Discovery BoxLeviticus 22:20 
Context22:20 You must not present anything that has a flaw, 1 because it will not be acceptable for your benefit. 2
Leviticus 21:17
Context21:17 “Tell Aaron, ‘No man from your descendants throughout their generations 3 who has a physical flaw 4 is to approach to present the food of his God.
Leviticus 21:21
Context21:21 No man from the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a physical flaw may step forward 5 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 21:18
Context21:18 Certainly 6 no man who has a physical flaw is to approach: a blind man, or one who is lame, or one with a slit nose, 7 or a limb too long,
Leviticus 21:23
Context21:23 but he must not go into the veil-canopy 8 or step forward to the altar because he has a physical flaw. Thus 9 he must not profane my holy places, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’”
Leviticus 22:21
Context22:21 If a man presents a peace offering sacrifice to the Lord for a special votive offering 10 or for a freewill offering from the herd or the flock, it must be flawless to be acceptable; 11 it must have no flaw. 12
1 tn Heb “all which in it [is] a flaw.” Note that the same term is used for physical flaws of people in Lev 21:17-24. Cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV “blemish”; NASB, NIV, TEV “defect”; NLT “with physical defects.”
2 tn Heb “not for acceptance shall it be for you”; NIV “it will not be accepted on your behalf” (NRSV and NLT both similar).
3 tn Heb “to their generations.”
4 tn Heb “who in him is a flaw”; cf. KJV, ASV “any blemish”; NASB, NIV “a defect.” The rendering “physical flaw” is used to refer to any birth defect or physical injury of the kind described in the following verses (cf. the same Hebrew word also in Lev 24:19-20). The same term is used for “flawed” animals, which must not be offered to the
5 tn Or “shall approach” (see HALOT 670 s.v. נגשׁ).
6 tn The particle כִּי (ki) in this context is asseverative, indicating absolutely certainty (GKC 498 §159.ee).
7 tn Lexically, the Hebrew term חָרֻם (kharum) seems to refer to a split nose or perhaps any number of other facial defects (HALOT 354 s.v. II חרם qal; cf. G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 292, n. 7); cf. KJV, ASV “a flat nose”; NASB “a disfigured face.” The NJPS translation is “a limb too short” as a balance to the following term which means “extended, raised,” and apparently refers to “a limb too long” (see the explanation in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 146).
8 sn See the note on Lev 16:2 for the rendering “veil-canopy.”
9 tn Heb “And.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
10 tn The meaning of the expression לְפַלֵּא־נֶדֶר (lÿfalle’-neder) rendered here “for a special votive offering” is much debated. Some take it as an expression for fulfilling a vow, “to fulfill a vow” (e.g., HALOT 927-28 s.v. פלא piel and NASB; cf. NAB, NRSV “in fulfillment of a vow”) or, alternatively, “to make a vow” or “for making a vow” (HALOT 928 s.v. פלא piel [II פלא]). Perhaps it refers to the making a special vow, from the verb פָלַא (pala’, “to be wonderful, to be remarkable”); cf. J. Milgrom, Numbers (JPSTC), 44. B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 151 and 193, suggests that this is a special term for “setting aside a votive offering” (related to פָלָה [palah, “to set aside”]). In general, the point of the expression seems to be that this sacrifice arises as a special gift to God out of special circumstances in the life of the worshiper.
11 tn Heb “for acceptance”; NAB “if it is to find acceptance.”
12 tn Heb “all/any flaw shall not be in it.”
