from enemy attack or destruction (e.g., Jer 4:10; 6:14; 8:11; 12:5; 28:9; 29:7).

[1:15]  ¹⁹ sn The sacred vows to praise God were often made by Israelites as a pledge to proclaim the mercy of the Lord if he would be gracious to deliver (e.g., Gen 28:20; 31:13; Lev 7:16; Judg 11:30, 39; 1 Sam 1:11, 21; 2 Sam 15:7-8; Pss 22:25 [26]; 50:14; 56:12 [13]; 61:5 [6], 8 [9]; 65:1 [2]; 66:13; 116:14, 18; Eccl 5:4 [3]; Jonah 1:16; 2:9 [10]). The words “to praise God” are not in the Hebrew, but are added in the translation for clarification.

[1:15]  ²⁰ tc The LXX reflects the plural יוֹסִיפוּ (yosifu, “they shall [never]”). The MT reads the singular יוֹסִיף (yosif, “he shall [never]”) which is also found in the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QpNah). The subject of the verb is the singular noun בְּלִיַּעַל (bÿliyya’al, “the wicked one”) which is also misunderstood by the LXX (see below).

[1:15]  ²¹ tc The MT reads בְּלִיַּעַל (bÿliyya’al, “the wicked one”; so ASV, NASB). The LXX reading εἰς παλαίωσιν (ei" palaiwsin, “to old age”) mistakenly derived בְּלִיַּעַל from בָּלָה (balah, “to become worn”). There are several places in the book of Nahum where the LXX produced poor translations.

[1:15]  ²² tn The term “Assyrians” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied from context for clarity. If left unspecified, the prophetic statement could be understood to mean that the wicked [i.e., wicked conquerors in general] would never again invade Judah. Cf. NLT “your enemies from Nineveh.”

[1:15]  ²³ tn Or “pass through you” (NASB); or “march against you”; NCV “attack you.”

[1:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “he.” This is in agreement with the singular “wicked one” in the previous line.

[1:15]  ²⁵ tn Heb “he is completely cut off.”