Discovery BoxLeviticus 5:2 
Context5:2 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
Context5:4 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 5:6-7
Context5:6 and he must bring his penalty for guilt 7 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 8 on his behalf for 9 his sin.
5:7 “‘If he cannot afford an animal from the flock, 10 he must bring his penalty for guilt for his sin that he has committed, 11 two turtledoves or two young pigeons, 12 to the Lord, one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering.
Leviticus 5:11
Context5:11 “‘If he cannot afford 13 two turtledoves or two young pigeons, 14 he must bring as his offering for his sin which he has committed 15 a tenth of an ephah 16 of choice wheat flour 17 for a sin offering. He must not place olive oil on it and he must not put frankincense on it, because it is a sin offering.
Leviticus 5:13
Context5:13 So the priest will make atonement 18 on his behalf for his sin which he has committed by doing one of these things, 19 and he will be forgiven. 20 The remainder of the offering 21 will belong to the priest like the grain offering.’” 22
Leviticus 9:7
Context9:7 Moses then said to Aaron, “Approach the altar and make your sin offering and your burnt offering, and make atonement on behalf of yourself and on behalf of the people; 23 and also make the people’s offering and make atonement on behalf of them just as the Lord has commanded.”
Leviticus 10:6
Context10:6 Then Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his other two sons, “Do not 24 dishevel the hair of your heads 25 and do not tear your garments, so that you do not die and so that wrath does not come on the whole congregation. Your brothers, all the house of Israel, are to mourn the burning which the Lord has caused, 26
Leviticus 10:15
Context10:15 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 13:3-4
Context13:3 The priest must then examine the infection 27 on the skin of the body, and if the hair 28 in the infection has turned white and the infection appears to be deeper than the skin of the body, 29 then it is a diseased infection, 30 so when the priest examines it 31 he must pronounce the person unclean. 32
13:4 “If 33 it is a white bright spot on the skin of his body, but it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, 34 and the hair has not turned white, then the priest is to quarantine the person with the infection for seven days. 35
Leviticus 13:34
Context13:34 The priest must then examine the scall on the seventh day, and if 36 the scall has not spread on the skin and it does not appear to be deeper than the skin, 37 then the priest is to pronounce him clean. 38 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 39 – the infection is a malignant disease. It is unclean.
Leviticus 15:3
Context15:3 Now this is his uncleanness in regard to his discharge 40 – whether his body secretes his discharge or blocks his discharge, he is unclean. All the days that his body has a discharge or his body blocks his discharge, 41 this is his uncleanness. 42
Leviticus 16:17
Context16:17 Nobody is to be in the Meeting Tent 43 when he enters to make atonement in the holy place until he goes out, and he has made atonement on his behalf, on behalf of his household, and on behalf of the whole assembly of Israel.
Leviticus 17:15
Context17:15 “‘Any person 44 who eats an animal that has died of natural causes 45 or an animal torn by beasts, whether a native citizen or a foreigner, 46 must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening; then he becomes clean.
Leviticus 20:24
Context20:24 So I have said to you: You yourselves will possess their land and I myself will give it to you for a possession, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God who has set you apart from the other peoples. 47
Leviticus 22:13
Context22:13 but if a priest’s daughter is a widow or divorced, and she has no children so that she returns to live in 48 her father’s house as in her youth, 49 she may eat from her father’s food, but no lay person may eat it.
Leviticus 25:28
Context25:28 If he has not prospered enough to refund 50 a balance to him, then what he sold 51 will belong to 52 the one who bought it until the jubilee year, but it must revert 53 in the jubilee and the original owner 54 may return to his property.
1 tc The insertion of the words “when there is” is a reflection of the few Hebrew
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 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).
8 sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).
9 tn See the note on 4:26 regarding the use of מִן (min).
10 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).
11 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
12 tn See the note on Lev 1:14 above.
13 tn Heb “and if his hand does not reach [or is not sufficient] to”; cf. NASB “if his means are insufficient for.” The expression is the same as that in Lev 5:7 above except for the verb: נָשַׂג (nasag, “to collect, to reach, to be sufficient”) is used here, but נָגַע (nagah, “to touch, to reach”) is used in v. 7. Smr has the former in both v. 7 and 11.
14 tn See the note on Lev 1:14 above (cf. also 5:7).
15 tn Heb “and he shall bring his offering which he sinned.” Like the similar expression in v. 7 above (see the note there), this is an abbreviated form of Lev 5:6, “and he shall bring his [penalty for] guilt to the
16 sn A tenth of an ephah would be about 2.3 liters, one day’s ration for a single person (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:306). English versions handle the amount somewhat differently, cf. NCV “about two quarts”; TEV “one kilogramme”; CEV “two pounds.”
17 tn See the note on Lev 2:1 above.
18 sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).
19 tn Heb “from one from these,” referring to the four kinds of violations of the law delineated in Lev 5:1-4 (see the note on Lev 5:5 above and cf. Lev 4:27).
20 tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV similar).
21 tn Heb “and it”; the referent (the remaining portion of the offering) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
22 tn Heb “and it shall be to the priest like the grain offering,” referring to the rest of the grain that was not offered on the altar (cf. the regulations in Lev 2:3, 10).
23 tn Instead of “on behalf of the people,” the LXX has “on behalf of your house” as in the Hebrew text of Lev 16:6, 11, 17. Many commentaries follow the LXX here (e.g., J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:578; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 118) as do a few English versions (e.g., NAB), but others argue that, as on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16), the offerings of the priests also effected the people, even though there was still the need to have special offerings made on behalf of the people as reflected in the second half of the verse (e.g., B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 56).
24 tc Smr has “you must not” (לֹא, lo’) rather than the MT’s “do not” (אַל, ’al; cf. the following negative לֹא, lo’, in the MT).
25 tn Heb “do not let free your heads.” Some have taken this to mean, “do not take off your headgear” (cf. NAB, NASB), but it probably also involves leaving one’s hair unkempt as a sign of mourning (see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:608-9; cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
26 tn Heb “shall weep [for] the burning which the
27 tn Heb “and the priest shall see the infection.”
28 tn There is no “if” expressed, but the contrast between the priestly finding in this verse and the next verse clearly implies it.
29 tn Heb “and the appearance of the infection is deep ‘from’ (comparative מִן, min, “deeper than”) the skin of the his flesh.” See the note on v. 20 below.
30 tn For the translation “diseased infection” see the note on v. 2 above. Cf. TEV “a dreaded skin disease”; NIV “an infectious skin disease”; NLT “a contagious skin disease.”
31 tn The pronoun “it” here refers to the “infection,” not the person who has the infection (cf. the object of “examine” at the beginning of the verse).
32 tn Heb “he shall make him unclean.” The verb is the Piel of טָמֵא (tame’) “to be unclean.” Here it is a so-called “declarative” Piel (i.e., “to declare unclean”), but it also implies that the person is put into the category of actually being “unclean” by the pronouncement itself (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 175; cf. the corresponding opposite in v. 6 below).
33 tn Heb “and if.”
34 tn Heb “and deep is not its appearance from the skin”; cf. NAB “does not seem to have penetrated below the skin.”
35 tn Heb “and the priest will shut up the infection seven days.”
36 tn Heb “and behold” (so KJV, ASV).
37 tn Heb “and its appearance is not deep ‘from’ (comparative מִן, min, meaning “deeper than”) the skin.”
38 tn This is the declarative Piel of the verb טָהֵר (taher, cf. the note on v. 6 above).
39 tn Heb “to all which the leather was made into a handiwork.”
40 tn The LXX has “this the law of his uncleanness…” (cf. v. 32 and compare, e.g., 13:59; 14:2, 56).
41 tc Smr, LXX, and the Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus Scroll from Qumran (11QpaleoLev; Fragment G contains Lev 14:52-15:5 and 16:2-4, and agrees with the LXX of Lev 15:3b) are in essential (although not complete) agreement against the MT in Lev 15:3b and are to be preferred in this case. The shorter MT text has probably arisen due to a lengthy haplography. See K. A. Mathews, “The Leviticus Scroll (11QpaleoLev) and the Text of the Hebrew Bible,” CBQ 48 (1986): 177-78, 198; D. N. Freedman, “Variant Readings in the Leviticus Scroll from Qumran Cave 11,” CBQ 36 (1974): 528-29; D. N. Freedman and K. A. Mathews, The Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus Scroll, 32. The MT of Lev 15:3 reads: “Now this is his uncleanness in [regard to] his discharge – whether his body secretes his discharge or blocks his discharge, this is his uncleanness.” Smr adds after MT’s “blocks his discharge” the following: “he is unclean; all the days that his body has a discharge or his body blocks his discharge, this is his uncleanness.” Thus, the MT appears to skip from Smr טמא הוא “he is unclean” in the middle of the verse to יא/טמאתו הו “this is his uncleanness” at the end of the verse, leaving out “he is unclean; all the days that his body has a discharge or his body blocks his discharge” (cf. the BHS footnote). 11Q1 (paleoLeva frag. G) is indeed fragmentary, but it does have ימי ז בו כל “…in him, all the days of the fl[ow],” supporting Smr and LXX tradition. The LXX adds after MT “blocks his discharge” the following: “all the days of the flow of his body, by which his body is affected by the flow,” followed by “it is his uncleanness” (i.e., the last two words of the MT).
sn The contrast between the dripping or flowing from the male sexual member as opposed to there being a blockage is important. One might not understand that even though a blockage actually causes a lack of discharge, it is still unclean.
42 tn Heb “it is his uncleanness,” but the last clause recapitulates the effect of the first clause in this verse, both of which introduce the regulations for such uncleanness in the following verses. In other words, whether his discharge flows from his penis or is blocked in it, he is still unclean and must proceed according to the following regulations (vv. 4ff).
43 tn Heb “And all man shall not be in the tent of meeting.” The term for “a man, human being” (אָדָם, ’adam; see the note on Lev 1:2) refers to any person among “mankind,” male or female.
44 tn Heb “And any soul” (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh).
45 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.”
46 tn Heb “in the native or in the sojourner.”
47 tc Here and with the same phrase in v. 26, the LXX adds “all,” resulting in the reading “all the peoples.”
48 tn Heb “to”; the words “live in” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
49 tn Heb “and seed there is not to her and she returns to the house of her father as her youth.” The mention of having “no children” appears to imply that her children, if she had any, should support her; this is made explicit by NLT’s “and has no children to support her.”
50 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).
51 tn Heb “his sale.”
52 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.
53 tn Heb “it shall go out” (so KJV, ASV; see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 176).
54 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the original owner of the land) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
