Discovery BoxLeviticus 10:17 
Context10:17 “Why did you not eat the sin offering in the sanctuary? For it is most holy and he gave it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, 1 to make atonement on their behalf before the Lord.
Leviticus 19:8
Context19:8 and the one who eats it will bear his punishment for iniquity 2 because he has profaned 3 what is holy to the Lord. 4 That person will be cut off from his people. 5
Leviticus 20:19
Context20:19 You must not expose the nakedness of your mother’s sister and your father’s sister, for such a person has laid bare his own close relative. 6 They must bear their punishment for iniquity. 7
1 sn This translation is quite literal. On the surface it appears to mean that the priests would “bear the iniquity” of the congregation by the act of eating the sin offering (so J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:622-25, 635-40). Such a notion is, however, found nowhere else in the Levitical regulations and seems unlikely (so J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 136). A more likely interpretation is reflected in this interpretive rendering: “he gave it to you [as payment] for [your work of] bearing the iniquity of the congregation.” The previous section of the chapter deals with the prebends that the priests received for performing the ministry of the tabernacle (Lev 10:12-15). Lev 10:16-18, therefore, seems to continue the very same topic in the light of the most immediate situation (see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:702-4).
2 tn See the note on Lev 17:16 above.
3 sn Regarding “profaned,” see the note on Lev 10:10 above.
4 tn Heb “the holiness of the
5 sn On the “cut off” penalty see the note on Lev 7:20.
6 tn Heb “his flesh.”
