Discovery BoxLeviticus 1:17 
Context1:17 and tear it open by its wings without dividing it into two parts. 1 Finally, the priest must offer it up in smoke on the altar on the wood which is in the fire – it is a burnt offering, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord.
Leviticus 5:6-7
Context5:6 and he must bring his penalty for guilt 2 to the Lord for his sin that he has committed, a female from the flock, whether a female sheep or a female goat, for a sin offering. So the priest will make atonement 3 on his behalf for 4 his sin.
5:7 “‘If he cannot afford an animal from the flock, 5 he must bring his penalty for guilt for his sin that he has committed, 6 two turtledoves or two young pigeons, 7 to the Lord, one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering.
Leviticus 5:15
Context5:15 “When a person commits a trespass 8 and sins by straying unintentionally 9 from the regulations about the Lord’s holy things, 10 then he must bring his penalty for guilt 11 to the Lord, a flawless ram from the flock, convertible into silver shekels according to the standard of the sanctuary shekel, 12 for a guilt offering. 13
Leviticus 5:17-18
Context5:17 “If a person sins and violates any of the Lord’s commandments which must not be violated 14 (although he did not know it at the time, 15 but later realizes he is guilty), then he will bear his punishment for iniquity 16 5:18 and must bring a flawless ram from the flock, convertible into silver shekels, 17 for a guilt offering to the priest. So the priest will make atonement 18 on his behalf for his error which he committed 19 (although he himself had not known it) and he will be forgiven. 20
Leviticus 6:4
Context6:4 when it happens that he sins and he is found guilty, 21 then he must return whatever he had stolen, or whatever he had extorted, or the thing that he had held in trust, 22 or the lost thing that he had found,
Leviticus 6:9
Context6:9 “Command Aaron and his sons, ‘This is the law of the burnt offering. The burnt offering is to remain on the hearth 23 on the altar all night until morning, and the fire of the altar must be kept burning on it. 24
Leviticus 6:20
Context6:20 “This is the offering of Aaron and his sons which they must present to the Lord on the day when he is anointed: a tenth of an ephah 25 of choice wheat flour 26 as a continual grain offering, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening.
Leviticus 7:12
Context7:12 If he presents it on account of thanksgiving, 27 along with the thank offering sacrifice he must present unleavened loaves mixed with olive oil, unleavened wafers smeared with olive oil, 28 and well soaked 29 ring-shaped loaves made of choice wheat flour 30 mixed with olive oil.
Leviticus 10:14-15
Context10:14 Also, the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution offering you must eat in a ceremonially 31 clean place, you and your sons and daughters with you, for they have been given as your allotted portion and the allotted portion of your sons from the peace offering sacrifices of the Israelites. 32 10:15 The thigh of the contribution offering and the breast of the wave offering they must bring in addition to the gifts of the fat parts to wave them as a wave offering before the Lord, and it will belong to you and your sons with you for a perpetual statute just as the Lord has commanded.”
Leviticus 11:32
Context11:32 Also, anything they fall on 33 when they die will become unclean – any wood vessel or garment or article of leather or sackcloth. Any such vessel with which work is done must be immersed in water 34 and will be unclean until the evening. Then it will become clean.
Leviticus 12:6
Context12:6 “‘When 35 the days of her purification are completed for a son or for a daughter, she must bring a one year old lamb 36 for a burnt offering 37 and a young pigeon or turtledove for a sin offering 38 to the entrance of the Meeting Tent, to the priest.
Leviticus 12:8
Context12:8 If she cannot afford a sheep, 39 then she must take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, 40 one for a burnt offering and one for a sin offering, and the priest is to make atonement on her behalf, and she will be clean.’” 41
Leviticus 13:5
Context13:5 The priest must then examine it on the seventh day, and if, 42 as far as he can see, the infection has stayed the same 43 and has not spread on the skin, 44 then the priest is to quarantine the person for another seven days. 45
Leviticus 13:25
Context13:25 the priest must examine it, 46 and if 47 the hair has turned white in the bright spot and it appears to be deeper than the skin, 48 it is a disease that has broken out in the burn. 49 The priest is to pronounce the person unclean. 50 It is a diseased infection. 51
Leviticus 13:34
Context13:34 The priest must then examine the scall on the seventh day, and if 52 the scall has not spread on the skin and it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, 53 then the priest is to pronounce him clean. 54 So he is to wash his clothes and be clean.
Leviticus 13:51
Context13:51 He must then examine the infection on the seventh day. If the infection has spread in the garment, or in the warp, or in the woof, or in the leather – whatever the article into which the leather was made 55 – the infection is a malignant disease. It is unclean.
Leviticus 14:21
Context14:21 “If the person is poor and does not have sufficient means, 56 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, 57
Leviticus 14:51
Context14:51 He must then take the piece of cedar wood, the twigs of hyssop, the scrap of crimson fabric, and the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and in the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times.
Leviticus 16:2
Context16:2 and the Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother that he must not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil-canopy 58 in front of the atonement plate 59 that is on the ark so that he may not die, for I will appear in the cloud over the atonement plate.
Leviticus 16:15
Context16:15 “He must then slaughter the sin offering goat which is for the people. He is to bring its blood inside the veil-canopy, 60 and he is to do with its blood just as he did to the blood of the bull: He is to sprinkle it on the atonement plate and in front of the atonement plate.
Leviticus 16:24
Context16:24 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 61 on behalf of himself and the people. 62
Leviticus 16:29
Context16:29 “This is to be a perpetual statute for you. 63 In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you must humble yourselves 64 and do no work of any kind, 65 both the native citizen and the foreigner who resides 66 in your midst,
Leviticus 17:14-15
Context17:14 for the life of all flesh is its blood. 67 So I have said to the Israelites: You must not eat the blood of any living thing 68 because the life of every living thing is its blood – all who eat it will be cut off. 69
17:15 “‘Any person 70 who eats an animal that has died of natural causes 71 or an animal torn by beasts, whether a native citizen or a foreigner, 72 must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening; then he becomes clean.
Leviticus 19:20
Context19:20 “‘When a man has sexual intercourse with a woman, 73 although she is a slave woman designated for another man and she has not yet been ransomed, or freedom has not been granted to her, there will be an obligation to pay compensation. 74 They must not be put to death, because she was not free.
Leviticus 20:17-18
Context20:17 “‘If a man has sexual intercourse with 75 his sister, whether the daughter of his father or his mother, so that he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. 76 He has exposed his sister’s nakedness; he will bear his punishment for iniquity. 77 20:18 If a man has sexual intercourse with a menstruating woman and uncovers her nakedness, he has laid bare her fountain of blood and she has exposed the fountain of her blood, so both of them 78 must be cut off from the midst of their people.
Leviticus 21:21
Context21:21 No man from the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a physical flaw may step forward 79 to present the Lord’s gifts; he has a physical flaw, so he must not step forward to present the food of his God.
Leviticus 22:3
Context22:3 Say to them, ‘Throughout your generations, 80 if any man from all your descendants approaches the holy offerings which the Israelites consecrate 81 to the Lord while he is impure, 82 that person must be cut off from before me. 83 I am the Lord.
Leviticus 23:10
Context23:10 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land that I am about to give to you and you gather in its harvest, 84 then you must bring the sheaf of the first portion of your harvest 85 to the priest,
Leviticus 23:18
Context23:18 Along with the loaves of bread, 86 you must also present seven flawless yearling lambs, 87 one young bull, 88 and two rams. 89 They are to be a burnt offering to the Lord along with their grain offering 90 and drink offerings, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord. 91
Leviticus 23:39
Context23:39 “‘On 92 the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather in the produce of the land, you must celebrate a pilgrim festival of the Lord for seven days. On the first day is a complete rest and on the eighth day is complete rest.
Leviticus 25:28
Context25:28 If he has not prospered enough to refund 93 a balance to him, then what he sold 94 will belong to 95 the one who bought it until the jubilee year, but it must revert 96 in the jubilee and the original owner 97 may return to his property.
Leviticus 25:33
Context25:33 Whatever someone among the Levites might redeem – the sale of a house which is his property in a city – must revert in the jubilee, 98 because the houses of the cities of the Levites are their property in the midst of the Israelites.
Leviticus 27:8
Context27:8 If he is too poor to pay the conversion value, he must stand the person before the priest and the priest will establish his conversion value; 99 according to what the man who made the vow can afford, 100 the priest will establish his conversion value.
Leviticus 27:16
Context27:16 “‘If a man consecrates to the Lord some of his own landed property, the conversion value must be calculated in accordance with the amount of seed needed to sow it, 101 a homer of barley seed being priced at fifty shekels of silver. 102
1 tn Heb “he shall not divide it.” Several Hebrew
2 tn In this context the word for “guilt” (אָשָׁם, ’asham) refers to the “penalty” for incurring guilt, the so-called consequential אָשָׁם (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:303; cf. the note on Lev 5:1).
3 sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).
4 tn See the note on 4:26 regarding the use of מִן (min).
5 tn Heb “and if his hand does not reach enough of a flock animal” (see the note on v. 11 below). The term translated “animal from the flock” (שֶׂה, seh) is often translated “lamb” (e.g., KJV, NASB, NIV, NCV) or “sheep” (e.g., NRSV, TEV, NLT), but it clearly includes either a sheep or a goat here (cf. v. 6), referring to the smaller pasture animals as opposed to the larger ones (i.e., cattle; cf. 4:3). Some English versions use the more generic “animal” (e.g., NAB, CEV).
6 tn Heb “and he shall bring his guilt which he sinned,” which is an abbreviated form of Lev 5:6, “and he shall bring his [penalty for] guilt to the
7 tn See the note on Lev 1:14 above.
8 tn Heb “trespasses a trespass” (verb and direct object from the same Hebrew root, מַעַל, ma’al); cf. NIV “commits a violation.” The word refers to some kind of overstepping of the boundary between that which is common (i.e., available for common use by common people) and that which is holy (i.e., to be used only for holy purposes because it has been consecrated to the
9 tn See Lev 4:2 above for a note on “straying.”
10 sn Heb “from the holy things of the
11 tn Here the word for “guilt” (אָשָׁם, ’asham) refers to the “penalty” for incurring guilt, the so-called consequential use of אָשָׁם (’asham; see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:303).
12 tn Heb “in your valuation, silver of shekels, in the shekel of the sanctuary.” The translation offered here suggests that, instead of a ram, the guilt offering could be presented in the form of money (see, e.g., NRSV; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:326-27). Others still maintain the view that it refers to the value of the ram that was offered (see, e.g., NIV “of the proper value in silver, according to the sanctuary shekel”; also NAB, NLT; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 72-73, 81).
sn The sanctuary shekel was about 10 grams (= ca. two fifths of an ounce; J. E. Shepherd, NIDOTTE 4:237-38).
13 tn The word for “guilt offering” (sometimes translated “reparation offering”) is the same as “guilt” earlier in the verse (rendered there “[penalty for] guilt”). One can tell which is intended only by the context.
sn The primary purpose of the guilt offering was to “atone” (see the note on Lev 1:4 above) for “trespassing” on the
14 tn Heb “and does one from all of the commandments of the
15 tn The words “at the time” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.
16 tn Heb “and he did not know, and he shall be guilty and he shall bear his iniquity” (for the rendering “bear his punishment [for iniquity]”) see the note on Lev 5:1.) This portion of v. 17 is especially difficult. The translation offered here suggests (as in many other English versions) that the offender did not originally know that he had violated the
17 tn The statement here is condensed. See the full expression in 5:15 and the note there.
18 sn Regarding “make atonement” see the note on Lev 1:4.
19 tn Heb “on his straying which he strayed.” See the note on Lev 4:2.
20 tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV and NASB both similar).
21 tn Heb “and it shall happen, when he sins and becomes guilty,” which is both resumptive of the previous (vv. 2-3) and the conclusion to the protasis (cf. “then” introducing the next clause as the apodosis). In this case, “becomes guilty” (cf. NASB, NIV) probably refers to his legal status as one who has been convicted of a crime in court; thus the translation “he is found guilty.” See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:559-61.
22 tn Heb “that had been held in trust with him.”
23 tn Heb “It is the burnt offering on the hearth.”
24 tn Heb “in it.” In this context “in it” apparently refers to the “hearth” which was on top of the altar.
25 sn A tenth of an ephah is about 2.3 liters, one day’s ration for a single person (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:306).
26 tn For the rendering “choice wheat flour” see the note on Lev 2:1.
27 tn Or “for a thank offering.”
28 tn See the notes on Lev 2:4.
29 tn See the note on Lev 6:21 [6:14 HT].
30 tn Heb “choice wheat flour well soaked ring-shaped loaves.” See the note on Lev 2:1.
31 tn The word “ceremonially” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that the cleanness of the place specified is ritual or ceremonial in nature.
32 sn Cf. Lev 7:14, 28-34 for these regulations.
33 tn Heb “And all which it shall fall on it from them.”
34 tn Heb “in water it shall be brought.”
35 tn Heb “And when” (so KJV, NASB). Many recent English versions leave the conjunction untranslated.
36 tn Heb “a lamb the son of his year”; KJV “a lamb of the first year” (NRSV “in its first year”); NAB “a yearling lamb.”
37 sn See the note on Lev 1:3 regarding the “burnt offering.”
38 sn See the note on Lev 4:3 regarding the term “sin offering.”
39 tn Heb “If her hand cannot find the sufficiency of a sheep.” Many English versions render this as “lamb.”
40 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).
41 tn Or “she will be[come] pure.”
42 tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, ASV).
43 tn Heb “the infection has stood in his eyes”; ASV “if in his eyes the plague be at a stay.”
44 tn Although there is no expressed “and” at the beginning of this clause, there is in the corresponding clause of v. 6, so it should be assumed here as well.
45 tn Heb “a second seven days.”
46 tn Heb “and the priest shall see it.”
47 tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, ASV).
48 tn Heb “and its appearance is deep ‘from’ [comparative מִן (min) meaning ‘deeper than’] the skin.”
49 tn Heb “it is a disease. In the burn it has broken out.”
50 tn This is the declarative Piel of the verb טָמֵא (tame’; cf. the note on v. 3 above).
51 tn For the rendering “diseased infection” see the note on v. 2 above.
52 tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, ASV).
53 tn Heb “and its appearance is not deep ‘from’ (comparative מִן, min, meaning “deeper than”) the skin.”
54 tn This is the declarative Piel of the verb טָהֵר (taher, cf. the note on v. 6 above).
55 tn Heb “to all which the leather was made into a handiwork.”
56 tn Heb “and his hand does not reach”; NAB, NRSV “and cannot afford so much (afford these NIV).”
57 tn See the notes on v. 10 above.
58 tn Heb “into the holy place from house to the veil-canopy.” In this instance, the Hebrew term “the holy place” refers to “the most holy place” (lit. “holy of holies”), since it is the area “inside the veil-canopy” (cf. Exod 26:33-34). The Hebrew term פָּרֹכֶת (parokhet) is usually translated “veil” or “curtain,” but it seems to have stretched not only in front of but also over the top of the ark of the covenant which stood behind and under it inside the most holy place, and thus formed more of a canopy than simply a curtain (see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 3:687-89).
59 tn Heb “to the faces of the atonement plate.” The exact meaning of the Hebrew term כַּפֹּרֶת (kapporet) here rendered “atonement plate” is much debated. The traditional “mercy seat” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) does not suit the cognate relationship between this term and the Piel verb כִּפֶּר (kipper, “to make atonement, to make expiation”). The translation of the word should also reflect the fact that the most important atonement procedures on the Day of Atonement were performed in relation to it. Since the
60 tn Heb “and he shall bring its blood into from house to the veil-canopy.”
61 tn Heb “And he shall make atonement.”
62 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).
63 tn Heb “And it [feminine] shall be for you a perpetual statute.” Verse 34 begins with the same clause except for the missing demonstrative pronoun “this” here in v. 29. The LXX has “this” in both places and it suits the sense of the passage, although both the verb and the pronoun are sometimes missing in this clause elsewhere in the book (see, e.g., Lev 3:17).
64 tn Heb “you shall humble your souls.” The verb “to humble” here refers to various forms of self-denial, including but not limited to fasting (cf. Ps 35:13 and Isa 58:3, 10). The Mishnah (m. Yoma 8:1) lists abstentions from food and drink, bathing, using oil as an unguent to moisten the skin, wearing leather sandals, and sexual intercourse (cf. 2 Sam 12:16-17, 20; see the remarks in J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:1054; B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 109; and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 242).
65 tn Heb “and all work you shall not do.”
66 tn Heb “the native and the sojourner who sojourns.”
67 tn Heb “for the life/soul (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh) of all flesh, its blood in its life/soul (נֶפֶשׁ) it is.” The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate leave out “in its life/soul,” which would naturally yield “for the life of all flesh, its blood it is” (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 261, 263). The present translation is something of an oversimplification, but the meaning is basically the same in any case. Cf. NRSV “For the life of every creature – its blood is its life.”
68 tn Heb “of all flesh” (also later in this verse). See the note on “every living thing” in v. 11.
69 tn For remarks on the “cut off” penalty see the note on v. 4 above.
70 tn Heb “And any soul” (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh).
71 tn Heb “carcass,” referring to the carcass of an animal that has died on its own, not the carcass of an animal slaughtered for sacrifice or killed by wild beasts. This has been clarified in the translation by supplying the phrase “of natural causes”; cf. NAB “that died of itself”; TEV “that has died a natural death.”
72 tn Heb “in the native or in the sojourner.”
73 tn Heb “And a man when he lies with a woman the lying of seed.”
74 sn That is, the woman had previously been assigned for marriage to another man but the marriage deal had not yet been consummated. In the meantime, the woman has lost her virginity and has, therefore, lost part of her value to the master in the sale to the man for whom she had been designated. Compensation was, therefore, required (see the explanation in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 130-31).
75 tn Heb “takes.” The verb “to take” in this context means “to engage in sexual intercourse,” though some English versions translate it as “marry” (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV).
76 tn Regarding the “cut off” penalty, see the note on Lev 7:20.
77 tn See the note on Lev 17:16 above.
78 tn Heb “and the two of them.”
79 tn Or “shall approach” (see HALOT 670 s.v. נגשׁ).
80 tn Heb “To your generations.”
81 tn The Piel (v. 2) and Hiphil (v. 3) forms of the verb קָדַשׁ (qadash) appear to be interchangeable in this context. Both mean “to consecrate” (Heb “make holy [or “sacred”]”).
82 tn Heb “and his impurity [is] on him”; NIV “is ceremonially unclean”; NAB, NRSV “while he is in a state of uncleanness.”
83 sn Regarding the “cut off” penalty, see the note on Lev 7:20. Cf. the interpretive translation of TEV “he can never again serve at the altar.”
84 tn Heb “and you harvest its harvest.”
85 tn Heb “the sheaf of the first of your harvest.”
86 tn Heb “And you shall present on the bread.”
87 tn Heb “seven flawless lambs, sons of a year.”
88 tn Heb “and one bull, a son of a herd.”
89 tc Smr and LXX add “flawless.”
90 tn Heb “and their grain offering.”
91 sn See the note on Lev 1:9.
92 tn Heb “Surely on the fifteenth day.” The Hebrew adverbial particle אַךְ (’akh) is left untranslated by most recent English versions; however, cf. NASB “On exactly the fifteenth day.”
93 tn Heb “And if his hand has not found sufficiency of returning.” Although some versions take this to mean that he has not made enough to regain the land (e.g., NASB, NRSV; see also B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 176), the combination of terms in Hebrew corresponds to the portion of v. 27 that refers specifically to refunding the money (cf. v. 27; see NIV and G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 315).
94 tn Heb “his sale.”
95 tn Heb “will be in the hand of.” This refers to the temporary control of the one who purchased its produce until the next year of jubilee, at which time it would revert to the original owner.
96 tn Heb “it shall go out” (so KJV, ASV; see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 176).
97 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the original owner of the land) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
98 tn Heb “And which he shall redeem from the Levites shall go out, sale of house and city, his property in the jubilee.” Although the end of this verse is clear, the first part is notoriously difficult. There are five main views. (1) The first clause of the verse actually attaches to the previous verse, and refers to the fact that their houses retain a perpetual right of redemption (v. 32b), “which any of the Levites may exercise” (v. 33a; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 418, 421). (2) It refers to property that one Levite sells to another Levite, which is then redeemed by still another Levite (v. 33a). In such cases, the property reverts to the original Levite owner in the jubilee year (v. 33b; G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 321). (3) It refers to houses in a city that had come to be declared as a Levitical city but had original non-Levitical owners. Once the city was declared to belong to the Levites, however, an owner could only sell his house to a Levite, and he could only redeem it back from a Levite up until the time of the first jubilee after the city was declared to be a Levitical city. In this case the first part of the verse would be translated, “Such property as may be redeemed from the Levites” (NRSV, NJPS). At the first jubilee, however, all such houses became the property of the Levites (v. 33b; P. J. Budd, Leviticus [NCBC], 353). (4) It refers to property “which is appropriated from the Levites” (not “redeemed from the Levites,” v. 33a) by those who have bought it or taken it as security for debts owed to them by Levites who had fallen on bad times. Again, such property reverts back to the original Levite owners at the jubilee (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 177). (5) It simply refers to the fact that a Levite has the option of redeeming his house (i.e., the prefix form of the verb is taken to be subjunctive, “may or might redeem”), which he had to sell because he had fallen into debt or perhaps even become destitute. Even if he never gained the resources to do so, however, it would still revert to him in the jubilee year. The present translation is intended to reflect this latter view.
99 tn Heb “and the priest shall cause him to be valued.”
100 tn Heb “on the mouth which the hand of the one who vowed reaches.”
101 tn Heb “a conversion value shall be to the mouth of its seed.”
102 tn Heb “seed of a homer of barley in fifty shekels of silver.”
