Leviticus 17–26

Footnotes

1. 1 The complex wording of vv. 3–4 requires stating “blood guilt” at the beginning of v. 3 even though it is not mentioned until the middle of v. 4. The Hebrew text has simply “blood,” but in this case it refers to the illegitimate shedding of animal blood, similar to the shedding of the blood of an innocent human being (Deut 19:10, etc.). In order for it to be legitimate the animal must be slaughtered at the tabernacle and its blood handled by the priests in the prescribed way (see, e.g., Lev 1:5; 3:2, 17; 4:5–7; 7:26–27, etc.; cf. vv. 10–16 below for more details).
2. 2 Heb “Man man.” The reduplication is way of saying “any man” (cf. Lev 15:2; 22:18, etc.). See the note on .
3. 3 The original adds “or the sojourners who sojourn in your midst” (cf. Lev 16:29, etc., and note esp. 17:8, 10, and 13 below).
4. 4 Heb “or who slaughters from outside to the camp.”
5. 5 and add after “tent of meeting” the following: “to make it a burnt offering or a peace offering to the Lord for your acceptance as a soothing aroma, and slaughters it outside, and at the doorway of the tent of meeting has not brought it.”
6. 6 includes the suffix “it,” which is needed in any case in the translation to conform to English style.
7. 7 The exact meaning of this penalty clause is not certain. It could mean (1) that he will be executed, whether by God or by man, (2) that he will be excommunicated from sanctuary worship and/or community benefits, or (3) that his line will be terminated by God (i.e., extirpation). See also the note on .
8. 8 Heb “So that which.”
9. 9 Heb “on the faces of the field.”
10. 10 For the translation “splash” see the note on .
11. 11 The adds “all around” (i.e., Hebrew סָבִיב [saviv, “all around”]), which is normal for this overall construction (see, e.g., Lev 1:5; 3:8, etc.).
12. 12 Heb “sacrifice.” This has been translated as “offer” for stylistic reasons to avoid the redundancy of “sacrifice their sacrifices.”
13. 13 On “goat demons” of the desert regions see the note on .
14. 14 Heb “which they are committing harlotry after them.”
15. 15 Heb “for your generations.”
16. 16 Heb “Man, man.” The repetition of the word “man” is distributive, meaning “any [or “every”] man” ( §123.c; cf. Lev 15:2).
17. 17 Heb “and.” Here the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) has an alternative sense (“or”).
18. 18 Heb “from the sojourner who sojourns.”
19. 19 The , , and have “your” (plural) rather than “their.”
20. 20 Heb “causes to go up.”
21. 21 Heb “to make it,” meaning “to make the sacrifice.”
22. 22 For remarks on the “cut off” penalty see the note on v. above.
23. 23 Heb “And man, man.” The repetition of the word “man” is distributive, meaning “any (or every) man” ( §123.c; cf. Lev 15:2).
24. 24 Heb “from the sojourner who sojourns.”
25. 25 The , , and have “your” (plural) rather than “their.”
26. 26 Heb “I will give my faces against [literally “in”] the soul/person/life [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh, feminine] who eats the blood and I will cut it [i.e., that נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] off from the midst of its people.” The uses of נֶפֶשׁ in this and the following verse are most significant for the use of animal blood in Israel’s sacrificial system. Unfortunately, it is a most difficult word to translate accurately and consistently, and this presents a major problem for the rendering of these verses (see, e.g., G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [], ). No matter which translation of נֶפֶשׁ one uses here, it is important to see that both man and animal have נֶפֶשׁ and that this נֶפֶשׁ is identified with the blood. See the further remarks on v. below. On the “cutting off” penalty see the note on v. above. In this instance, God takes it on himself to “cut off” the person (i.e., extirpation).
27. 27 Heb “the life of the flesh.” Here “flesh” stands for “every living thing,” that is, all creatures (cf. , , “every creature”; “every living creature.”
28. 28 Heb “for the soul/life (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh) of the flesh, it is in the blood” (cf. the note of v. 10 above and v. 14 below). Although most modern English versions begin a new sentence in v. 11, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood” (see, e.g., , , , ), the כִּי (ki, “for, because”) at the beginning of the verse suggests continuation from v. 10, as the rendering here indicates (see, e.g., , ; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], ; and G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [], ). This verse is a well-known crux interpretum for blood atonement in the Bible. The close association between the blood and “the soul/life [נֶפֶשׁ] of the flesh [בָּשָׂר, basar]” (v. 11a) begins in Gen 9:2–5 (if not Gen 4:10–11), where the Lord grants man the eating of meat (i.e., the “flesh” of animals) but also issues a warning: “But flesh [בָּשָׂר] with its soul/life [נֶפֶשׁ], [which is] its blood, you shall not eat” (cf. G. J. Wenham, Genesis [], 1: and ). Unfortunately, the difficulty in translating נֶפֶשׁ consistently (see the note on v. above) obscures the close connection between the (human) “person” in v. 10 and “the life” (of animals, 2 times) and “your (human) lives” in v. 11, all of which are renderings of נֶפֶשׁ. The basic logic of the passage is that (a) no נֶפֶשׁ should eat the blood when he eats the בָּשָׂר of an animal (v. 10) because (b) the נֶפֶשׁ of בָּשָׂר is identified with the blood that flows through and permeates it (v. 11a), and (c) the Lord himself has assigned (i.e., limited the use of) animal blood, that is, animal נֶפֶשׁ, to be the instrument or price of making atonement for the נֶפֶשׁ of people (v. 11b). See the detailed remarks and literature cited in R. E. Averbeck, 2:, .
29. 29 Heb “And I myself have given it to you.”
30. 30 Heb “for the blood, it by (בְּ, bet preposition, “in”] the life makes atonement.” The interpretation of the preposition is pivotal here. Some scholars have argued that it is a bet of exchange; that is, “the blood makes atonement in exchange for the life [of the slaughtered animal]” (see R. E. Averbeck, 2:, for analysis and criticism of this view). It is more likely that, as in the previous clause (“your lives”), “life/soul” (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh) here refers to the person who makes the offering, not the animal offered. The blood of the animal makes atonement for the person who offers it either “by means of” (instrumental bet) the “life/soul” of the animal, which it symbolizes or embodies (the meaning of the translation given here); or perhaps the blood of the animal functions as “the price” (bet of price) for ransoming the “life/soul” of the person.
31. 31 Heb “all/any person from you shall not eat blood.”
32. 32 Heb “and the sojourner, the one sojourning in your midst, shall not eat blood.”
33. 33 A few medieval Hebrew , , and . have “from the house of Israel” as in vv. 3, 8, and 10, but the agrees with the .
34. 34 Heb “from the sojourner who sojourns.”
35. 35 The , , , and certain of have “your” (plural) rather than “their” (cf. v. 10 above).
36. 36 Heb “[wild] game of animal.”
37. 37 That is, it must be a clean animal, not an unclean animal (cf. Lev 11).
38. 38 Heb “for the life/soul (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh) of all flesh, its blood in its life/soul (נֶפֶשׁ) it is.” The , , and 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 [], , ). The present translation is something of an oversimplification, but the meaning is basically the same in any case. Cf. “For the life of every creature—its blood is its life.”
39. 39 Heb “of all flesh” (also later in this verse). See the note on “every living thing” in v. .
40. 40 For remarks on the “cut off” penalty see the note on v. above.
41. 41 Heb “And any soul” (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh).
42. 42 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. “that died of itself”; “that has died a natural death.”
43. 43 Heb “in the native or in the sojourner.”
44. 44 The words “his clothes” are not in the Hebrew text, but are repeated in the translation for clarity.
45. 45 Heb “and he shall bear his iniquity.” The rendering “bear the punishment for the iniquity” reflects the use of the word “iniquity” to refer to the punishment for iniquity. This is sometimes referred to as the consequential use of the term (cf. Lev 5:17; 7:18; 10:17; etc.). For the interpretation of this verse reflected in the present translation, see the remarks on in J. Milgrom, Leviticus (), 1:.
46. 1 Heb “As the work [or “deed”] of the land of Egypt, which you were dwelling in it, you must not do.”
47. 2 Heb “and as the work [or “deed”] of the land of Canaan which I am bringing you to there, you must not do.” The participle “I am bringing” is inceptive; the Lord is “about to” bring them into the land of Canaan, as opposed to their having dwelt previously in the land of Egypt (see the first part of the verse).
48. 3 Heb “and you shall not walk.”
49. 4 Heb “My regulations you shall do”; , “my judgments”; “My ordinances”; , “my laws.” The Hebrew term translated “regulation” (מִשְׁפָּט, mishpat) refers to the set of regulations about to be set forth in the following chapters (cf. Lev 19:37; 20:22; 25:18; 26:46). Note especially the thematic and formulaic relationships between the introduction here in Lev 18:1–5 and the paraenesis in Lev 20:22–26, both of which refer explicitly to the corrupt nations and the need to separate from them by keeping the Lord’s regulations.
50. 5 Heb “and my statutes you shall keep [or “watch; guard”] to walk in them.”
51. 6 Heb “And you shall keep.”
52. 7 Heb “which the man shall do them and shall live in them.” The term for “a man, human being; mankind” (אָדָם, ’adam; see the note on ) in this case refers to any person among “mankind,” male or female. The expression וָחַי (vakhay, “and shall live”) looks like the adjective “living” so it is written וְחָיָה (vékhayah) in , but the form is simply the same verb written as a double ayin verb (see חיה qal and §76.i; cf. Lev 25:35).
53. 8 Heb “Man, man shall not draw near to any flesh (שְׁאֵר, shé’er) of his body/flesh (בָּשָׂר, basar).” The repetition of the word “man” is distributive, meaning “any (or “every”) man” ( §123.c; cf. Lev 15:2). The two words for “flesh” are combined to refer to emphasize the physical familial relatedness (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], , and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [], ).
54. 9 Heb “to uncover [her] nakedness” (cf. , , , ), which is clearly euphemistic for sexual intercourse (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], , and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [], ). This expression occurs a number of times in the following context and is generally translated “have sexual intercourse with [someone],” although in the case of the father mentioned in the following verse the expression may be connected to the shame or disgrace that would belong to the father whose wife’s sexuality is violated by his son. See the note on the word “mother” in v. .
55. 10 The general statement prohibiting sexual intercourse between close relatives serves as an opening summary statement for the following section, which gives details concerning which degrees of relationship are specifically forbidden.
56. 11 The verbal negative here is the same as that used in the Ten Commandments (Exod 20:4–5, 7, 13–17). It suggests permanent prohibition rather than a simple negative command and could, therefore, be rendered “must not” here and throughout the following section as it is in vv. 3–4 above.
57. 12 Heb “The nakedness of your father and [i.e., even] the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover.” Commentators suggest that the point of referring to the father’s nakedness is that the mother’s sexuality belongs to the father and is forbidden to the son on that account (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [], , and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], ). The expression may, however, derive from the shame of nakedness when exposed. If one exposes his mother’s nakedness to himself it is like openly exposing the father’s nakedness (cf. Gen 9:22–23 with the background of Gen 2:25 and 3:7, 21). The same essential construction is used in v. 10 where the latter explanation makes more sense than the former.
58. 13 Heb “the nakedness of your father she is.” See the note on v. above. This law refers to another wife of the man’s father, who is not that man’s mother. The laws in the Pentateuch sometimes assume the possibility that a man may have more than one wife (cf., e.g., Deut 21:15–17).
59. 14 Heb “the daughter of your father or the daughter of your mother.”
60. 15 Heb “born of house or born of outside.” interprets as “whether you grew up together or not” (cf. also , ).
61. 16 Several medieval Hebrew , , , and have “her nakedness” rather than “their nakedness,” thus agreeing with singular “sister” at the beginning of the verse. For a smooth English translation “either of” was added.
62. 17 That is, to have sexual intercourse with one’s granddaughter would be like openly exposing one’s own shameful nakedness (see the note on v. above).
63. 18 Heb “The nakedness of the daughter of your father’s wife born of your father, she is your sister; you must not uncover her nakedness.” That is, a half sister, the daughter of the man’s father by another wife, who is not the man’s mother, is to be considered a true sister. Therefore, the man must not have sexual intercourse with her.
64. 19 A few medieval Hebrew , the , , and all read “because she is the flesh of your father,” like the of v. 13.
65. 20 Heb “you must not draw near to his wife.” In the context this refers to approaching one’s aunt to have sexual intercourse with her, so this has been specified in the translation for clarity.
66. 21 As in v. 12 (see the there), some and versions have “because she is your aunt.”
67. 22 Regarding the last clause, see the notes on vv. and above.
68. 23 Heb “You must not uncover the nakedness of both a woman and her daughter; the daughter of her son and the daughter of her daughter you must not take to uncover her nakedness.” Translating “her” as “them” provides consistency in the English. In this kind of context, “take” means to “take in marriage” (cf. also v. 18). The and have “their nakedness,” referring to the nakedness of the woman’s granddaughters, rather than the nakedness of the woman herself.
69. 24 Heb “they are her flesh.” The reads “your” here (followed by ). If the reading were followed by the present translation, the result would be “They are closely related to you.”
70. 25 The term rendered “lewdness” almost always carries a connotation of cunning, evil device, and divisiveness (cf. I זִמָּה 2, “infamy”), and is closely associated with sexual and religious infidelity (cf., e.g., Lev 19:29; 20:14; Job 31:11; Jer 13:27; Ezek 16:27; 22:9). Recent English versions differ on how they handle this: “would be shameful”; “would make you unclean”; “wickedness”; “horrible wickedness”; “depravity”; “incest.”
71. 26 Or “as a concubine”; Heb “And a woman to her sister you shall not take to be a second wife [or “to be a concubine”].” According to III צרר, the infinitive “to be a second wife” (לִצְרֹר, litsror) is a denominative verb from II צָרָה A (“concubine; second wife”), which, in turn, derives from II צר “to treat with hostility” (cf. J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], , and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [], ).
72. 27 Heb “on her in her life.”
73. 28 Heb “in the menstruation of her impurity”; “during the uncleanness of her monthly period.”
74. 29 Heb “And to the wife of your fellow citizen you shall not give your layer for seed.” The meaning of “your layer” (שְׁכָבְתְּךָ, shékhavtékha) is uncertain (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [], , “you shall not place your layer of semen”; but cf. also J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], , and the literature cited there for the rendering, “you shall not give your penis for seed”).
75. 30 Heb “And from your seed you shall not give to cause to pass over to Molech.” (cf. also the ) has “to cause to serve” rather than “to cause to pass over.” For detailed remarks on Molech and Molech worship see N. H. Snaith, Leviticus and Numbers (), 87–88; P. J. Budd, Leviticus (), 259–60; and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (), , and the literature cited there. It could refer to either human sacrifice or a devotion of children to some sort of service of Molech, perhaps of a sexual sort (cf. Lev 20:2–5; 2 Kgs 23:10, etc.). The inclusion of this prohibition against Molech worship here may be due to some sexual connection of this kind, or perhaps simply to the lexical link between זֶרַע (zera’) meaning “seed, semen” in v. 20 but “offspring” in v. 21.
76. 31 Heb “and you shall not profane.” Regarding “profane,” see the note on above.
77. 32 Heb “And with a male you shall not lay [as the] lyings of a woman” (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [], ). The specific reference here is to homosexual intercourse between males.
78. 33 The Hebrew term תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, rendered “detestable act”) refers to the repugnant practices of foreigners, whether from the viewpoint of other peoples toward the Hebrews (e.g., Gen 43:32; 46:34; Exod 8:26) or of the Lord toward other peoples (see esp. Lev 18:26–27, 29–30). It can also designate, as here, detestable acts that might be perpetrated by the native peoples (it is used again in reference to homosexuality in Lev 20:13; cf. also its use for unclean food, Deut 14:3; idol worship, Isa 41:24; remarriage to a former wife who has been married to someone else in between, Deut 24:4).
79. 34 See the note on v. above.
80. 35 Heb “to copulate with it” (cf. Lev 20:16).
81. 36 The Hebrew term תֶּבֶל (tevel, “perversion”) derives from the verb “to mix; to confuse” and therefore refers to illegitimate mixtures of species or violation of the natural order of things.
82. 37 Heb “which I am sending away (Piel participle of שָׁלַח [shalakh, “to send”]) from your faces.” The rendering here takes the participle as anticipatory of the coming conquest events.
83. 38 Heb “And.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative or even inferential force here.
84. 39 Heb “and I have visited its [punishment for] iniquity on it.” See the note on above.
85. 40 Heb “And you shall keep, you.” The latter emphatic personal pronoun “you” is left out of a few medieval Hebrew , , the , , and .
86. 41 Heb “the native and the sojourner”; “The native-born and the aliens”; “whether natives or resident aliens.”
87. 42 Heb “for all these abominations the men of the land who were before you have done.”
88. 43 Heb “And the land will not vomit you out in your defiling it.”
89. 44 The reads the singular “nation” and is followed by , , ; the , , and have the plural “nations” (cf. v. 24).
90. 45 Regarding the “cut off” penalty see the note on .
91. 46 Heb “to not do from the statutes of the detestable acts.”
92. 47 Heb “and you will not.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
93. 1 Heb “A man his mother and his father you [plural] shall fear.” The , , , and certain reverse the order, “his father and his mother.” The term “fear” is subject to misunderstanding by the modern reader, so “respect” has been used in the translation. Cf. , “revere”; “reverence.”
94. 2 Regarding the difficult etymology and meaning of the term for “idols” (אֱלִילִים, ’elilim), see B. A. Levine, Leviticus (), ; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (), ; N. H. Snaith, Leviticus and Numbers (NBC), 89; and Judith M. Hadley, 1:. It appears to be a diminutive play on words with אֵל (’el, “god; God”) and, perhaps at the same time, recalls a common Semitic word for “worthless; weak; powerless; nothingness.” Snaith suggests a rendering of “worthless godlings.”
95. 3 Heb “for your acceptance”; cf. , “it will be accepted on your behalf.”
96. 4 Heb “from the following day” ( מָחֳרָת 2.b).
97. 5 Heb “shall be burned with fire”; “shall be burnt in the fire.” Because “to burn with fire” is redundant in contemporary English the present translation simply has “must be burned up.”
98. 6 Heb “And if being eaten [infinitive absolute] it is eaten [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see §113.p.
99. 7 Or “desecrated,” or “defiled,” or “forbidden.” For this difficult term see J. Milgrom, Leviticus (), 1:, on .
100. 8 See the note on above.
101. 9 Regarding “profaned,” see the note on above.
102. 10 Heb “the holiness of the Lord.”
103. 11 On the “cut off” penalty see the note on .
104. 12 Heb “And in your harvesting the harvest.”
105. 13 Heb “you shall not complete the corner of your field to harvest.”
106. 14 Heb “And you shall not deal severely with your vineyard.”
107. 15 Heb “you shall not deal falsely a man with his fellow citizen.”
108. 16 Heb “And you shall not swear to the falsehood.”
109. 17 Heb “and you shall not profane”; “thus profaning.”
110. 18 Heb “You shall not oppress your neighbor and you shall not rob.”
111. 19 Heb “hold back with you”; perhaps “hold back for yourself” (cf. “keep for yourself”).
112. 20 Heb “You shall not curse a deaf [person] and before a blind [person] you shall not put a stumbling block.”
113. 21 Heb “And you shall fear.” Many English versions (e.g., , , , , ) regard the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) as adversative in force here (“but”).
114. 22 has the singular rather than the plural “you” of the , which brings this verb form into line with the ones surrounding it.
115. 23 Heb “You shall not do injustice in judgment” ( similar); cf. “do not pervert justice.”
116. 24 Heb “You shall not lift up faces of poor [people] and you shall not honor faces of great.”
117. 25 Heb “In righteousness you shall judge your fellow citizen.”
118. 26 The term רָכִיל (rakhil) is traditionally rendered “slanderer” here (so , , ; see also J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], , ), but the exact meaning is uncertain (see the discussion in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [], ). It is sometimes related to I רָכַל (“to go about as a trader [or “merchant”]”; 940 רָכַל), and taken to refer to cutthroat business dealings, but there may be a II רָכַל, the meaning of which is dubious ( II *רכל). Some would render it “to go about as a spy.”
119. 27 Heb “You shall not stand on the blood of your neighbor.” This part of the verse is also difficult to interpret. The rendering here suggests that one will not allow a neighbor to be victimized, whether in court (cf. v. 15) or in any other situation (see the discussion in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [], ).
120. 28 Heb “and you will not lift up on him sin.” The meaning of the line is somewhat obscure. It means either (1) that one should rebuke one’s neighbor when he sins lest one also becomes guilty, which is the way it is rendered here (see , , , ; see also B. A. Levine, Leviticus [], , and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], , and the discussion on pp. ), or (2) one may rebuke one’s neighbor without incurring sin just as long as he does not hate him in his heart (see the first part of the verse; cf. , ).
121. 29 Heb “and you shall not retain [anger?].” This line seems to refer to the retaining or maintaining of some vengeful feelings toward someone. Compare the combination of the same terms for taking vengeance and maintaining wrath against enemies in Nahum 1:2 (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], ).
122. 30 Some scholars make a distinction between the verb אָהַב (’ahav, “to love”) with the direct object and the more unusual construction with the preposition לְ (lamed) as it is here and in Lev 19:34 and 2 Chr 19:2 only. If there is a distinction, the construction here probably calls for direct and helpful action toward one’s neighbor (see the discussion in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], , and esp. ). Such love stands in contrast to taking vengeance or bearing a grudge against someone and, in NT terms, amounts to fulfilling the so-called “golden rule” (Matt 7:12).
123. 31 Heb “Your animals, you shall not cross-breed two different kinds.”
124. 32 Heb “you shall not cause to go up on you.”
125. 33 Cf. Deut 22:11 where the Hebrew term translated “two different kinds” (כִּלְאַיִם, kil’ayim) refers to a mixture of linen and wool woven together in a garment.
126. 34 Heb “And a man when he lies with a woman the lying of seed.”