Leviticus 6:17-20

6:17 It must not be baked with yeast. ¹  I have given it as their portion from my gifts. It is most holy, ²  like the sin offering and the guilt offering. 6:18 Every male among the sons of Aaron may eat it. It is a perpetual allotted portion ³  throughout your generations ⁴  from the gifts of the Lord. Anyone who touches these gifts ⁵  must be holy.’” ⁶ 

The Grain Offering of the Priests

6:19 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: ⁷  6:20 “This is the offering of Aaron and his sons which they must present to the Lord on the day when he is anointed: a tenth of an ephah ⁸  of choice wheat flour ⁹  as a continual grain offering, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening.

[6:17]  ¹ tn Heb “It must not be baked leavened” (cf. Lev 2:11). The noun “leaven” is traditional in English versions (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV), but “yeast” is more commonly used today.

[6:17]  ² tn Heb “holiness of holinesses [or holy of holies] it is”; cf. NAB “most sacred.”

[6:18]  ³ tn Or “a perpetual regulation”; cf. NASB “a permanent ordinance”; NRSV “as their perpetual due.”

[6:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “for your generations”; cf. NIV “for the generations to come.”

[6:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “touches them”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. In this context “them” must refer to the “gifts” of the Lord.

[6:18]  ⁶ tn Or “anyone/anything that touches them shall become holy” (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:443-56). The question is whether this refers to the contagious nature of holy objects (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) or whether it simply sets forth a demand that anyone who touches the holy gifts of the Lord must be a holy person (cf. CEV). See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:900-902.

[6:19]  ⁵ sn See the note on Lev 6:8 [6:1 HT] above.

[6:20]  ⁷ sn A tenth of an ephah is about 2.3 liters, one day’s ration for a single person (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:306).

[6:20]  ⁸ tn For the rendering “choice wheat flour” see the note on Lev 2:1.