^22:19if it is to be acceptable for your benefit³⁹ it must be a flawless male from the cattle, sheep, or goats. ^22:20You must not present anything that has a flaw,⁴⁰ because it will not be acceptable for your benefit.⁴¹^22:21If a man presents a peace offering sacrifice to the Lord for a special votive offering⁴² or for a freewill offering from the herd or the flock, it must be flawless to be acceptable;⁴³ it must have no flaw.⁴⁴

^22:22“ ‘You must not present to the Lord something blind, or with a broken bone, or mutilated, or with a running sore,⁴⁵ or with a festering eruption, or with a feverish rash.⁴⁶ You must not give any of these as a gift⁴⁷ on the altar to the Lord. ^22:23As for an ox⁴⁸ or a sheep with a limb too long or stunted,⁴⁹ you may present it as a freewill offering, but it will not be acceptable for a votive offering.⁵⁰^22:24You must not present to the Lord something with testicles that are bruised, crushed, torn, or cut off;⁵¹ you must not do this in your land. ^22:25Even from a foreigner⁵² you must not present the food of your God from such animals as these, for they are ruined and flawed;⁵³ they will not be acceptable for your benefit.’ ”

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Footnotes

39 Heb “for your acceptance.” See Lev 1:3–4 above and the notes there.
40 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. , , “blemish”; , , “defect”; “with physical defects.”
41 Heb “not for acceptance shall it be for you”; “it will not be accepted on your behalf” ( and both similar).
42 The meaning of the expression לְפַלֵּא־נֶדֶר (léfalle’-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., פלא piel and ; cf. , “in fulfillment of a vow”) or, alternatively, “to make a vow” or “for making a vow” ( 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 (), . B. A. Levine, Leviticus (), and , 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.
43 Heb “for acceptance”; “if it is to find acceptance.”
44 Heb “all/any flaw shall not be in it.”
45 Or perhaps “a wart” (cf. ; יַבֶּלֶת, but see the remarks in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], ).
46 See the note on above.
47 This term for offering “gift” is explained in the note on .
48 Heb “And an ox.”
49 Heb “and stunted” (see I קלט).
50 The freewill offering was voluntary, so the regulations regarding it were more relaxed. Once a vow was made, the paying of it was not voluntary (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [], , for very helpful remarks on this verse).
51 Compare Lev 21:20b.
52 Heb “And from the hand of a son of a foreigner.”
53 Heb “for their being ruined [is] in them, flaw is in them”; “are mutilated, with a blemish in them”; “are deformed and have defects.” The term מָשְׁחָתָם (moshkhatam, “their being ruined”) is a Muqtal form (= Hophal participle) from שָׁחַת (shakhat, “to ruin”). has plural בהם משׁחתים (“deformities in them”; cf. the translation). The Qumran Leviticus scroll (11QpaleoLev) has תים הם[…], in which case the restored participle would appear to be the same as , but there is no בְּ (bet) preposition before the pronoun, yielding “they are deformed” (see D. N. Freedman and K. A. Mathews, The Paleo-Hebrew Leviticus Scroll, 41 and the remarks in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], ).