translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: LEV

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “or from the sojourner who sojourns”; NAB “an alien residing in Israel.”


text: Heb “his seed” (so KJV, ASV); likewise in vv. 3-4 .


text: Regarding Molech and Molech worship see the note on Lev 18:21 .


text: This is not the most frequently-used Hebrew verb for stoning (see instead סָקַל , saqal ), but a word that refers to the action of throwing, slinging, or pelting someone with stones ( רָגָם , ragam ; see HALOT 1187 s.v. רגם qal.a, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 136).


text: Heb “And I, I shall give my faces.”


text: Heb “for the sake of defiling my sanctuary and to profane my holy name.”


text: Heb “And if shutting [infinitive absolute] they shut [finite verb].” For the infinitive absolute used to highlight contrast rather than emphasis see GKC 343 §113. p .


text: Heb “from that man” (so ASV); NASB “disregard that man.”


text: The adjective “spiritual” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that this is not a reference to literal prostitution, but figuratively compares idolatry to prostitution.


text: Heb “to commit harlotry after Molech.” The translation employs “worshiping” here for clarity (cf. NAB, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT). On the “cut off” penalty see the note on Lev 7:20 .


text: See the note on the phrase “familiar spirits” in Lev 19:31 above.


text: Heb “And you shall keep my statutes and you shall do them.” This appears to be a kind of verbal hendiadys, where the first verb is a modifier of the action of the second verb (see GKC 386 §120. d , although שָׁמַר [ shamar , “to keep”] is not cited there; cf. Lev 22:31 , etc.).


text: Heb “If a man a man who.”


text: Heb “makes light of his father and his mother.” Almost all English versions render this as some variation of “curses his father or mother.”


text: Heb “And a man who.” The syntax here and at the beginning of the following verses elliptically mirrors that of v. 9 , which justifies the rendering as a conditional clause.


label: NET textual note

text: The reading of the LXX minuscule mss has been followed here (see the BHS footnote a-a). The MT has a dittography, repeating “a man who commits adultery with the wife of” (see the explanation in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 328). The duplication found in the MT is reflected in some English versions, e.g., KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV.


text: See the note on v. 9 above.


text: The Hebrew term תֶּבֶל ( tevel , “perversion”) derives from the verb “to mix; to confuse” (cf. KJV, ASV “they have wrought confusion”).


text: Heb “[as the] lyings of a woman.” The specific reference here is to homosexual intercourse between males.


text: Heb “And a man who takes a woman and her mother.” The Hebrew verb “to take” in this context means “to engage in sexual intercourse.”


text: Regarding “lewdness,” see the note on Lev 18:17 above.


text: Heb “in fire they shall burn him and them.” The active plural verb sometimes requires a passive translation (GKC 460 §144. f , g ), esp. when no active plural subject has been expressed in the context. The present translation specifies “burned to death” because the traditional rendering “burnt with fire” (KJV, ASV; NASB “burned with fire”) could be understood to mean “branded” or otherwise burned, but not fatally.


text: See the note on Lev 18:20 above.


text: Heb “takes.” The verb “to take” in this context means “to engage in sexual intercourse,” though some English versions translate it as “marry” (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV).


text: Regarding the “cut off” penalty, see the note on Lev 7:20 .


text: See the note on Lev 17:16 above.


text: Heb “and the two of them.”


text: Heb “his flesh.”


text: Heb “takes.” The verb “to take” in this context means “to engage in sexual intercourse.”


text: Heb “And you shall keep all my statutes and all my regulations and you shall do them.” This appears to be a kind of verbal hendiadys, where the first verb is a modifier of the action of the second verb (see GKC 386 §120. d , although שָׁמַר [ shamar , “to keep”] is not cited there; cf. Lev 22:31 , etc.).


text: Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו ( vav , “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.


text: One medieval Hebrew ms , Smr, and all the major ancient versions have the plural “nations.” Some English versions retain the singular (e.g., KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV); others have the plural “nations” (e.g., NAB, NIV) and still others translate as “people” (e.g., TEV, NLT).


text: Here and with the same phrase in v. 26 , the LXX adds “all,” resulting in the reading “all the peoples.”


text: Heb “And you shall distinguish.” The verb is the same as “set apart” at the end of the previous verse. The fact that God had “set them apart” from the other peoples roundabout them called for them to “distinguish between” the clean and the unclean, etc.


text: The word “creatures” has been supplied in the translation to make it clear that the following relative clause modifies the animal, bird, or creeping thing mentioned earlier, and not the ground itself.


text: The MT has “to defile,” but Smr, LXX, and Syriac have “to uncleanness.”


text: Smr, LXX, Syriac, and some Targum mss have the relative pronoun אֲשֶׁר (’ asher , “who, which”), rather than the MT’s כִּי ( ki , “for, because, that”).


text: See the note on the phrase “familiar spirit” in Lev 19:31 above.


text: This is not the most frequently-used Hebrew verb for stoning, but a word that refers to the action of throwing, slinging, or pelting someone with stones (see the note on v. 2 above). Smr and LXX have “you [plural] shall pelt them with stones.” sn At first glance Lev 20:27 appears to be out of place but, on closer examination, one could argue that it constitutes the back side of an envelope around the case laws in 20:9-21 , with Lev 20:6 forming the front of the envelope (note also that execution of mediums and spiritists by stoning in v. 27 is not explicitly stated in v. 6 ). This creates a chiastic structure: prohibition against mediums and spiritists (vv. 6 and 27 ), variations of the holiness formula (vv. 7 and 25-26 ), and exhortations to obey the Lord ’s statutes (and judgments; vv. 8 and 22-24 ). Again, in the middle are the case laws (vv. 9-21 ).