Leviticus 20-22

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Leviticus 20:2 tn The noun “foreigner” (גֵּר; ger) is based on the same verbal root as “lives” (גּוּר; gur), which means “to sojourn, to dwell as an alien.” On the Hebrew ger (גֵּר) “resident foreigner” see notes at Exod 12:19 and Deut 29:11.
2. Leviticus 20:2 tn Heb “his seed” (so KJV, ASV); likewise in vv. 3-4.
3. Leviticus 20:2 tn Regarding Molech and Molech worship see the note on Lev 18:21.
4. Leviticus 20:2 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).
5. Leviticus 20:3 tn Heb “And I, I shall give my faces.”
6. Leviticus 20:3 sn On the “cut off” penalty see the notes on Lev 7:20 and 17:4.
7. Leviticus 20:3 tn Heb “for the sake of defiling my sanctuary and to profane my holy name.”
8. Leviticus 20:4 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.
9. Leviticus 20:4 tn Heb “from that man” (so ASV); NASB “disregard that man.”
10. Leviticus 20:5 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.
11. Leviticus 20:5 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.
12. Leviticus 20:6 sn For structure and coherence in Lev 20:6-27 see the note on v. 27 below.
13. Leviticus 20:6 tn See the note on the phrase “familiar spirits” in Lev 19:31 above.
14. Leviticus 20:6 tn Heb “I will give my faces.”
15. Leviticus 20:8 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.).
16. Leviticus 20:9 sn Compare the regulations in Lev 18:6-23.
17. Leviticus 20:9 tn Heb “If a man a man who.”
18. Leviticus 20:9 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.”
19. Leviticus 20:9 tn Heb “his blood [plural] is in him.” Cf. NAB “he has forfeited his life”; TEV “is responsible for his own death.”sn The rendering “blood guilt” refers to the fact that the shedding of blood brings guilt on those who shed it illegitimately (even the blood of animals shed illegitimately, Lev 17:4; cf. the background of Gen 4:10-11). If the community performs a legitimate execution, however, the blood guilt rests on the person who has been legitimately executed (see the remarks and literature cited in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 328).
20. Leviticus 20:10 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.
21. Leviticus 20:10 tc The reading of the LXX minuscule mss has been followed here (see the BHS footnote a-a). The MT has a dittography, repeating “a man who commits adultery with the wife of” (see the explanation in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 328). The duplication found in the MT is reflected in some English versions, e.g., KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV.
22. Leviticus 20:11 tn Heb “lies down with.” The verb שָׁכַב (shakav) “to lie down” acts as a euphemism, implying going to bed for sexual relations.
23. Leviticus 20:11 sn See the note on Lev 18:7 above.
24. Leviticus 20:11 tn See the note on v. 9 above.
25. Leviticus 20:12 tn Heb “lies down with.” See note at v. 11.
26. Leviticus 20:12 tn The Hebrew term תֶּבֶל (tevel, “perversion”) derives from the verb “to mix; to confuse” (cf. KJV, ASV “they have wrought confusion”).
27. Leviticus 20:13 tn Heb “lies down with.” See note at v. 11.
28. Leviticus 20:13 tn Heb “[as the] lyings of a woman.” The specific reference here is to homosexual intercourse between males.
29. Leviticus 20:14 tn Heb “takes a woman and her mother.” The verb לָקַח (laqakh) is sometimes used idiomatically with אִשָּׁה (ʾishah) to mean “take a wife,” or “marry,” and may mean that here (cf. NIV, NASB). But the same expression in v. 21 probably does not imply marriage itself, but only the sexual act of marriage. This chapter uses different expressions for sexual relations, though the subtleties for exegesis are not clear. Since this Hebrew expression can imply marriage, the translation uses “marital relations” as the metaphor in vv. 14, 17, and 21.
30. Leviticus 20:14 tn Regarding “lewdness,” see the note on Lev 18:17 above.
31. Leviticus 20:14 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.
32. Leviticus 20:15 tn See the note on Lev 18:20 above.
33. Leviticus 20:17 tn The Hebrew verb לָקַח (laqakh) “to take” sometimes means to take a woman in marriage (cf. Gen 34:16; Lev 20:14; and see HALOT 534 s.v. לקח) as understood by, e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV. It is possible that expression here simply means to have sexual relations, or that it does so in combination with the following two clauses. See note at v. 14.
34. Leviticus 20:17 tn Regarding the “cut off” penalty, see the note on Lev 7:20.
35. Leviticus 20:17 tn See the note on Lev 17:16 above.
36. Leviticus 20:18 tn Heb “lies down with.” See note at v. 11.
37. Leviticus 20:18 tn Heb “and the two of them.”
38. Leviticus 20:19 tn Heb “his flesh.”
39. Leviticus 20:19 tn See the note on Lev 17:16 above.
40. Leviticus 20:20 tn Heb “lies down with.” See note at v. 11.
41. Leviticus 20:21 tn Heb “takes.” See notes at vv. 14 and 17. sn It must be assumed that the brother is still alive in this situation, since Deut 25:5 requires a man to marry his brother’s widow and have a child in his brother’s name. It is less clear whether the brother in this case has divorced his wife.
42. Leviticus 20:21 sn See the note on Lev 18:7 above.
43. Leviticus 20:22 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.).
44. Leviticus 20:22 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
45. Leviticus 20:23 tc One medieval Hebrew ms, Smr, and all the major ancient versions have the plural “nations.” Some English versions retain the singular (e.g., KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV); others have the plural “nations” (e.g., NAB, NIV) and still others translate as “people” (e.g., TEV, NLT).
46. Leviticus 20:24 tc Here and with the same phrase in v. 26, the LXX adds “all,” resulting in the reading “all the peoples.”
47. Leviticus 20:25 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 around them called for them to “distinguish between” the clean and the unclean, etc.
48. Leviticus 20:25 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.
49. Leviticus 20:25 tc The MT has “to defile,” but Smr, LXX, and Syriac have “to uncleanness.”
50. Leviticus 20:27 tc Smr, LXX, Syriac, and some Targum mss have the relative pronoun אֲשֶׁר (ʾasher, “who, which”), rather than the MT’s כִּי (ki, “for, because, that”).
51. Leviticus 20:27 tn See the note on the phrase “familiar spirit” in Lev 19:31 above.
52. Leviticus 20:27 tc Smr and LXX have “you [plural] shall pelt them with stones.”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).sn At first glance Lev 20:27 appears to be out of place but, on closer examination, one could argue that it constitutes the back side of an envelope around the case laws in 20:9-21, with Lev 20:6 forming the front of the envelope (note also that execution of mediums and spiritists by stoning in v. 27 is not explicitly stated in v. 6). This creates a chiastic structure: prohibition against mediums and spiritists (vv. 6 and 27), variations of the holiness formula (vv. 7 and 25-26), and exhortations to obey the Lord’s statutes (and judgments; vv. 8 and 22-24). Again, in the middle are the case laws (vv. 9-21).
53. Leviticus 21:1 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).
54. Leviticus 21:1 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”).
55. Leviticus 21:1 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.
56. Leviticus 21:2 tn Heb “except for his flesh, the one near to him.”
57. Leviticus 21:3 tn Cf. v. 2a.
58. Leviticus 21:4 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).
59. Leviticus 21:5 tn Heb “they”; the referent (priests, see the beginning of v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
60. Leviticus 21:5 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).
61. Leviticus 21:6 sn Regarding “profane,” see the note on Lev 10:10 above.
62. Leviticus 21:6 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).
63. Leviticus 21:6 tc Smr and all early versions have the plural adjective “holy” rather than the MT singular noun “holiness.”
64. Leviticus 21:7 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.”
65. Leviticus 21:7 sn For a helpful discussion of divorce in general and as it relates to this passage see B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 143-44.
66. Leviticus 21:7 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the priest) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
67. Leviticus 21:7 tn The pronoun “he” in this clause refers to the priest, not the former husband of the divorced woman.
68. Leviticus 21:8 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.
69. Leviticus 21:9 tn See the note on “burned to death” in 20:14.
70. Leviticus 21:10 tn The adjective “high” has been supplied in the translation for clarity, as in many English versions.
71. Leviticus 21:10 tn Heb “and he has filled his hand.” For this expression see the note on Lev 8:33.
72. Leviticus 21:10 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.”
73. Leviticus 21:11 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).
74. Leviticus 21:12 sn Regarding “profane,” see the note on Lev 10:10 above.
75. Leviticus 21:13 tn Heb “And he, a wife in her virginity he shall take.”
76. Leviticus 21:14 tn Heb “take.” In context this means “take as wife,” i.e., “marry.”
77. Leviticus 21:14 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.
78. Leviticus 21:15 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.
79. Leviticus 21:17 tn Heb “to their generations.”
80. Leviticus 21:17 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 Lord in Lev 22:20-25.
81. Leviticus 21:18 tn The particle כִּי (ki) in this context is asseverative, indicating absolutely certainty (GKC 498 §159.ee).
82. Leviticus 21:18 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).
83. Leviticus 21:19 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.
84. Leviticus 21:20 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).
85. Leviticus 21:20 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.”
86. Leviticus 21:20 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.
87. Leviticus 21:21 tn Or “shall approach” (see HALOT 670 s.v. נגשׁ).
88. Leviticus 21:23 sn See the note on Lev 16:2 for information on the curtain.
89. Leviticus 21:23 tn Heb “And.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
90. Leviticus 21:24 tn Heb “And.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) introduces a concluding statement for all the preceding material.
91. Leviticus 21:24 tn The words “these things” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
92. Leviticus 22:2 tn Heb “holy things,” which means the “holy offerings” in this context, as the following verses show. The referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
93. Leviticus 22:2 tn Heb “from the holy things of the sons of Israel, and they shall not profane my holy name, which they are consecrating to me.” The latter (relative) clause applies to the “the holy things of the sons of Israel” (the first clause), not the Lord’s name (i.e., the immediately preceding clause). The clause order in the translation has been rearranged to indicate this.
94. Leviticus 22:3 tn Heb “To your generations.”
95. Leviticus 22:3 tn The Piel (v. 2) and Hiphil (v. 3) forms of the verb קָדַשׁ (qadash) appear to be interchangeable in this context. Both mean “to consecrate” (Heb “make holy [or “sacred”]”).
96. Leviticus 22:3 tn Heb “and his impurity [is] on him”; NIV “is ceremonially unclean”; NAB, NRSV “while he is in a state of uncleanness.”
97. Leviticus 22:3 sn Regarding the “cut off” penalty, see the note on Lev 7:20. Cf. the interpretive translation of TEV “he can never again serve at the altar.”
98. Leviticus 22:4 tn Heb “Man man.” The reduplication is a way of saying “any man” (cf. Lev 15:2; 17:3, etc.), but with a negative command it means “No man” (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 147).
99. Leviticus 22:4 sn The diseases and discharges mentioned here are those described in Lev 13-15.
100. Leviticus 22:4 tn Heb “And the one.”
101. Leviticus 22:4 tn Heb “in all unclean of a person/soul”; for the Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) meaning “a [dead] person,” see the note on Lev 19:28.
102. Leviticus 22:4 tn Heb “or a man who goes out from him a lying of seed.”
103. Leviticus 22:5 tn Heb “which there shall be uncleanness to him.”
104. Leviticus 22:5 tn The Hebrew term for “person” here is אָדָם (ʾadam, “human being”), which could be either a male or a female person.
105. Leviticus 22:5 tn Heb “to all his impurity.” The phrase refers to the impurity of the person whom the man touches to become unclean (see the previous clause). To clarify this, the translation uses “that person’s” rather than “his.”
106. Leviticus 22:6 sn The phrase “any of these” refers back to the unclean things touched in vv. 4b-5.
107. Leviticus 22:8 tn Heb “a carcass,” referring to the carcass of an animal that has died on its own, not the carcass of an animal slaughtered for sacrifice or killed by wild beasts. This has been clarified in the translation by supplying the phrase “of natural causes”; cf. NAB “that has died of itself”; TEV “that has died a natural death.”
108. Leviticus 22:9 tn Heb “and they will not lift up on it sin.” The pronoun “it” (masculine) apparently refers to any item of food that belongs to the category of “holy offerings” (see above).
109. Leviticus 22:9 tn Heb “and die in it.”
110. Leviticus 22:10 tn Heb “No stranger” (so KJV, ASV), which refers here to anyone other than the Aaronic priests. Some English versions reverse the negation and state positively: NIV “No one outside a priest’s family”; NRSV “Only a member of a priestly family”; CEV “Only you priests and your families.”
111. Leviticus 22:10 tn Heb “A resident [תּוֹשָׁב (toshav) from יָשַׁב (yashav, “to dwell, to reside”)] of a priest.” The meaning of the term is uncertain. It could refer to a “guest” (NIV) or perhaps “bound servant” (NRSV; see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 149). In the translation “lodger” was used instead of “boarder” precisely because a boarder would be provided meals with his lodging, the very issue at stake here.
112. Leviticus 22:11 tn Heb “and a priest, if he buys a person, the property of his silver.”
113. Leviticus 22:11 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the person whom the priest has purchased) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
114. Leviticus 22:11 tn Heb “eat it”; the referent (the holy offerings) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
115. Leviticus 22:11 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the priest) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
116. Leviticus 22:11 tn Heb “and the [slave] born of his house, they shall eat in his food.” The LXX, Syriac, Tg. Onq., Tg. Ps.-J., and some mss of Smr have plural “ones born,” which matches the following plural “they” pronoun and the plural form of the verb.
117. Leviticus 22:12 tn Heb “And a daughter of a priest, if she is to a man, a stranger” (cf. the note on v. 10 above).
118. Leviticus 22:12 tn Heb “she in the contribution of the holy offerings shall not eat.” For “contribution [offering]” see the note on Lev 7:14 and the literature cited there. Cf. NCV “the holy offerings”; TEV, NLT “the sacred offerings.”
119. Leviticus 22:13 tn Heb “to”; the words “live in” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
120. Leviticus 22:13 tn Heb “and seed there is not to her and she returns to the house of her father as her youth.” The mention of having “no children” appears to imply that her children, if she had any, should support her; this is made explicit by NLT’s “and has no children to support her.”
121. Leviticus 22:14 tn Heb “And a man, if he eats a holy thing in error” (see the Lev 4:2 note on “straying,” which is the term rendered “by mistake” here).
122. Leviticus 22:14 sn When a person trespassed in regard to something sacred to the Lord, reparation was to be made for the trespass, involving restitution of that which was violated plus one-fifth of its value as a fine. It is possible that the restoration of the offering and the additional one-fifth of its value were made as a monetary payment (see, e.g., B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 150). See the regulations for the “guilt offering” in Lev 5:16; 6:5 [5:24 HT] and the notes there.
123. Leviticus 22:15 tn Contextually, “They” could refer either to the people (v. 14a; cf. NRSV “No one”) or the priests (v. 14b; cf. NIV “The priests”), but the latter seems more likely (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 356, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 150). The priests were responsible to see that the portions of the offerings that were to be consumed by the priests as prebends did not become accessible to the people. Mistakes in this matter (cf. v. 14) would bring “guilt” on the people, requiring punishment (v. 16).
124. Leviticus 22:15 tn The Hebrew verb הֵרִים (herim, rendered “contribute” here) is commonly used for setting aside portions of an offering (see, e.g., Lev 4:8-10 and R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 4:335-36).
125. Leviticus 22:15 tn Heb “the holy offerings of the sons of Israel which they contribute to the Lord.” The subject “they” here refers to the Israelites (“the sons of Israel”) which is the most immediate antecedent. To make this clear, the present translation has “the holy offerings which the Israelites contribute to the Lord.”
126. Leviticus 22:16 tn Heb “iniquity of guilt”; NASB “cause them to bear punishment for guilt.” The Hebrew word עָוֹן (ʾavon, “iniquity”) can designate either acts of iniquity or the penalty (i.e., punishment) for such acts.
127. Leviticus 22:16 sn That is, when the lay people eat portions of offerings that should have been eaten only by priests and those who belonged to priestly households.
128. Leviticus 22:18 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).
129. Leviticus 22:18 tn Heb “foreigner [singular].” Some medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate add “who resides”: “the foreigner who resides in Israel” (cf., e.g., Lev 20:2 above).
130. Leviticus 22:19 tn Heb “for your acceptance.” See Lev 1:3-4 above and the notes there.
131. Leviticus 22:20 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.”
132. Leviticus 22:20 tn Heb “not for acceptance shall it be for you”; NIV “it will not be accepted on your behalf” (NRSV and NLT both similar).
133. Leviticus 22:21 tn The meaning of the expression לְפַלֵּא־נֶדֶר (l^efalleʾ 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 (palaʾ, “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 פָּלָה [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.
134. Leviticus 22:21 tn Heb “for acceptance”; NAB “if it is to find acceptance.”
135. Leviticus 22:21 tn Heb “all/any flaw shall not be in it.”
136. Leviticus 22:22 tn Or perhaps “a wart” (cf. NIV; HALOT 383 s.v. יַבֶּלֶת, but see the remarks in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 358).
137. Leviticus 22:22 sn See the note on Lev 21:20 above.
138. Leviticus 22:22 sn This term for offering “gift” is explained in the note on Lev 1:9.
139. Leviticus 22:23 tn Heb “And an ox.”
140. Leviticus 22:23 tn Heb “and stunted” (see HALOT 1102 s.v. I קלט).
141. Leviticus 22:23 sn The freewill offering was voluntary, so the regulations regarding it were more relaxed. Once a vow was made, the paying of it was not voluntary (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 151-52, for very helpful remarks on this verse).
142. Leviticus 22:24 sn Cf. Lev 21:20b.
143. Leviticus 22:25 tn Heb “And from the hand of a son of a foreigner.”
144. Leviticus 22:25 tn Heb “for their being ruined [is] in them, flaw is in them”; NRSV “are mutilated, with a blemish in them”; NIV “are deformed and have defects.” The MT term מָשְׁחָתָם (moshkhatam, “their being ruined”) is a Hophal participle from שָׁחַת (shakhat, “to ruin”). Smr has plural בהם משׁחתים (“deformities in them”; cf. the LXX translation). The Qumran Leviticus scroll (11QpaleoLev) has תימ הם[…], in which case the restored participle would appear to be the same as Smr, but there is no ב (bet) preposition before the pronoun, yielding “they are deformed” (see D. N. Freedman and K. A. Mathews, The Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus Scroll, 41 and the remarks in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 358).
145. Leviticus 22:27 tn The words “the care of” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied. Although many modern English versions render “with its mother” (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), the literal phrase “under its mother” refers to the young animal nursing from its mother. Cf. KJV, ASV “it shall be seven days under the dam,” which would probably be misunderstood.
146. Leviticus 22:27 tn Heb “for an offering of a gift.”
147. Leviticus 22:28 tn Heb “And an ox or a sheep, it and its son, you shall not slaughter.”
148. Leviticus 22:28 tn Heb “in one day.”
149. Leviticus 22:29 tn Heb “for your acceptance” (see the notes on Lev 1:3-4 and 22:19 above).
150. Leviticus 22:30 tn Heb “On that day”; NIV, NCV “that same day.”
151. Leviticus 22:30 tn Heb “from it.”
152. Leviticus 22:31 tn Heb “And you shall keep my commandments 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 20:8, etc.).
153. Leviticus 22:33 tn Heb “to be to you for God.”