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Leviticus 21:16-18
New English Translation
Leviticus 21:16-18
New English Translation
Rules for the Priesthood
16 The Lord spoke to Moses: 17 “Tell Aaron, ‘No man from your descendants throughout their generations[a] who has a physical flaw[b] is to approach to present the food of his God. 18 Certainly[c] no man who has a physical flaw is to approach: a blind man, or one who is lame, or one with a slit nose,[d] or who has a limb too long,
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- Leviticus 21:17 tn Heb “to their generations.”
- Leviticus 21:17 tn Heb “who in him is a flaw”; cf. KJV, ASV “any blemish”; NASB, NIV “a defect.” The rendering “physical flaw” is used to refer to any birth defect or physical injury of the kind described in the following verses (cf. the same Hebrew word also in Lev 24:19-20). The same term is used for “flawed” animals, which must not be offered to the Lord in Lev 22:20-25.
- Leviticus 21:18 tn The particle כִּי (ki) in this context is asseverative, indicating absolutely certainty (GKC 498 §159.ee).
- Leviticus 21:18 tn Lexically, the Hebrew term חָרֻם (kharum) seems to refer to a split nose or perhaps any number of other facial defects (HALOT 354 s.v. II חרם qal; cf. G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 292, n. 7); cf. KJV, ASV “a flat nose”; NASB “a disfigured face.” The NJPS translation is “a limb too short” as a balance to the following term which means “extended, raised,” and apparently refers to “a limb too long” (see the explanation in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 146).
New English Translation (NET)
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