26:1 “‘You must not make for yourselves idols, 7 so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before 8 it, for I am the Lord your God.
1 tn Heb “As the work [or “deed”] of the land of Egypt, which you were dwelling in it, you must not do.”
2 tn Heb “and as the work [or “deed”] of the land of Canaan which I am bringing you to there, you must not do.” The participle “I am bringing” is inceptive; the
3 tn Heb “and you shall not walk.”
4 tn Heb “Your animals, you shall not cross-breed two different kinds.”
5 tn Heb “you shall not cause to go up on you.”
6 sn Cf. Deut 22:11 where the Hebrew term translated “two different kinds” (כִּלְאַיִם, kil’ayim) refers to a mixture of linen and wool woven together in a garment.
7 sn For the literature regarding the difficult etymology and meaning of the term for “idols” (אֱלִילִם, ’elilim), see the literature cited in the note on Lev 19:4. It appears to be a diminutive play on words with אֵל (’el, “god, God”) and, perhaps at the same time, recalls a common Semitic word for “worthless, weak, powerless, nothingness.” Snaith suggests a rendering of “worthless godlings.”
8 tn Heb “on.” The “sculpted stone” appears to be some sort of stone with images carved into (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 181, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 449).