1:3 “‘If his offering is a burnt offering 1 from the herd he must present it as a flawless male; he must present it at the entrance 2 of the Meeting Tent for its 3 acceptance before the Lord.
3:1 “‘Now if his offering is a peace offering sacrifice, 4 if he presents an offering from the herd, he must present before the Lord a flawless male or a female. 5
4:3 “‘If the high priest 7 sins so that the people are guilty, 8 on account of the sin he has committed he must present a flawless young bull to the Lord 9 for a sin offering. 10
9:15 Then he presented the people’s offering. He took the sin offering male goat which was for the people, slaughtered it, and performed a decontamination rite with it 20 like the first one. 21
13:45 “As for the diseased person who has the infection, 24 his clothes must be torn, the hair of his head must be unbound, he must cover his mustache, 25 and he must call out ‘Unclean! Unclean!’
14:8 “The one being cleansed 26 must then wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe in water, and so be clean. 27 Then afterward he may enter the camp, but he must live outside his tent seven days. 14:9 When the seventh day comes 28 he must shave all his hair – his head, his beard, his eyebrows, all his hair – and he must wash his clothes, bathe his body in water, and so be clean. 29
15:13 “‘When the man with the discharge becomes clean from his discharge he is to count off for himself seven days for his purification, and he must wash his clothes, bathe in fresh water, 31 and be clean. 15:14 Then on the eighth day he is to take for himself two turtledoves or two young pigeons, 32 and he is to present himself 33 before the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent and give them to the priest,
16:11 “Aaron is to present the sin offering bull which is for himself, and he is to make atonement on behalf of himself and his household. He is to slaughter the sin offering bull which is for himself,
1 sn The burnt offering (עֹלָה, ’olah) was basically a “a gift of a soothing aroma to the
2 tn Heb “door” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “doorway” (likewise throughout the book of Leviticus). The translation “door” or “doorway” may suggest a framed door in a casing to the modern reader, but here the term refers to the entrance to a tent.
3 tn The NIV correctly has “it” in the text, referring to the acceptance of the animal (cf., e.g., RSV, NEB, NLT), but “he” in the margin, referring to the acceptance of the offerer (cf. ASV, NASB, JB). The reference to a “flawless male” in the first half of this verse suggests that the issue here is the acceptability of the animal to make atonement on behalf of the offerer (Lev 1:4; cf. NRSV “for acceptance in your behalf”).
4 sn The peace offering sacrifice primarily enacted and practiced communion between God and man (and between the people of God). This was illustrated by the fact that the fat parts of the animal were consumed on the altar of the
5 tn Heb “if a male if a female, perfect he shall present it before the
6 sn See the note on this phrase in 3:3.
7 tn Heb “the anointed priest” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). This refers to the high priest (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).
8 tn Heb “to the guilt of the people”; NRSV “thus bringing guilt on the people.”
9 tn Heb “and he shall offer on his sin which he sinned, a bull, a son of the herd, flawless.”
10 sn The word for “sin offering” (sometimes translated “purification offering”) is the same as the word for “sin” earlier in the verse. One can tell which rendering is intended only by the context. The primary purpose of the “sin offering” (חַטָּאת, khatta’t) was to “purge” (כִּפֶּר, kipper, “to make atonement,” see 4:20, 26, 31, 35, and the notes on Lev 1:4 and esp. Lev 16:20, 33) the sanctuary or its furniture in order to cleanse it from any impurities and/or (re)consecrate it for holy purposes (see, e.g., Lev 8:15; 16:19). By making this atonement the impurities of the person or community were cleansed and the people became clean. See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:93-103.
11 tn All of v. 11 is a so-called casus pendens (also known as an extraposition or a nominative absolute), which means that it anticipates the next verse, being the full description of “all (the rest of) the bull” (lit. “all the bull”) at the beginning of v. 12 (actually after the first verb of the verse; see the next note below).
12 tn Heb “And he (the offerer) shall bring out all the bull to from outside to the camp to a clean place.”
13 tn Heb “a clean place,” but referring to a place that is ceremonially clean. This has been specified in the translation for clarity.
14 tn Heb “the pouring out [place] of fatty ash.”
15 tn Heb “burn with fire.” This expression is somewhat redundant in English, so the translation collocates “fire” with “wood,” thus “a wood fire.”
16 sn See the note on the word “slaughter” in v. 15.
17 tn Heb “And he shall bring out the bull to from outside to the camp.”
18 tn Heb “on the breast.”
19 tc Many Hebrew
tn Heb “the breast to wave it, a wave offering before the
20 tn The expression “and performed a decontamination rite [with] it” reads literally in the MT, “and decontaminated [with] it.” The verb is the Piel of חטא (kht’, Qal = “to sin”), which means “to decontaminate, purify” (i.e., “to de-sin”; see the note on Lev 8:15).
21 sn The phrase “like the first one” at the end of the verse refers back to the sin offering for the priests described in vv. 8-11 above. The blood of the sin offering of the common people was applied to the burnt offering altar just like that of the priests.
22 tn See the note on Lev 9:12.
23 tn Heb “And if spreading [infinitive absolute] it spreads [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.
24 tn Heb “And the diseased one who in him is the infection.”
25 tn Heb “and his head shall be unbound, and he shall cover on [his] mustache.” Tearing one’s clothing, allowing the hair to hang loose rather than bound up in a turban, and covering the mustache on the upper lip are all ways of expressing shame, grief, or distress (cf., e.g., Lev 10:6 and Micah 3:7).
26 tn Heb “the one cleansing himself” (i.e., Hitpael participle of טָהֵר [taher, “to be clean”]).
27 tn Heb “and he shall be clean” (so ASV). The end result of the ritual procedures in vv. 4-7 and the washing and shaving in v. 8a is that the formerly diseased person has now officially become clean in the sense that he can reenter the community (see v. 8b; contrast living outside the community as an unclean diseased person, Lev 13:46). There are, however, further cleansing rituals and pronouncements for him to undergo in the tabernacle as outlined in vv. 10-20 (see Qal “be[come] clean” in vv. 9 and 20, Piel “pronounce clean” in v. 11, and Hitpael “the one being cleansed” in vv. 11, 14, 17, 18, and 19). Obviously, in order to enter the tabernacle he must already “be clean” in the sense of having access to the community.
28 tn Heb “And it shall be on the seventh day.”
29 tn Heb “and he shall be clean” (see the note on v. 8).
30 tn Heb “to from outside to the city.”
31 tn For the expression “fresh water” see the note on Lev 14:5 above.
32 tn Heb “from the sons of the pigeon,” referring either to “young pigeons” or “various species of pigeon” (contrast J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:168 with J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 14; cf. Lev 1:14 and esp. 5:7-10).
33 tc The MT has the Qal form of the verb בּוֹא (bo’) “to come” here, but the LXX (followed generally by the Syriac and Tg. Ps.-J.) reflects the Hiphil form of the same verb, “to bring” as in v. 29 below. In v. 29, however, there is no additional clause “and give them to the priest,” so the Hiphil is necessary in that context while it is not necessary here in v. 14.
34 tn Heb “and if a man indeed lies with her and her menstrual impurity is on him.”
35 tn The text here has only “above the testimony,” but this is surely a shortened form of “above the ark of the testimony” (see Exod 25:22 etc.; cf. Lev 16:2). The term “testimony” in this expression refers to the ark as the container of the two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments written on them (see Exod 25:16 with Deut 10:1, 5, etc.).
36 tn Heb “and he will not die,” but it is clear that the purpose for the incense cloud was to protect the priest from death in the presence of the
37 tn Heb “and he shall calculate its years of sale.”
38 tn Heb “and return the excess.”
39 tn Heb “the son of his uncle.”
40 tn Heb “or from the remainder of his flesh from his family.”
41 tc The LXX, followed by the Syriac, actually has “if,” which is not in the MT.
42 tn Heb “it and its substitute.” The referent (the original animal offered) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
43 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the owner of the animal) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
44 tn Heb “And if exchanging [infinitive absolute] he exchanges it [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113.p.
45 tn Heb “it and its substitute.” The referent (the original animal offered) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
46 tn Heb “it shall be and its substitute shall be holy.”