Leviticus 4:3

For the Priest

4:3 “‘If the high priest sins so that the people are guilty, on account of the sin he has committed he must present a flawless young bull to the Lord for a sin offering.

Leviticus 9:18

9:18 Then he slaughtered the ox and the ram – the peace offering sacrifices which were for the people – and Aaron’s sons handed the blood to him and he splashed it against the altar’s sides.

Leviticus 10:3

10:3 Moses then said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord spoke: ‘Among the ones close to me I will show myself holy, and in the presence of all the people I will be honored.’” So Aaron kept silent.

Leviticus 16:33

16:33 and he is to purify the Most Holy Place, he is to purify the Meeting Tent and the altar, 10  and he is to make atonement for 11  the priests and for all the people of the assembly.

Leviticus 19:8

19:8 and the one who eats it will bear his punishment for iniquity 12  because he has profaned 13  what is holy to the Lord. 14  That person will be cut off from his people. 15 

Leviticus 19:16

19:16 You must not go about as a slanderer among your people. 16  You must not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is at stake. 17  I am the Lord.

Leviticus 20:3-6

20:3 I myself will set my face 18  against that man and cut him off from the midst of his people, 19  because he has given some of his children to Molech and thereby defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name. 20  20:4 If, however, the people of the land shut their eyes 21  to that man 22  when he gives some of his children to Molech so that they do not put him to death, 20:5 I myself will set my face against that man and his clan. I will cut off from the midst of their people both him and all who follow after him in spiritual prostitution, 23  to commit prostitution by worshiping Molech. 24 

Prohibition against Spiritists and Mediums 25 

20:6 “‘The person who turns to the spirits of the dead and familiar spirits 26  to commit prostitution by going after them, I will set my face 27  against that person and cut him off from the midst of his people.

Leviticus 21:1

Rules for the Priests

21:1 The Lord said to Moses: “Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron – say to them, ‘For a dead person 28  no priest 29  is to defile himself among his people, 30 

Leviticus 27:28

Things Permanently Dedicated to the Lord

27:28 “‘Surely anything which a man permanently dedicates to the Lord 31  from all that belongs to him, whether from people, animals, or his landed property, must be neither sold nor redeemed; anything permanently dedicated is most holy to the Lord.


tn Heb “the anointed priest” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). This refers to the high priest (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

tn Heb “to the guilt of the people”; NRSV “thus bringing guilt on the people.”

tn Heb “and he shall offer on his sin which he sinned, a bull, a son of the herd, flawless.”

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, khattat) 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.

tn See the note on Lev 9:12.

tn The Niphal verb of the Hebrew root קָדַשׁ (qadash) can mean either “to be treated as holy” (so here, e.g., BDB 873 s.v. קָּדַשׁ, LXX, NASB, and NEB) or “to show oneself holy” (so here, e.g., HALOT 1073 s.v. קדשׁnif.1, NIV, NRSV, NLT; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:595, 601-3; and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 133-34). The latter rendering seems more likely here since, in the immediate context, the Lord himself had indeed shown himself to be holy by the way he responded to the illegitimate incense offering of Nadab and Abihu. They had not treated the Lord as holy, so the Lord acted on his own behalf to show that he was indeed holy.

tn In this context the Niphal of the Hebrew root כָּבֵד (kaved) can mean “to be honored” (e.g., NASB and NIV here), “be glorified” (ASV, NRSV and NLT here), or “glorify oneself, show one’s glory” (cf. NAB; e.g., specifically in this verse HALOT 455 s.v. כבדnif.3; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:595, 603-4; and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 126, 134). Comparing this clause with the previous one (see the note above), the point may be that when the Lord shows himself to be holy as he has done in 10:1-2, this results in him being honored (i.e., reverenced, feared, treated with respect) among the people. This suggests the passive rendering. It is possible, however, that one should use the reflexive rendering here as in the previous clause. If so, the passage means that the Lord showed both his holiness and his glory in one outbreak against Nadab and Abihu.

tn Heb “to atone” (also later in this verse); see the note on “purifying the holy place” in 16:20.

tn Heb “the sanctuary of the holy place.” Although this is the only place this expression occurs in the OT, it clearly refers to the innermost shrine behind the veil-canopy, where the ark of the covenant was located.

10 tn Heb “and the tent of meeting and the alter he shall atone.” The repetition of the verb כִּפֶּר (kipper, “to atone”) at the beginning and end of the sequence appears to be strange, but the MT accents suggest that only “the Most Holy Place” goes with the verb at the beginning of the verse. Of course, the purging of “the Most Holy Place” has been the main emphasis of this chapter from the start (see vv. 2-3 and 11-17).

11 tn At this point in the verse the verb כִּפֶּר (kipper, “to make atonement”) takes its object with the preposition עַל (’al, “for”; literally, “upon”; contrast the first part of the verse and cf. the notes on Lev 1:4 and 16:20 above).

12 tn See the note on Lev 17:16 above.

13 sn Regarding “profaned,” see the note on Lev 10:10 above.

14 tn Heb “the holiness of the Lord.”

15 sn On the “cut off” penalty see the note on Lev 7:20.

16 tn The term רָכִיל (rakhil) is traditionally rendered “slanderer” here (so NASB, NIV, NRSV; see also J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 304, 316), but the exact meaning is uncertain (see the discussion in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 129). It is sometimes related to I רָכַל (“to go about as a trader [or “merchant”]”; BDB 940 s.v. רָכַל), and taken to refer to cutthroat business dealings, but there may be a II רָכַל, the meaning of which is dubious (HALOT 1237 s.v. II *רכל). Some would render it “to go about as a spy.”

17 tn Heb “You shall not stand on the blood of your neighbor.” This part of the verse is also difficult to interpret. The rendering here suggests that one will not allow a neighbor to be victimized, whether in court (cf. v. 15) or in any other situation (see the discussion in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 129).

18 tn Heb “And I, I shall give my faces.”

19 sn On the “cut off” penalty see the notes on Lev 7:20 and 17:4.

20 tn Heb “for the sake of defiling my sanctuary and to profane my holy name.”

21 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.

22 tn Heb “from that man” (so ASV); NASB “disregard that man.”

23 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.

24 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.

25 sn For structure and coherence in Lev 20:6-27 see the note on v. 27 below.

26 tn See the note on the phrase “familiar spirits” in Lev 19:31 above.

27 tn Heb “I will give my faces.”

28 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).

29 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”).

30 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.

31 tn Heb “Surely, any permanently dedicated [thing] which a man shall permanently dedicate to the Lord.” The Hebrew term חֵרֶם (kherem) refers to things that are devoted permanently to the Lord (see the note on v. 21 above).