Leviticus 26:1

Exhortation to Obedience

26:1 “‘You must not make for yourselves idols, ¹  so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before ²  it, for I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 20:5

20:5 I myself will set my face against that man and his clan. I will cut off from the midst of their people both him and all who follow after him in spiritual prostitution, ³  to commit prostitution by worshiping Molech. ⁴ 

Leviticus 23:3-4

The Weekly Sabbath

23:3 “‘Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a Sabbath of complete rest, ⁵  a holy assembly. You must not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the Lord in all the places where you live.

The Festival of Passover and Unleavened Bread

23:4 “‘These are the Lord’s appointed times, holy assemblies, which you must proclaim at their appointed time.

Leviticus 26:31

26:31 I will lay your cities waste ⁶  and make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will refuse to smell your soothing aromas.

Leviticus 2:1

Grain Offering Regulations: Offering of Raw Flour

2:1 “‘When a person presents a grain offering ⁷  to the Lord, his offering must consist of choice wheat flour, ⁸  and he must pour olive oil on it and put frankincense ⁹  on it.

Leviticus 6:27

6:27 Anyone who touches its meat must be holy, and whoever spatters some of its blood on a garment, ¹⁰  you must wash ¹¹  whatever he spatters it on in a holy place.

Leviticus 23:2

23:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘These are the Lord’s appointed times which you must proclaim as holy assemblies – my appointed times: ¹² 

Leviticus 26:30

26:30 I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars, ¹³  and I will stack your dead bodies on top of the lifeless bodies of your idols. ¹⁴  I will abhor you. ¹⁵ 

Leviticus 7:16

7:16 “‘If his offering is a votive or freewill sacrifice, ¹⁶  it may be eaten on the day he presents his sacrifice, and also the leftovers from it may be eaten on the next day, ¹⁷ 

Leviticus 23:24

23:24 “Tell the Israelites, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you must have a complete rest, a memorial announced by loud horn blasts, ¹⁸  a holy assembly.

Leviticus 23:27

23:27 “The ¹⁹  tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. ²⁰  It is to be a holy assembly for you, and you must humble yourselves ²¹  and present a gift to the Lord.

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 ²²  who gives any of his children ²³  to Molech ²⁴  must be put to death; the people of the land must pelt him with stones. ²⁵ 

Leviticus 23:37

23:37 “‘These are the appointed times of the Lord that you must proclaim as holy assemblies to present a gift to the Lord – burnt offering, grain offering, sacrifice, and drink offerings, ²⁶  each day according to its regulation, ²⁷ 

[26:1]  ¹ sn For the literature regarding the difficult etymology and meaning of the term for “idols” (אֱלִילִם, ’elilim), see the literature cited in the note on Lev 19:4. It appears to be a diminutive play on words with אֵל (’el, “god, God”) and, perhaps at the same time, recalls a common Semitic word for “worthless, weak, powerless, nothingness.” Snaith suggests a rendering of “worthless godlings.”

[26:1]  ² tn Heb “on.” The “sculpted stone” appears to be some sort of stone with images carved into (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 181, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 449).

[20:5]  ³ tn The adjective “spiritual” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that this is not a reference to literal prostitution, but figuratively compares idolatry to prostitution.

[20:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “to commit harlotry after Molech.” The translation employs “worshiping” here for clarity (cf. NAB, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT). On the “cut off” penalty see the note on Lev 7:20.

[23:3]  ⁵ tn This is a superlative expression, emphasizing the full and all inclusive rest of the Sabbath and certain festival times throughout the chapter (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 155). Cf. ASV “a sabbath of solemn rest.”

[26:31]  ⁷ tn Heb “And I will give your cities a waste”; NLT “make your cities desolate.”

[2:1]  ⁹ sn The “grain offering” ( מִנְחָה[minkhah]; here קָרְבַּן מִנְחָה, [qorbban minkhah], “an offering of a grain offering”) generally accompanied a burnt or peace offering to supplement the meat with bread (the libation provided the drink; cf. Num 15:1-10), thus completing the food “gift” to the Lord. It made atonement (see the note on Lev 1:4) along with the burnt offering (e.g., Lev 14:20) or alone as a sin offering for the poor (Lev 5:11-13).

[2:1]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term for “choice wheat flour” (סֹלֶת, selet) is often translated “fine flour” (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NCV), but it refers specifically to wheat as opposed to barley (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 10). Moreover, the translation “flour” might be problematic, since the Hebrew term may designate the “grits” rather than the more finely ground “flour” (see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:179 as opposed to Levine, 10, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 30).

[2:1]  ¹¹ sn This is not just any “incense” (קְטֹרֶת, qÿtoret; R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 3:913-16), but specifically “frankincense” (לְבֹנָה, lÿvonah; R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:756-57).

[6:27]  ¹¹ tn Heb “on the garment”; NCV “on any clothes”; CEV “on the clothes of the priest.”

[6:27]  ¹² tc The translation “you must wash” is based on the MT as it stands (cf. NASB, NIV). Smr, LXX, Syriac, Tg. Ps.-J., and the Vulgate have a third person masculine singular passive form (Pual), “[the garment] must be washed” (cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT). This could also be supported from the verbs in the following verse, and it requires only a repointing of the Hebrew text with no change in consonants. See the remarks in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 90 and J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:404.

[23:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “these are them, my appointed times.”

[26:30]  ¹⁵ sn Regarding these cultic installations, see the remarks in B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 188, and R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:903. The term rendered “incense altars” might better be rendered “sanctuaries [of foreign deities]” or “stelae.”

[26:30]  ¹⁶ tn The translation reflects the Hebrew wordplay “your corpses…the corpses of your idols.” Since idols, being lifeless, do not really have “corpses,” the translation uses “dead bodies” for people and “lifeless bodies” for the idols.

[26:30]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and my soul will abhor you.”

[7:16]  ¹⁷ tn For the distinction between votive and freewill offerings see the note on Lev 22:23 and the literature cited there.

[7:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and on the next day and the left over from it shall be eaten.”

[23:24]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a memorial of loud blasts.” Although the term for “horn” does not occur here, allowing for the possibility that vocal “shouts” of acclamation are envisioned (see P. J. Budd, Leviticus [NCBC], 325), the “blast” of the shofar (a trumpet made from a ram’s “horn”) is most likely what is intended. On this occasion, the loud blasts on the horn announced the coming of the new year on the first day of the seventh month (see the explanations in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 387, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 160).

[23:27]  ²¹ tn Heb “Surely the tenth day” or perhaps “Precisely the tenth day.” The Hebrew adverbial particle אַךְ (’akh) is left untranslated by most recent English versions; cf. however NASB “On exactly the tenth day.”

[23:27]  ²² sn See the description of this day and its regulations in Lev 16 and the notes there.

[23:27]  ²³ tn Heb “you shall humble your souls.” See the note on Lev 16:29 above.

[20:2]  ²³ tn Heb “or from the sojourner who sojourns”; NAB “an alien residing in Israel.”

[20:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “his seed” (so KJV, ASV); likewise in vv. 3-4.

[20:2]  ²⁵ tn Regarding Molech and Molech worship see the note on Lev 18:21.

[20:2]  ²⁶ 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).

[23:37]  ²⁵ tn The LXX has “[their] burnt offerings, and their sacrifices, and their drink offerings.”

[23:37]  ²⁶ tn Heb “a matter of a day in its day”; NAB “as prescribed for each day”; NRSV, NLT “each on its proper day.”