Leviticus 4:6

4:6 The priest must dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle ¹  some of it ²  seven times before the Lord toward ³  the front of the veil-canopy ⁴  of the sanctuary.

Leviticus 4:17

4:17 and that priest must dip his finger in the blood ⁵  and sprinkle ⁶  some of the blood seven times ⁷  before the Lord toward ⁸  the front of the veil-canopy. ⁹ 

Leviticus 8:11

8:11 Next he sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times and so anointed the altar, all its vessels, and the wash basin and its stand to consecrate them.

Leviticus 14:7

14:7 and sprinkle it seven times on the one being cleansed ¹⁰  from the disease, pronounce him clean, ¹¹  and send the live bird away over the open countryside. ¹² 

Leviticus 14:27

14:27 and sprinkle some of the olive oil that is in his left hand with his right forefinger ¹³  seven times before the Lord.

Leviticus 16:14

16:14 Then he is to take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the eastern face of the atonement plate, ¹⁴  and in front of the atonement plate he is to sprinkle some of the blood seven times with his finger. ¹⁵ 

Leviticus 25:8

Regulations for the Jubilee Year of Release

25:8 “‘You must count off ¹⁶  seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, ¹⁷  and the days of the seven weeks of years will amount to forty-nine years. ¹⁸ 

[4:6]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verb וְהִזָּה (vÿhizzah, Hiphil of נָזָה, nazah) does indeed mean “sprinkle” or “splatter.” Contrast the different Hebrew verb meaning “splash” in Lev 1:5 (זָרָק, zaraq).

[4:6]  ² tn Heb “of the blood.” The relative pronoun (“it”) has been used in the translation here for stylistic reasons.

[4:6]  ³ tn The particle here translated “toward” usually serves as a direct object indicator or a preposition meaning “with.” With the verb of motion it probably means “toward,” “in the direction of” (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:234; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 60); cf. NAB, CEV.

[4:6]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term פָּרֹכֶת (parokhet) is usually translated “veil” (e.g., ASV, NAB, NASB) or “curtain” (e.g., NIV, NRSV), but it seems to have stretched not only in front of but also over the top of the ark of the covenant which stood behind and under it inside the most holy place (see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 3:687-89).

[4:17]  ⁵ tn The words “in the blood” are not repeated in the Hebrew text at this point, but must be supplied in the English translation for clarity.

[4:17]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew verb וְהִזָּה (vÿhizzah, Hiphil of נָזָה, nazah) does indeed mean “sprinkle” or “splatter.” Contrast the different Hebrew verb translated “splash” in Lev 1:5 (זָרָק, zaraq).

[4:17]  ⁷ tc The MT reads literally, “and the priest shall dip his finger from the blood and sprinkle seven times.” This is awkward. Compare v. 6, which has literally, “and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle from the blood seven times.” The MT appears to be corrupt by haplography (i.e., assuming v. 6 to be the correct form, in v. 17 the scribe skipped from “his finger” to “from the blood,” thus missing “in the blood”) and metathesis (i.e., this also resulted in a text where “from the blood” stands before “sprinkle” rather than after it; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 47).

[4:17]  ⁸ tn See the note on v. 6 above.

[4:17]  ⁹ tn See the note on v. 6 above.

[14:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “the one cleansing himself” (i.e., Hitpael participle of טָהֵר [taher, “to be clean”]).

[14:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and he shall make him clean.” The verb is the Piel of טָהֵר (taher, “to be clean”), here used as a so-called “declarative” Piel (i.e., “to declare clean”; cf. 13:6, etc.).

[14:7]  ¹¹ sn The reddish color of cedar wood and the crimson colored fabric called for in v. 4 (see the note there, esp. the association with the color of blood) as well as the priestly commands to bring “two live” birds (v. 4a), to slaughter one of them “over fresh water” (literally “living water,” v. 5b), and the subsequent ritual with the (second) “live” bird (vv. 6-7) combine to communicate the concept of “life” and “being alive” in this passage. This contrasts with the fear of death associated with the serious skin diseases in view here (see, e.g., Aaron’s description of Miriam’s skin disease in Num 12:12, “Do not let her be like the dead one when it goes out from its mother’s womb and its flesh half eaten away”). Since the slaughtered bird here is not sacrificed at the altar and is not designated as an expiatory “sin offering,” this ritual procedure probably symbolizes the renewed life of the diseased person and displays it publicly for all to see. It is preparatory to the expiatory rituals that will follow (vv. 10-20, esp. vv. 18-20), but is not itself expiatory. Thus, although there are important similarities between the bird ritual here, the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:20-22), and the red heifer for cleansing from corpse contamination (Num 19), this bird ritual is different in that the latter two constitute “sin offerings” (Lev 16:5, 8-10; Num 19:9, 17). Neither of the birds in Lev 14:4-7 is designated or treated as a “sin offering.” Nevertheless, the very nature of the live bird ritual itself and its obvious similarity to the scapegoat ritual suggests that the patient’s disease has been removed far away so that he or she is free from its effects both personally and communally.

[14:27]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger from the oil which is on his left hand.”

[16:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “on the faces of the atonement plate toward the east.” Some have taken this to mean that the ark was stationed just behind the veil-canopy on the eastern side of the most holy place. Thus, the high priest would need to enter and walk toward the west end of the most holy place and then turn eastward in order to face the ark and sprinkle the blood in an eastward direction. The rendering here, however, requires that the ark was stationed on the western end, or perhaps in the middle of the area, so that as the priest entered he was already facing the ark and would sprinkle the blood on the eastern face of the atonement plate, in a westward direction (see, e.g., J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 239 versus J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:1032).

[16:14]  ¹⁸ sn Presumably in this case the blood was sprinkled seven times on the ground in front of the ark on which the atonement plate was mounted.

[25:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “And you shall count off for yourself.”

[25:8]  ²² tn Heb “seven years seven times.”

[25:8]  ²³ tn Heb “and they shall be for you, the days of the seven Sabbaths of years, forty-nine years.”