Leviticus 5:2

5:2 Or when there is ¹  a person who touches anything ceremonially ²  unclean, whether the carcass of an unclean wild animal, or the carcass of an unclean domesticated animal, or the carcass of an unclean creeping thing, even if he did not realize it, ³  but he himself has become unclean and is guilty; ⁴ 

Leviticus 5:4

5:4 or when a person swears an oath, speaking thoughtlessly ⁵  with his lips, whether to do evil or to do good, with regard to anything which the individual might speak thoughtlessly in an oath, even if he did not realize it, but he himself has later come to know it and is guilty with regard to one of these oaths ⁶  –

Leviticus 5:18

5:18 and must bring a flawless ram from the flock, convertible into silver shekels, ⁷  for a guilt offering to the priest. So the priest will make atonement ⁸  on his behalf for his error which he committed ⁹  (although he himself had not known it) and he will be forgiven. ¹⁰ 

Leviticus 14:21

The Eighth Day Atonement Rituals for the Poor Person

14:21 “If the person is poor and does not have sufficient means, ¹¹  he must take one male lamb as a guilt offering for a wave offering to make atonement for himself, one-tenth of an ephah of choice wheat flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering, a log of olive oil, ¹² 

Leviticus 16:4

16:4 He must put on a holy linen tunic, ¹³  linen leggings are to cover his body, ¹⁴  and he is to wrap himself with a linen sash ¹⁵  and wrap his head with a linen turban. ¹⁶  They are holy garments, so he must bathe ¹⁷  his body in water and put them on.

Leviticus 16:24

16:24 Then he must bathe his body in water in a holy place, put on his clothes, and go out and make his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering. So he is to make atonement ¹⁸  on behalf of himself and the people. ¹⁹ 

Leviticus 25:47

25:47 “‘If a resident foreigner who is with you prospers ²⁰  and your brother becomes impoverished with regard to him so that ²¹  he sells himself to a resident foreigner who is with you or to a member ²²  of a foreigner’s family,

Leviticus 25:50

25:50 He must calculate with the one who bought him the number of years ²³  from the year he sold himself to him until the jubilee year, and the cost of his sale must correspond to the number of years, according to the rate of wages a hired worker would have earned while with him. ²⁴ 

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¹ tc The insertion of the words “when there is” is a reflection of the few Hebrew mss, Smr, and LXX that have כִּי (ki, “when, if”; cf. vv. 3 and esp. 4) rather than the MT’s אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “who”). Many English versions render this as a conditional clause (“if”).

² tn The word “ceremonially” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that the uncleanness involved is ritual or ceremonial in nature.

³ tn Heb “and it is hidden from him,” meaning that the person who contracted the ceremonial uncleanness was not aware at the time what had happened, but later found out that he had become ceremonially unclean. This same phrase occurs again in both vv. 3 and 4.

⁴ sn Lev 5:2-3 are parallel laws of uncleanness (contracted from animals and people, respectively), and both seem to assume that the contraction of uncleanness was originally unknown to the person (vv. 2 and 3) but became known to him or her at a later time (v. 3; i.e., “has come to know” in v. 3 is to be assumed for v. 2 as well). Uncleanness itself did not make a person “guilty” unless he or she failed to handle it according to the normal purification regulations (see, e.g., “wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening,” Lev 15:5 NIV; cf. Lev 11:39-40; 15:5-12, 16-24; Num 19, etc.). The problem here in Lev 5:2-3 is that, because the person had not been aware of his or her uncleanness, he or she had incurred guilt for not carrying out these regular procedures, and it would now be too late for that. Thus, the unclean person needs to bring a sin offering to atone for the contamination caused by his or her neglect of the purity regulations.

⁵ tn Heb “to speak thoughtlessly”; cf. NAB “rashly utters an oath.”

⁶ tn Heb “and is guilty to one from these,” probably referring here to any of “these” things about which one might swear a thoughtless oath (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 45), with the word “oath” supplied in the translation for clarity. Another possibility is that “to one from these” is a dittography from v. 5 (cf. the note on v. 5a), and that v. 4 ends with “and is guilty” like vv. 2 and 3 (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:300).

⁷ tn The statement here is condensed. See the full expression in 5:15 and the note there.

⁸ sn Regarding “make atonement” see the note on Lev 1:4.

⁹ tn Heb “on his straying which he strayed.” See the note on Lev 4:2.

¹⁰ tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV and NASB both similar).

¹¹ tn Heb “and his hand does not reach”; NAB, NRSV “and cannot afford so much (afford these NIV).”

¹² tn See the notes on v. 10 above.

¹³ sn The term “tunic” refers to a shirt-like garment worn next to the skin and, therefore, put on first (cf. Exod 28:4, 39-40; 29:5, 8; 39:27). It covered the upper body only. For detailed remarks on the terminology for the priestly clothing in this verse (except the “linen leggings”) see the notes on Lev 8:7-9 and the literature cited there.

¹⁴ tn Heb “shall be on his flesh.” As in many instances in Lev 15, the term “flesh” or “body” here is euphemistic for the male genitals (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:1017, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 222; cf. the note on Lev 15:2), which the priest must be careful not to expose during such ritual procedures (see Exod 20:26 with 28:42-43).

¹⁵ sn The sash fastened the tunic around the waist (Exod 28:4, 39; 29:9; 39:29).

¹⁶ tn Heb “and in a turban of linen he shall wrap.”

sn The turban consisted of wound up linen (cf. Exod 28:4, 37, 39; 29:6; 39:31; Lev 16:4). It is usually thought to be a “turban,” but it might be only a “turban-like headband” wound around the forehead area (HALOT 624 s.v. מִצְנֶפֶת).

¹⁷ tn Heb “and he shall bathe….”

¹⁸ tn Heb “And he shall make atonement.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “on behalf of himself and on behalf of the people.” After “on behalf of himself” the LXX adds the expected “and on behalf of his household” (cf. vv. 6, 11, and 17).

²⁰ tn Heb “And if the hand of a foreigner and resident with you reaches” (cf. v. 26 for this idiom).

²¹ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

²² tn Heb “offshoot, descendant.”

²³ tn Heb “the years.”

²⁴ tn Heb “as days of a hired worker he shall be with him.” For this and the following verses see the explanation in P. J. Budd, Leviticus (NCBC), 358-59.