Discovery BoxLeviticus 5:2
Context5:2 Or when there is 1 a person who touches anything ceremonially 2 unclean, whether the carcass of an unclean wild animal, or the carcass of an unclean domesticated animal, or the carcass of an unclean creeping thing, even if he did not realize it, 3 but he himself has become unclean and is guilty; 4
Leviticus 5:1
Context5:1 “‘When a person sins 5 in that he hears a public curse against one who fails to testify 6 and he is a witness (he either saw or knew what had happened 7 ) and he does not make it known, 8 then he will bear his punishment for iniquity. 9
Leviticus 20:1--21:24
Context20:1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 20:2 “You are to say to the Israelites, ‘Any man from the Israelites or from the foreigners who reside in Israel 10 who gives any of his children 11 to Molech 12 must be put to death; the people of the land must pelt him with stones. 13 20:3 I myself will set my face 14 against that man and cut him off from the midst of his people, 15 because he has given some of his children to Molech and thereby defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name. 16 20:4 If, however, the people of the land shut their eyes 17 to that man 18 when he gives some of his children to Molech so that they do not put him to death, 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, 19 to commit prostitution by worshiping Molech. 20
20:6 “‘The person who turns to the spirits of the dead and familiar spirits 22 to commit prostitution by going after them, I will set my face 23 against that person and cut him off from the midst of his people.
20:7 “‘You must sanctify yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God. 20:8 You must be sure to obey my statutes. 24 I am the Lord who sanctifies you.
20:9 “‘If anyone 26 curses his father and mother 27 he must be put to death. He has cursed his father and mother; his blood guilt is on himself. 28 20:10 If a man 29 commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, 30 both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. 20:11 If a man has sexual intercourse with his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness. 31 Both of them must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves. 32 20:12 If a man has sexual intercourse with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. They have committed perversion; 33 their blood guilt is on themselves. 20:13 If a man has sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman, 34 the two of them have committed an abomination. They must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves. 20:14 If a man has sexual intercourse with both a woman and her mother, 35 it is lewdness. 36 Both he and they must be burned to death, 37 so there is no lewdness in your midst. 20:15 If a man has sexual intercourse 38 with any animal, he must be put to death, and you must kill the animal. 20:16 If a woman approaches any animal to have sexual intercourse with it, 39 you must kill the woman, and the animal must be put to death; their blood guilt is on themselves.
20:17 “‘If a man has sexual intercourse with 40 his sister, whether the daughter of his father or his mother, so that he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. 41 He has exposed his sister’s nakedness; he will bear his punishment for iniquity. 42 20:18 If a man has sexual intercourse with a menstruating woman and uncovers her nakedness, he has laid bare her fountain of blood and she has exposed the fountain of her blood, so both of them 43 must be cut off from the midst of their people. 20:19 You must not expose the nakedness of your mother’s sister and your father’s sister, for such a person has laid bare his own close relative. 44 They must bear their punishment for iniquity. 45 20:20 If a man has sexual intercourse with his aunt, he has exposed his uncle’s nakedness; they must bear responsibility for their sin, they will die childless. 20:21 If a man has sexual intercourse with 46 his brother’s wife, it is indecency. He has exposed his brother’s nakedness; 47 they will be childless.
20:22 “‘You must be sure to obey all my statutes and regulations, 48 so that 49 the land to which I am about to bring you to take up residence there does not vomit you out. 20:23 You must not walk in the statutes of the nation 50 which I am about to drive out before you, because they have done all these things and I am filled with disgust against them. 20:24 So I have said to you: You yourselves will possess their land and I myself will give it to you for a possession, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God who has set you apart from the other peoples. 51 20:25 Therefore you must distinguish 52 between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean, and you must not make yourselves detestable by means of an animal or bird or anything that creeps on the ground – creatures 53 I have distinguished for you as unclean. 54 20:26 You must be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the other peoples to be mine.
20:27 “‘A man or woman who 55 has in them a spirit of the dead or a familiar spirit 56 must be put to death. They must pelt them with stones; 57 their blood guilt is on themselves.’”
21:1 The Lord said to Moses: “Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron – say to them, ‘For a dead person 58 no priest 59 is to defile himself among his people, 60 21:2 except for his close relative who is near to him: 61 his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 21:3 and his virgin sister who is near to him, 62 who has no husband; he may defile himself for her. 21:4 He must not defile himself as a husband among his people so as to profane himself. 63 21:5 Priests 64 must not have a bald spot shaved on their head, they must not shave the corner of their beard, and they must not cut slashes in their body. 65
21:6 “‘They must be holy to their God, and they must not profane 66 the name of their God, because they are the ones who present the Lord’s gifts, 67 the food of their God. Therefore they must be holy. 68 21:7 They must not take a wife defiled by prostitution, 69 nor are they to take a wife divorced from her husband, 70 for the priest 71 is holy to his God. 72 21:8 You must sanctify him because he presents the food of your God. He must be holy to you because I, the Lord who sanctifies you all, 73 am holy. 21:9 If a daughter of a priest profanes herself by engaging in prostitution, she is profaning her father. She must be burned to death. 74
21:10 “‘The high 75 priest – who is greater than his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured, who has been ordained 76 to wear the priestly garments – must neither dishevel the hair of his head nor tear his garments. 77 21:11 He must not go where there is any dead person; 78 he must not defile himself even for his father and his mother. 21:12 He must not go out from the sanctuary and must not profane 79 the sanctuary of his God, because the dedication of the anointing oil of his God is on him. I am the Lord. 21:13 He must take a wife who is a virgin. 80 21:14 He must not marry 81 a widow, a divorced woman, or one profaned by prostitution; he may only take a virgin from his people 82 as a wife. 21:15 He must not profane his children among his people, 83 for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.’”
21:16 The Lord spoke to Moses: 21:17 “Tell Aaron, ‘No man from your descendants throughout their generations 84 who has a physical flaw 85 is to approach to present the food of his God. 21:18 Certainly 86 no man who has a physical flaw is to approach: a blind man, or one who is lame, or one with a slit nose, 87 or a limb too long, 21:19 or a man who has had a broken leg or arm, 88 21:20 or a hunchback, or a dwarf, 89 or one with a spot in his eye, 90 or a festering eruption, or a feverish rash, 91 or a crushed testicle. 21:21 No man from the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a physical flaw may step forward 92 to present the Lord’s gifts; he has a physical flaw, so he must not step forward to present the food of his God. 21:22 He may eat both the most holy and the holy food of his God, 21:23 but he must not go into the veil-canopy 93 or step forward to the altar because he has a physical flaw. Thus 94 he must not profane my holy places, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’”
21:24 So 95 Moses spoke these things 96 to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites.
Leviticus 1:11
Context1:11 and must slaughter it on the north side of the altar before the Lord, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, will splash its blood against the altar’s sides.
[5:2] 1 tc The insertion of the words “when there is” is a reflection of the few Hebrew
[5:2] 2 tn The word “ceremonially” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that the uncleanness involved is ritual or ceremonial in nature.
[5:2] 3 tn Heb “and it is hidden from him,” meaning that the person who contracted the ceremonial uncleanness was not aware at the time what had happened, but later found out that he had become ceremonially unclean. This same phrase occurs again in both vv. 3 and 4.
[5:2] 4 sn Lev 5:2-3 are parallel laws of uncleanness (contracted from animals and people, respectively), and both seem to assume that the contraction of uncleanness was originally unknown to the person (vv. 2 and 3) but became known to him or her at a later time (v. 3; i.e., “has come to know” in v. 3 is to be assumed for v. 2 as well). Uncleanness itself did not make a person “guilty” unless he or she failed to handle it according to the normal purification regulations (see, e.g., “wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening,” Lev 15:5 NIV; cf. Lev 11:39-40; 15:5-12, 16-24; Num 19, etc.). The problem here in Lev 5:2-3 is that, because the person had not been aware of his or her uncleanness, he or she had incurred guilt for not carrying out these regular procedures, and it would now be too late for that. Thus, the unclean person needs to bring a sin offering to atone for the contamination caused by his or her neglect of the purity regulations.
[5:1] 5 tn Heb “And a person when he sins.” Most English versions translate this as the protasis of a conditional clause: “if a person sins” (NASB, NIV).
[5:1] 6 tn The words “against one who fails to testify” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied to make sense of the remark about the “curse” (“imprecation” or “oath”; cf. ASV “adjuration”; NIV “public charge”) for the modern reader. For the interpretation of this verse reflected in the present translation see J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:292-97.
[5:1] 7 tn The words “what had happened” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.
[5:1] 8 tn Heb “and hears a voice of curse, and he is a witness or he saw or he knew, if he does not declare.”
[5:1] 9 tn Heb “and he shall bear his iniquity.” The rendering “bear the punishment (for the iniquity)” reflects the use of the word “iniquity” to refer to the punishment for iniquity (cf. NRSV, NLT “subject to punishment”). It is sometimes referred to as the consequential use of the term (cf. Lev 5:17; 7:18; 10:17; etc.).
[20:2] 9 tn Heb “or from the sojourner who sojourns”; NAB “an alien residing in Israel.”
[20:2] 10 tn Heb “his seed” (so KJV, ASV); likewise in vv. 3-4.
[20:2] 11 tn Regarding Molech and Molech worship see the note on Lev 18:21.
[20:2] 12 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).
[20:3] 13 tn Heb “And I, I shall give my faces.”
[20:3] 14 sn On the “cut off” penalty see the notes on Lev 7:20 and 17:4.
[20:3] 15 tn Heb “for the sake of defiling my sanctuary and to profane my holy name.”
[20:4] 17 tn Heb “And if shutting [infinitive absolute] they shut [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.
[20:4] 18 tn Heb “from that man” (so ASV); NASB “disregard that man.”
[20:5] 21 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] 22 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.
[20:6] 25 sn For structure and coherence in Lev 20:6-27 see the note on v. 27 below.
[20:6] 26 tn See the note on the phrase “familiar spirits” in Lev 19:31 above.
[20:6] 27 tn Heb “I will give my faces.”
[20:8] 29 tn Heb “And you shall keep my statutes and you shall do them.” This appears to be a kind of verbal hendiadys, where the first verb is a modifier of the action of the second verb (see GKC 386 §120.d, although שָׁמַר [shamar, “to keep”] is not cited there; cf. Lev 22:31, etc.).
[20:9] 33 sn Compare the regulations in Lev 18:6-23.
[20:9] 34 tn Heb “If a man a man who.”
[20:9] 35 tn Heb “makes light of his father and his mother.” Almost all English versions render this as some variation of “curses his father or mother.”
[20:9] 36 tn Heb “his blood [plural] is in him.” Cf. NAB “he has forfeited his life”; TEV “is responsible for his own death.”
[20:10] 37 tn Heb “And a man who.” The syntax here and at the beginning of the following verses elliptically mirrors that of v. 9, which justifies the rendering as a conditional clause.
[20:10] 38 tc The reading of the LXX minuscule
[20:11] 41 sn See the note on Lev 18:7 above.
[20:11] 42 tn See the note on v. 9 above.
[20:12] 45 tn The Hebrew term תֶּבֶל (tevel, “perversion”) derives from the verb “to mix; to confuse” (cf. KJV, ASV “they have wrought confusion”).
[20:13] 49 tn Heb “[as the] lyings of a woman.” The specific reference here is to homosexual intercourse between males.
[20:14] 53 tn Heb “And a man who takes a woman and her mother.” The Hebrew verb “to take” in this context means “to engage in sexual intercourse.”
[20:14] 54 tn Regarding “lewdness,” see the note on Lev 18:17 above.
[20:14] 55 tn Heb “in fire they shall burn him and them.” The active plural verb sometimes requires a passive translation (GKC 460 §144.f, g), esp. when no active plural subject has been expressed in the context. The present translation specifies “burned to death” because the traditional rendering “burnt with fire” (KJV, ASV; NASB “burned with fire”) could be understood to mean “branded” or otherwise burned, but not fatally.
[20:15] 57 tn See the note on Lev 18:20 above.
[20:16] 61 tn Heb “to copulate with it” (cf. Lev 20:16).
[20:17] 65 tn Heb “takes.” The verb “to take” in this context means “to engage in sexual intercourse,” though some English versions translate it as “marry” (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV).
[20:17] 66 tn Regarding the “cut off” penalty, see the note on Lev 7:20.
[20:17] 67 tn See the note on Lev 17:16 above.
[20:18] 69 tn Heb “and the two of them.”
[20:19] 73 tn Heb “his flesh.”
[20:19] 74 tn See the note on Lev 17:16 above.
[20:21] 77 tn Heb “takes.” The verb “to take” in this context means “to engage in sexual intercourse.”
[20:21] 78 sn See the note on Lev 18:7 above.
[20:22] 81 tn Heb “And you shall keep all my statutes and all my regulations and you shall do them.” This appears to be a kind of verbal hendiadys, where the first verb is a modifier of the action of the second verb (see GKC 386 §120.d, although שָׁמַר [shamar, “to keep”] is not cited there; cf. Lev 22:31, etc.).
[20:22] 82 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
[20:23] 85 tc One medieval Hebrew
[20:24] 89 tc Here and with the same phrase in v. 26, the LXX adds “all,” resulting in the reading “all the peoples.”
[20:25] 93 tn Heb “And you shall distinguish.” The verb is the same as “set apart” at the end of the previous verse. The fact that God had “set them apart” from the other peoples roundabout them called for them to “distinguish between” the clean and the unclean, etc.
[20:25] 94 tn The word “creatures” has been supplied in the translation to make it clear that the following relative clause modifies the animal, bird, or creeping thing mentioned earlier, and not the ground itself.
[20:25] 95 tc The MT has “to defile,” but Smr, LXX, and Syriac have “to uncleanness.”
[20:27] 97 tc Smr, LXX, Syriac, and some Targum
[20:27] 98 tn See the note on the phrase “familiar spirit” in Lev 19:31 above.
[20:27] 99 tn This is not the most frequently-used Hebrew verb for stoning, but a word that refers to the action of throwing, slinging, or pelting someone with stones (see the note on v. 2 above). Smr and LXX have “you [plural] shall pelt them with stones.”
[21:1] 101 tn The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul, person, life”) can sometimes refer to a “dead person” (cf. Lev 19:28 above and the literature cited there).
[21:1] 102 tn Heb “no one,” but “priest” has been used in the translation to clarify that these restrictions are limited to the priests, not to the Israelites in general (note the introductory formula, “say to the priests, the sons of Aaron”).
[21:1] 103 tc The MT has “in his peoples,” but Smr, LXX, Syriac, Targum, and Tg. Ps.-J. have “in his people,” referring to the Israelites as a whole.
[21:2] 105 tn Heb “except for his flesh, the one near to him.”
[21:4] 113 tn Heb “He shall not defile himself a husband in his peoples, to profane himself.” The meaning of the line is disputed, but it appears to prohibit a priest from burying any relative by marriage (as opposed to the blood relatives of vv. 2-3), including his wife (compare B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 142-43 with J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 343, 348).
[21:5] 117 tn Heb “they”; the referent (priests, see the beginning of v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[21:5] 118 tn Heb “and in their body they shall not [cut] slash[es]” (cf. Lev 19:28). The context connects these sorts of mutilations with mourning rites (cf. Lev 19:27-28 above).
[21:6] 121 sn Regarding “profane,” see the note on Lev 10:10 above.
[21:6] 122 sn Regarding the Hebrew term for “gifts,” see the note on Lev 1:9 above (cf. also 3:11 and 16 in combination with the word for “food” that follows in the next phrase here).
[21:6] 123 tc Smr and all early versions have the plural adjective “holy” rather than the MT singular noun “holiness.”
[21:7] 125 tn Heb “A wife harlot and profaned they shall not take.” The structure of the verse (e.g., “wife” at the beginning of the two main clauses) suggests that “harlot and profaned” constitutes a hendiadys, meaning “a wife defiled by harlotry” (see the explanation in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 143, as opposed to that in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 343, 348; cf. v. 14 below). Cf. NASB “a woman who is profaned by harlotry.”
[21:7] 126 sn For a helpful discussion of divorce in general and as it relates to this passage see B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 143-44.
[21:7] 127 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the priest) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[21:7] 128 tn The pronoun “he” in this clause refers to the priest, not the former husband of the divorced woman.
[21:8] 129 tn The three previous second person references in this verse are all singular, but this reference is plural. By adding “all” this grammatical distinction is preserved in the translation.
[21:9] 133 tn See the note on “burned to death” in 20:14.
[21:10] 137 tn The adjective “high” has been supplied in the translation for clarity, as in many English versions.
[21:10] 138 tn Heb “and he has filled his hand.” For this expression see the note on Lev 8:33.
[21:10] 139 tn Regarding these signs of mourning see the note on Lev 10:6. His head had been anointed (v. 10a) so it must not be unkempt (v. 10b), and his garments were special priestly garments (v. 10a) so he must not tear them (v. 10b). In the translation “garments” has been employed rather than “clothes” to suggest that the special priestly garments are referred to here; cf. NRSV “nor tear his vestments.”
[21:11] 141 tc Although the MT has “persons” (plural), the LXX and Syriac have the singular “person” corresponding to the singular adjectival participle “dead” (cf. also Num 6:6).
[21:12] 145 sn Regarding “profane,” see the note on Lev 10:10 above.
[21:13] 149 tn Heb “And he, a wife in her virginity he shall take.”
[21:14] 153 tn Heb “take.” In context this means “take as wife,” i.e., “marry.”
[21:14] 154 tc The MT has literally, “from his peoples,” but Smr, LXX, Syriac, Targum, and Tg. Ps.-J. have “from his people,” referring to the Israelites as a whole.
[21:15] 157 tc The MT has literally, “in his peoples,” but Smr, LXX, Syriac, Targum, and Tg. Ps.-J. have “in his people,” referring to the Israelites as a whole.
[21:17] 161 tn Heb “to their generations.”
[21:17] 162 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
[21:18] 165 tn The particle כִּי (ki) in this context is asseverative, indicating absolutely certainty (GKC 498 §159.ee).
[21:18] 166 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).
[21:19] 169 tn Heb “who there is in him a broken leg or a broken arm,” or perhaps “broken foot or broken hand.” The Hebrew term רֶגֶל (regel) is commonly rendered “foot,” but it can also refer to the “leg,” and the Hebrew יָד (yad) is most often translated “hand,” but can also refer to the “[fore]arm” (as opposed to כַּף, kaf, “palm of the hand” or “hand”). See HALOT 386 s.v. יָד and 1184 s.v. רֶגֶל respectively (cf. the NJPS translation). In this context, these terms probably apply to any part of the limb that was broken, including hand and the foot. B. A. Levine (Leviticus [JPSTC], 146) points out that such injuries often did not heal properly in antiquity because they were not properly set and, therefore, remained a “physical flaw” permanently.
[21:20] 173 tn Heb “thin”; cf. NAB “weakly.” This could refer to either an exceptionally small (i.e., dwarfed) man (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 146) or perhaps one with a “withered limb” (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 342, 344).
[21:20] 174 tn The term rendered “spot” derives from a root meaning “mixed” or “confused” (cf. NAB “walleyed”). It apparently refers to any kind of marked flaw in the eye that can be seen by others. Smr, Syriac, Tg. Onq., and Tg. Ps.-J. have plural “his eyes.”
[21:20] 175 tn The exact meaning and medical reference of the terms rendered “festering eruption” and “feverish rash” is unknown, but see the translations and remarks in B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 146; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 342, 344, 349-50; and R. K. Harrison, NIDOTTE 1:890 and 2:461.
[21:21] 177 tn Or “shall approach” (see HALOT 670 s.v. נגשׁ).
[21:23] 181 sn See the note on Lev 16:2 for the rendering “veil-canopy.”
[21:23] 182 tn Heb “And.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
[21:24] 185 tn Heb “And.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) introduces a concluding statement for all the preceding material.
[21:24] 186 tn The words “these things” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
