Leviticus 17:3-9

17:3 “Blood guilt¹ will be accounted to any man² from the house of Israel³ who slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat inside the camp or outside the camp,⁴ 17:4 but has not brought it to the entrance of the Meeting Tent⁵ to present it as⁶ an offering to the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord. He has shed blood, so that man will be cut off from the midst of his people.⁷ 17:5 This is so that⁸ the Israelites will bring their sacrifices that they are sacrificing in the open field⁹ to the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent to the priest and sacrifice them there as peace offering sacrifices to the Lord. 17:6 The priest is to splash¹⁰ the blood on the altar¹¹ of the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, and offer the fat up in smoke for a soothing aroma to the Lord. 17:7 So they must no longer offer¹² their sacrifices to the goat demons,¹³ acting like prostitutes by going after them.¹⁴ This is to be a perpetual statute for them throughout their generations.¹⁵

17:8 “You are to say to them: ‘Any man¹⁶ from the house of Israel or¹⁷ from the foreigners who reside¹⁸ in their¹⁹ midst, who offers²⁰ a burnt offering or a sacrifice 17:9 but does not bring it to the entrance of the Meeting Tent to offer it²¹ to the Lord – that person will be cut off from his people.²²

¹tn The complex wording of vv. 3-4 requires stating “blood guilt” at the beginning of v. 3 even though it is not mentioned until the middle of v. 4. The Hebrew text has simply “blood,” but in this case it refers to the illegitimate shedding of animal blood, similar to the shedding of the blood of an innocent human being (Deut 19:10, etc.). In order for it to be legitimate the animal must be slaughtered at the tabernacle and its blood handled by the priests in the prescribed way (see, e.g., Lev 1:5; 3:2, 17; 4:5-7; 7:26-27, etc.; cf. vv. 10-16 below for more details).

²tn Heb “Man man.” The reduplication is way of saying “any man” (cf. Lev 15:2; 22:18, etc.). See the note on Lev 15:2.

³tn The original LXX adds “or the sojourners who sojourn in your midst” (cf. Lev 16:29, etc., and note esp. 17:8, 10, and 13 below).

⁴tn Heb “or who slaughters from outside to the camp.”

⁵tn Smr and LXX add after “tent of meeting” the following: “to make it a burnt offering or a peace offering to the Lord for your acceptance as a soothing aroma, and slaughters it outside, and at the doorway of the tent of meeting has not brought it.”

⁶tc Smr includes the suffix “it,” which is needed in any case in the translation to conform to English style.

⁷sn The exact meaning of this penalty clause is not certain. It could mean (1) that he will be executed, whether by God or by man, (2) that he will be excommunicated from sanctuary worship and/or community benefits, or (3) that his line will be terminated by God (i.e., extirpation). See also the note on Lev 7:20.

⁸tn Heb “So that which.”

⁹tn Heb “on the faces of the field.”

¹⁰tn For the translation “splash” see the note on Lev 1:5.

¹¹tn The LXX adds “all around” (i.e., Hebrew סָבִיב [saviv, “all around”]), which is normal for this overall construction (see, e.g., Lev 1:5; 3:8, etc.).

¹²tn Heb “sacrifice.” This has been translated as “offer” for stylistic reasons to avoid the redundancy of “sacrifice their sacrifices.”

¹³tn On “goat demons” of the desert regions see the note on Lev 16:8.

¹⁴tn Heb “which they are committing harlotry after them.”

¹⁵tn Heb “for your generations.”

¹⁶tn Heb “Man, man.” The repetition of the word “man” is distributive, meaning “any [or “every”] man” (GKC 395-96 §123.c; cf. Lev 15:2).

¹⁷tn Heb “and.” Here the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) has an alternative sense (“or”).

¹⁸tn Heb “from the sojourner who sojourns.”

¹⁹tc The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate have “your” (plural) rather than “their.”

²⁰tn Heb “causes to go up.”

²¹tn Heb “to make it,” meaning “to make the sacrifice.”

²²tn For remarks on the “cut off” penalty see the note on v. 4 above.