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Leviticus 22

1Yahweh spoke to Moses: 2“Tell Aaron and his sons to keep themselves apart from the holy things of the sons of Israel, which they consecrate to me, and not profane my holy name. I am Yahweh. 3Tell them: Throughout your generations, if any man among all your descendants approaches the holy things the sons of Israel consecrate to Yahweh while his uncleanness is on him, that person must be cut off from before me. I am Yahweh. 4No man among Aaron’s descendants who has tzaraat or a discharge may eat the holy things until he is clean. This also applies to a man who touches something made unclean by a dead person, to a man who has an emission of semen, 5or to a man who touches any swarming creature that makes him unclean, or a person who makes him unclean, whatever that person’s uncleanness. 6The person who touches any of these will be unclean until evening and may not eat the holy things unless he has bathed his body in water. 7When the sun sets, he will be clean; afterward he may eat the holy things, because they are his food. 8He must not eat an animal that has died or been torn by wild animals, making himself unclean by it. I am Yahweh. 9They must keep my charge so that they do not bear sin because of it and die for profaning it. I am Yahweh, who makes them holy.

10“No outsider may eat a holy thing. A priest’s lodger or hired worker may not eat a holy thing. 11But if a priest buys a person with his money, that person may eat of it; those born in his household may eat his food. 12If a priest’s daughter becomes the wife of an outsider, she may not eat from the contribution of the holy things. 13But if a priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced, has no offspring, and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat her father’s food. No outsider may eat of it. 14If a person eats a holy thing unintentionally, they must add a fifth to it and give the holy thing to the priest. 15The priests must not profane the holy things the sons of Israel contribute to Yahweh, 16causing them to bear the penalty for guilt when they eat their holy things; for I am Yahweh, who makes them holy.”

17Yahweh spoke to Moses: 18“Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the sons of Israel, and tell them: Any person from the house of Israel or from the resident foreigners in Israel who brings an offering to Yahweh as a burnt offering, for any of their vows or any of their freewill offerings, 19must bring a male without defect from the cattle, sheep, or goats for acceptance on your behalf. 20You must not present anything that has a defect, because it will not bring acceptance for you. 21When a person presents a peace sacrifice to Yahweh from the herd or flock to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without defect to be accepted. It must have no defect at all. 22You must not present to Yahweh anything blind, broken, maimed, or having a growth, an itching eruption, or a scaly rash; you must not place any of these on the altar as an offering by fire to Yahweh. 23An ox or an animal from the flock with an overlong or stunted limb you may prepare as a freewill offering, but it will not be accepted for a vow. 24You must not present to Yahweh anything with its testicles crushed, battered, torn, or cut, and you must not do this in your land. 25You must not present any of these as the food of your God from the hand of a foreigner either, because their damage is in them; they have a defect. They will not be accepted on your behalf.”

26Yahweh spoke to Moses: 27“When a calf, lamb, or kid is born, it must remain under its mother for seven days. From the eighth day onward it will be acceptable as an offering by fire to Yahweh. 28You must not slaughter an animal from the herd or flock together with its young on the same day. 29When you slaughter a thanksgiving sacrifice to Yahweh, you must slaughter it for acceptance on your behalf. 30It must be eaten that day; you must leave none of it until morning. I am Yahweh. 31You must keep my commandments and carry them out. I am Yahweh. 32You must not profane my holy name, and I must be treated as holy among the sons of Israel. I am Yahweh, who makes you holy, 33who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am Yahweh.”

Translation notes 6

22:2–9 — Holy things; uncleanness. “Holy things” means the sacred offerings in this food context. Keeping apart concerns proper handling and abstention while unclean; it is not a permanent ban on the priests eating them. Tzaraat, traditionally “leprosy,” and discharge refer to the categories of chapters 13–15. Tzaraat is not an established diagnosis of modern Hansen’s disease; the earlier instructions also apply the term to fabric and houses. The draft reads the man’s own emission as a separate case, rather than contact with a man who has emitted semen; the Hebrew list’s attachment is difficult. Washing and sunset are both required before eating resumes.

22:10–13 — Outsider; purchased person. “Outsider” here means someone outside the eligible priestly household, not simply a foreign national. The priest’s purchase of a person describes slavery; the permission for that enslaved person to eat differs from the rule for a lodger or hired worker. A priest’s daughter can regain the right to this food under the specified conditions; the text does not add a rule about who must support her.

22:14–16 — A fifth; inferred subjects. An additional fifth accompanies restitution for accidental eating. The Hebrew begins verse 15 with “they”; the draft identifies the priests as responsible for preventing misuse, a contextual inference. Some understand the subject as the people generally. Verse 16 connects misuse with guilt and liability; “the penalty for guilt” takes the expression as the consequences of a guilty act.

22:18–21 — Acceptance; vow. The draft follows the acceptance language used earlier, rather than “of your own free will.” The expression in verse 21 can mean fulfilling a vow, making a special vow, or setting aside a votive offering; the draft chooses fulfillment provisionally. The burnt offering requires a male. The peace sacrifice is not given that added restriction here.

22:22–25 — Defects; freewill exception. Several terms are shared with the priestly restrictions in chapter 21, and precise anatomical identification remains uncertain. Verse 23 permits an overlong or stunted limb in a freewill offering while excluding it from a vow; the draft keeps that exception. The four injuries in verse 24 concern the testicles, understood from the ritual context and comparison with 21:20, though that noun is not repeated. The prohibition on doing this in the land is retained.

22:27–30 — Mother and young; eating time. “Under its mother” pictures the newborn nursing, not merely being nearby. The next command forbids slaughtering the parent and its young on one day. The Hebrew uses the general flock-animal term, which can include sheep and goats. Thanksgiving meat must be eaten that day; the next-day allowance for some other peace offerings does not apply here.