Leviticus 7:15-27 “Secure Your Identity”

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS 08 May 2016

Introduction: Shasta mistaken for Prince Corin

One of my favorite books in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia is the sixth book, entitled The Horse And His Boy. It is about a boy finding his identity. He starts out as the son of a poor fisherman in the country of Calormen, but then he meets a talking horse from Narnia and decides to run away to Narnia and become a free Narnian. The plot takes a twist while he is crossing the city of Tashban and he gets his first hint of his true identity: [Read excerpts from pg. 59-64 – approx 1 pg.]

Like Shasta, we start out as spiritual slaves to sin, but when Jesus encounters us we discover that our identity does not come from the things of this world, it comes from identifying with God’s promise of Life, and identifying with God’s people. These two points of our spiritual identity (the promise and the people) are symbolized in Leviticus 7 by a curious instruction about eating meat and by the punishment imposed upon anyone who violated the terms of this covenant. Let’s look first at...

A) The 3-Day Window (vs.15-19) – Identifying with God’s Promise of Life

15 Now, the meat from the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offerings shall be eaten on the day of his offering; he shall not let [any] of it be left over until morning. 16 And if his offering is a vow or a voluntary sacrifice, it shall be eaten on the day he offers his sacrifice, but the remainder of it may also be eaten during the next day. 17 But the remainder from the meat of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned in the fire. 18 And if some of the meat from the sacrifice of his peace offerings is eaten at all on the third day, the one who offers it will not be accepted – it will not be credited to him. It will be tainted, and the person who eats from it will carry his iniquity. 19 And the meat which comes into contact with any unclean thing shall not be eaten; it shall be burned in the fire, but as for all the meat that is clean, he may eat [that] meat.

· The English wording of v.15 is potentially confusing. It doesn’t mean that the worshipper or priest can’t leave the altar and go home until the next morning; rather, the verb “leave” is a causative Hiphil, speaking of causing food to be left over.

o The man’s role was to make sure that the meat doesn’t sit out all night to be dealt with in the morning.

o The ancient Greek Septuagint translation of this verse assigns this responsibility to a plurality of priests, whereas the Hebrew text assigns the responsibility to the singular worshipper. This is a common dispute between the two textual traditions, and I am inclined to believe that the Septuagint reflected a later time when the priests had taken over roles that the individual worshippers should have kept.

o The practical upshot is that the person who made the offering had to make sure it got eaten quickly. Since it was a thanksgiving offering, he probably brought along his family and also invited a party of people to celebrate what God had done in his life, but if it didn’t look like all the meat would be eaten by the party he brought with him, he would have to invite more people to the table, especially poor people that might be hungry, and, if that weren’t enough, he would have to arrange to burn the leftovers before leaving the temple and going home. (Jewish commentators say it was not burned on the altar, though.)

o V. 18 tells us that this responsibility carried over into the next day if the sacrifice was eligible for eating the next day. The worshipper had to make sure that nobody ate the meat from his sacrifice after the second day was up or else he lost all the spiritual benefits of offering the sacrifice in the first place and actually would get in trouble with God!

· This instruction is repeated in Leviticus 19:5-8 “And if you offer a sacrifice of a peace offering to the LORD, you shall offer it of your own free will. It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and on the next day. And if any remains until the third day, it shall be burned in the fire. And if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an abomination. It shall not be accepted. Therefore everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the hallowed offering of the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from his people.”

· As long as the sacrifice was not to atone for sin, but purely for honoring God, while they had to start eating it the day they offered it, the worshipper could take it home and eat more of it the next day^{^[1]}.

· One such offering which could be eaten on the second day is the neder “vow” in v.16. Such vows included:

o Jacob’s vow to worship God at Bethel with his family upon his safe return from visiting his uncle,

o the Nazarite vow of Num. 6,

o and Hannah’s vow that if God gave her a child, she would give him away to temple service (1 Sam. 1).

o They were any extra promise made to God, and they often included an animal sacrifice, part of which could be shared as a meal in the temple with poor people and with temple staff.

· But by the third day, that meat was not to be eaten anymore.

· Now, the question is WHY?

o One answer is that it gets hot in that part of the world, and they didn’t have refrigeration back then, and they didn’t have all the pest control measures we have today, so meat could go bad fast and make people sick.

§ Still does. I have a friend who lived in Turkey who said that the only reason all the unrefrigerated meat hung out in the meat markets didn’t make everybody constantly sick was the large volumes of yoghurt they ate to settle their stomachs.

§ In a very practical way, God was helping his people stay healthy by telling them not to eat meat that was not fresh.

§ The reference in v.19 to meat that has “come into contact with uncleanness” is explained by the list in v.21 – it has been touched a person with some kind of body-fluid issue or by a wild animal or anything else unclean. The wording is very similar to the three contaminants listed in chapter 5:2, “the body of an unclean live animal, or the body of unclean cattle or an unclean creepy-crawly.” These things might be more likely than other things to carry harmful viruses, bacteria or other parasites and thus infect the meat.

§ Only “clean” meat was to be eaten^{^[2]}. However, the Bible doesn’t actually say that this was the reason God gave this command. So while it may have been in God’s mind, it is not the main reason we should look for.

o The reason given in v. 18 is that it is “polluted/abominable/offensive/impure” and therefore was a sin.

§ All three other places that this Hebrew word shows up in the O.T. refer to putrid meat. Consider Isa. 64:2-4, where God says, “I spread out my hands all the day to an obstinate people: those who walk in the no-good way after their devisings, the people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in the gardens and burning incense upon bricks, 4. the ones who sit in the graves and spend the night in the guarded places, the ones who eat the flesh of swine and the broth of tainted meat is in their cookware.”

§ Unfortunately, the NIV omits the Hebrew word “iniquity” which occurs at the end of this verse, so that may not be as clear if you’re reading an NIV, but still it implies that there is something wrong for which God will hold you “responsible.” In other words, “There will be hell to pay.”

§ So, at one level, we can say, “It is a sin because God says it is a sin, so we need nothing more than to know that it is God’s command.

§ This might do for an Old Testament Israelite, but for those of us in the New Testament who don’t offer animal sacrifices anymore, we need to consider what application it has for us.

o What is the spiritual reality it is picturing that we can uphold today?

§ The last time that the Israelites had heard God speak of the “third day” was when they were fresh out of Egypt and were told that God would show up on Mt. Sinai on the third day. (Ex. 19:11-16) That’s when God gave them their new identity through a covenant-making ceremony.

§ Furthermore, it was on the third day that King Hezekiah later on was delivered from his terminal disease and entered the temple to worship God alive (2 Ki. 20:5)

§ And it was on the third day of fasting that Queen Esther found favor in the eyes of the Persian emperor and delivered the Jews from the prime minister’s sentence of death.

§ Then Hosea prophecied that it would be on the third day that God would “raise us up that we may live before Him” (Hos. 6:2),

§ and when Jesus began His earthly ministry, He explained that He would fulfill Hosea’s prophecy through His own resurrection after three days of death (Matt. 20:19, Luke 24:46, 1 Cor. 15:4).

§ I believe that all of scripture is designed to point us to Christ, and I expect by now most of you have gotten to thinking that this 3-day window in which the Jews could eat meat has something to do with Jesus’ resurrection after three days of death.

§ Refusing to eat what had been dead for three or more days was a symbolic act of aligning yourself with God’s promise of salvation and life out of death. It was symbolically saying, I do not identify with death, I identify with God’s promise to bring life out of death.

§ For the same symbolic reasons, most Christians do not embrace the modern symbol of death - the skull, even though you can see that symbol everywhere in the world around us – tattoos, T-shirts, company logos, cover art. That symbol means something; it means identification with death. We identify with life, so we don’t put decaying, rotten meat into our mouths.

§ What we do put into our mouths is the bread of the Lord’s Supper. Jesus invited all who trust in Him for salvation to partake of food that symbolizes the sacrifice He made and our fellowship with him in it! This is part of our identity!

· Now, in addition to our conscious identity with God’s promise of life out of death caused by sin, there is another point of identification for the people of God that I want to highlight, and that is the...

B) Penalty of Excommunication (vs. 20-27) Identifying with God’s people

20 ‘But the person who eats meat from the sacrifice of peace offerings which belong to Yahweh when his uncleanness is upon him, that person must also be cut off from his people. 21 And in the case where a person comes into contact with any unclean thing - by human uncleanness or by an unclean animal or by any contaminated unclean thing, and eats from the meat of the sacrifice of peace offerings which belong to Yahweh, then that person must be cut off from his people.’”

22 Again, Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, 23 “Speak to the children of Israel saying, ‘Don’t y’all eat any of the fat of a steer, or a sheep or goat. 24 Although fat from a carcass or fat from a torn-up [animal] can be used for any work^{^[3]}, still y’all must certainly not eat it. 25 For every one who eats fat from cattle from which he shall offer a burnt-offering to Yahweh, the person who thus eats shall be cut off from his people. 26 So y’all must not eat any blood in any of your places of residence. [This goes] for the bird as well as the cattle. 27 Any person who eats any blood, that person shall then be cut off from his people.”

· In v.20, the penalty of eating meat while unclean was to be “cut off” from the nation of Israel.

· Likewise, the penalty for eating fat or blood in verses 23-27 was to be cut off from the people.

o Following the God’s way of holiness and honoring the gift of life symbolically by treating fat and blood as holy was a way of remaining identified with the people of God. To use blood for any other purpose than redemption was to lose identity as one of God’s people.

o In my sermon at the end of chapter 3, I wrestled through whether this command not to eat blood and fat should be literally obeyed, but what I want to focus on here is the punishment. Four times in these 8 verses, it says the punishment is to “be cut off from [your] people.”

· This was one of several specific things that resulted in this sentence:

o Lev. 17:10 NKJV 'And whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people.

o Gen. 17:14 NKJV And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant."

o Exo 30:31-33 NKJV "And you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'This shall be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations. 32 It shall not be poured on man's flesh... 33 Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on an outsider, shall be cut off from his people.' "

o Exo 31:14 NKJV You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.

o Lev 23:28-29 NKJV And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God. 29 For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people.

o Num 9:13 NKJV But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and ceases to keep the Passover, that same person shall be cut off from among his people, because he did not bring the offering of the LORD at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin.

o Lev 17:3-4 NKJV "Whatever man of the house of Israel who kills an ox or lamb or goat in the camp, or who kills it outside the camp, 4 and does not bring it to the door of the tabernacle of meeting to offer an offering to the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD, the guilt of bloodshed shall be imputed to that man. He has shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people,

o Num 15:30 NKJV 'But the person who does anything [sins] presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the LORD, and he shall be cut off from among his people. 31 Because he has despised the word of the LORD, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him.' "

· What does it mean to be “cut off”?

o The ancient Septuagint Greek translation and the classic commentary by Keil & Delitzsch interpreted this phrase “cut off from his people” as a death sentence, and contemporary commentator Gordon Wenham emphasized that God Himself would put the transgressor to death,

o but I believe it is more likely to indicate excommunication - loss of citizenship, being kicked out of the community.

o Matthew Henry seems to agree as he calls it “animadversion,” (defined by Webster as “reproof”) as do Albert Barnes and Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, who call it “excommunication.”

o John Gill considered both a possibility, noting the divine judgment of sickness and death upon unworthy partakers of the Lord’s Supper.

o In America our penal system provides a sort of parallel in that we deny convicted felons the right to vote, as though they were not citizens.

· In the New Testament – 1 Corinthians 5:5, we have a clear case of an excommunication of a man who would not repent of a serious sin. The Apostle says, “deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of his flesh in order that his spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ... v.12 ...We are to evaluate those inside the church, 13. But God judges those outside, so remove the evil from yourselves.” (Later on in 2 Cor., Paul instructs the church to re-instate the man who had been excommunicated because he had repented.)

· Disassociation with the people of God was a punishment; it was something undesirable. Being one of God’s people was so important that to lose that status of being one of God’s people was to lose identity.

· Have you allowed your identity to be rooted in being a member of the church?

Conclusion

· What you think your identity is will affect everything about your life, so knowing who you are is very important.

· All whose identity is wrapped up in Christ will reject identifying with death but will rather identify themselves with the new resurrection life that Jesus has and will partake of the Lord’s Supper which reminds us of His 3-day sojourn in death before being raised again to eternal life. Let that identity of life soak through who you are and everything you do!

· And all who believe in God’s provision for the forgiveness of sins through the shedding of blood, who hold the shed blood of Christ sacred as the only way we are made right, will identify with holiness. We see Christ as our Master and love the holiness of obedience to Him. Is that your identity?

· And finally, those who identify with Christ will also identify with the body of Christ, all the other believers who together make up the church. Your desire to identify with the people of God drives you to respond quickly with repentence when a brother or sister raises an issue with you, for the alternative of excommunication from the people you love is unthinkable. You will not forsake the assembling of yourselves together because they are part of who you are.

· May God cause us all to identify more and more with His life, His holiness, and His people!

Comparative translations of Leviticus 7:15-38

When a translation adds words not in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use of italics (or greyed-out text), I put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different from all the other translations, I underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original Hebrew, I use ~~strikeout~~. And when a version omits a word which is in the Hebrew text, I insert an X. (Sometimes I will place the X at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English translation is singular.) I have also tried to use colors to help the reader see correlations between the various editions and versions when there are more than two different translations of a given word.

Septuagint (LXX)	KJV	NASB	NIV	NAW	Masoretic
7:5 καὶ τὰ κρέα θυσίας αἰνέσεως σωτηρίου [αὐτῷ ἔσται καὶ] ἐν ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ δωρεῖται, βρωθήσεται· οὐ καταλείψ~~ουσιν~~ ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ πρωί.	15 And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the [same] day that ~~it is~~ offered; he shall not leave [any] of it until [the] morning.	15 'Now as for the flesh of the sacrifice of his thanksgiving peace offerings, it shall be eaten on the day of his offering; he shall not leave [any] of it [over] until morning.	15 X The meat of his fellowship offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day ~~it is~~ offered; he must leave [none] of it till morning.	15 Now, the meat from the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offerings shall be eaten on the day of his offering; he shall not let [any] of it be left over until morning.	7:15וּבְשַׂר זֶבַח תּוֹדַת שְׁלָמָיו בְּיוֹם קָרְבָּנוֹ יֵאָכֵל^NI3ms לֹא-יַנִּיחַ^{HiI3ms^{^[a]}} מִמֶּנּוּ עַד-בֹּקֶר:
7:6 κἂν εὐχή, ἢ ἑκούσιον θυσιάζῃ τὸ δῶρον αὐτοῦ, ᾗ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ προσαγάγῃ τὴν θυσίαν αὐτοῦ, βρωθήσεται καὶ τῇ αὔριον· X X X X X X	16 But if the sacrifice of his offering be a vow, or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offereth his sacrifice: and on the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten:	16 'But if the sacrifice of his offering is a votive or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day [that] he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day X what is left of it may be eaten;	16 "'If, however, his offering is [the result of] a vow or is a freewill offering, the sacrifice shall be eaten on the day he offers it X X, but [any]thing left over may be eaten X on the next day.	16 And if his offering is a vow or a voluntary sacrifice, it shall be eaten on the day he offers his sacrifice, but the remainder of it may also be eaten during the next day.	7:16 וְאִם-נֶדֶר אוֹ נְדָבָה זֶבַח קָרְבָּנוֹ בְּיוֹם הַקְרִיבוֹ^HiN+3ms אֶת-זִבְחוֹ יֵאָכֵל^NI3ms וּמִמָּחֳרָת וְהַנּוֹתָר^NPTms מִמֶּנּוּ יֵאָכֵל:
7:7 καὶ τὸ καταλειφθὲν ἀπὸ τῶν κρεῶν τῆς θυσίας ἕως ἡμέρας τρίτης ἐν X πυρὶ κατακαυθήσεται.	17 But the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burnt with X fire.	17 but what is left over from the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned with X fire.	17 ~~Any~~ meat of the sacrifice Xleft overX ~~till~~ the third day must be burned up X X X.	17 But the remainder from the meat of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned in the fire.	7:17 וְהַנּוֹתָר מִבְּשַׂר הַזָּבַח בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁי בָּאֵשׁ יִשָּׂרֵף:
7:8 ἐὰν δὲ φαγὼν φάγῃ ἀπὸ τῶν κρεῶν X X X τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ τρίτῃ, οὐ δεχθήσεται αὐτῷ τῷ προσφέροντι αὐτό, οὐ λογισθήσεται αὐτῷ, μίασμά ἐστιν· ἡ δὲ ψυχή, ἥτις ἐὰν φάγῃ ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ, ~~τὴν~~ ἁμαρτίαν λήμψεται.	18 And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings be eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, [neither] shall it be imputed unto him that offereth it: it shall be an abomination, and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity.	18 'So if [any] of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings should ever be eaten on the third day, he who offers it will not be accepted, and it will not be reckoned to his benefit. It shall be an offensive thing, and the person who eats of it will bear his own iniquity.	18 X If any meat of the X X X fellowship offering is eaten X on the third day, it will not be accepted. It will not be credited to the one who offered it, [for] it is impure; X the person who eats [any] of it will ~~be held responsible~~.	18 And if some of the meat from the sacrifice of his peace offerings is eaten at all on the third day, the one who offers it will not be accepted – it will not be credited to him. It will be tainted, and the person who eats from it will carry his iniquity.	7:18 וְאִם הֵאָכֹל^{^[b]} יֵאָכֵל^NI3ms מִבְּשַׂר-זֶבַח שְׁלָמָיו בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁי לֹא יֵרָצֶה^{NI3ms(cf.1:4)} הַמַּקְרִיב^HiPTms אֹתוֹ לֹא יֵחָשֵׁב ^NI3ms לוֹ פִּגּוּל יִהְיֶה^QI3ms וְהַנֶּפֶשׁ הָאֹכֶלֶת^QPTfs מִמֶּנּוּ עֲוֹנָהּ תִּשָּׂא^fs:
7:9 καὶ κρέα, ὅσα ἂν ἅψηται παντὸς ἀκαθάρτου, οὐ βρωθήσεται, ἐν πυρὶ κατακαυθήσεται. X X πᾶς καθαρὸς φάγεται κρέα.	19 And the flesh that toucheth any unclean thing shall not be eaten; it shall be burnt with fire: and as for the flesh, all that be clean shall eat thereof.	19 'Also the flesh that touches anything unclean shall not be eaten; it shall be burned with fire. As for other flesh, anyone who is clean may eat such flesh.	19 "'Meat that touches anything ceremonially unclean must not be eaten; it must be burned up. As for [other] meat, anyone ceremonially clean may eat it.	19 And the meat which comes into contact with any unclean thing shall not be eaten; it shall be burned in the fire, but as for all the meat that is clean, he may eat [that] meat.	7:19 וְהַבָּשָׂר אֲשֶׁר-יִגַּע^QI3ms בְּכָל-טָמֵא לֹא יֵאָכֵל^NI3ms בָּאֵשׁ יִשָּׂרֵף וְהַבָּשָׂר^{^[c]} כָּל^{^[d]}-טָהוֹר יֹאכַל^QI3ms בָּשָׂר:
7:10 ἡ δὲ ψυχή, ἥτις [ἐὰν] φάγῃ ἀπὸ τῶν κρεῶν τῆς θυσίας τοῦ σωτηρίου, ὅ ἐστιν κυρίου, καὶ [ἡ] ἀκαθαρσία αὐτοῦ ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῦ, ~~ἀπολ~~εῖται ἡ ψυχὴ ἐκείνη ἐκ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτῆς.	20 But the soul that eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, that pertain unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.	20 'But the person who eats [the] flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings which belong to the LORD, X in his uncleanness X, X that person shall be cut off from his people.	20 But [if any]one X who is X X X unclean eats [any] meat of the X X fellowship offering X belonging to the LORD, X that person must be cut off from his people.	20 But the person who eats meat from the sacrifice of peace offerings which belong to Yahweh when his uncleanness is upon him, that person must also be cut off from his people.	7:20 וְהַנֶּפֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר-תֹּאכַל^QI3fs בָּשָׂר מִזֶּבַח הַשְּׁלָמִים אֲשֶׁר לַיהוָה וְטֻמְאָתוֹ עָלָיו וְנִכְרְתָה ^NP3fs הַנֶּפֶשׁ הַהִוא מֵעַמֶּיהָ:
7:11 καὶ ψυχή, ἣ ἂν ἅψηται παντὸς πράγματος ἀκαθάρτου ἢ ἀπὸ ἀκαθαρσίας ἀνθρώπου ἢ τῶν τετραπόδων τῶν ἀκαθάρτων ἢ παντὸς βδελύγματος ἀκαθάρτου καὶ φάγῃ ἀπὸ τῶν κρεῶν τῆς θυσίας τοῦ σωτηρίου, ὅ ἐστιν κυρίου, ~~ἀπολ~~εῖται ἡ ψυχὴ ἐκείνη ἐκ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτῆς.	21 Moreover the soul that shall touch any unclean thing, as the uncleanness of man, or any X unclean beast, or X any abominable unclean thing, and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which pertain unto the LORD, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.	21 X 'When [any]one touches anything unclean, whether human uncleanness, or X an unclean animal, or X any unclean detestable thing, and eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings which belong to the LORD, X that person shall be cut off from his people.'"	21 X If [any]one touches something unclean—whether human uncleanness or X an unclean animal or X any unclean, detestable thing—and then eats [any] of the meat of the X fellowship offering X belonging to the LORD, X that person must be cut off from his people.'"	21 And in the case where a person comes into contact with any unclean thing - by human uncleanness or by an unclean animal or by any contaminated unclean thing, and eats from the meat of the sacrifice of peace offerings which belong to Yahweh, then that person must be cut off from his people.’”	7:21 וְנֶפֶשׁ כִּי-תִגַּע^QI3fs בְּכָל-טָמֵא בְּטֻמְאַת אָדָם אוֹ בִּבְהֵמָה טְמֵאָה אוֹ בְּכָל-שֶׁקֶץ^{^[e]} טָמֵא וְאָכַל מִבְּשַׂר-זֶבַח הַשְּׁלָמִים אֲשֶׁר לַיהוָה וְנִכְרְתָה הַנֶּפֶשׁ הַהִוא מֵעַמֶּיהָ:
Septuagint (LXX)	KJV	NASB	NIV	NAW	Masoretic
7:12 Καὶ ἐλάλησεν κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν λέγων	22 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,	22 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,	22 X The LORD said to Moses X,	22 Again, Yahweh spoke to Moses saying,	7:22 וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר:
7:13 Λάλησον τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ λέγων Πᾶν στέαρ βοῶν καὶ προβάτων καὶ αἰγῶν οὐκ ἔδεσθε.	23 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat.	23 "Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'You shall not eat any fat from an ox, a sheep or a goat.	23 "Say to the Israelites: 'Do not eat any of the fat of cattle, sheep or goat[s].	23 “Speak to the children of Israel saying, ‘Don’t y’all eat any of the fat of a steer, or a sheep or goat.	7:23 דַּבֵּר^PMms אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר כָּל-חֵלֶב שׁוֹר וְכֶשֶׂב וָעֵז לֹא תֹאכֵלוּ^QI2mp:
7:14 καὶ στέαρ θνησιμαίων καὶ X θηριάλωτον ποιηθήσεται εἰς πᾶν ἔργον καὶ εἰς βρῶσιν οὐ βρωθήσεται X.	24 And the fat of the [beast] that dieth [of itself], and the fat of that which is torn [with beasts], may be used in any [other] use: but ye shall in no wise eat of it.	24 'Also the fat of an animal which dies and the fat of an [animal] torn by beasts may be put to any [other] use, but you must certainly not eat it.	24 The fat of an [animal found] dead or torn [by wild animals] may be used for any [other] purpose, but you must X not eat it.	24 Although fat from a carcass or fat from a torn-up [animal] can be used for any job, still y’all must certainly not eat it.	7:24 וְחֵלֶב נְבֵלָה וְחֵלֶב טְרֵפָה^{^[f]} יֵעָשֶׂה^NI3ms לְכָל-מְלָאכָה וְאָכֹל^QN לֹא תֹאכְלֻהוּ^QI2mp+3ms:
7:15 X πᾶς ὁ ἔσθων στέαρ ἀπὸ τῶν κτηνῶν, ὧν προσάξει αὐτῶν κάρπωμα κυρίῳ, ~~ἀπολ~~εῖται ἡ ψυχὴ ~~ἐκείνη~~ ἀπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτῆς.	25 For whosoever eateth the fat of the beast, of which [men] offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, even the soul that eateth it shall be cut off from his people.	25 'For whoever eats the fat of the animal from which an offering by fire is offered to the LORD, even the person who eats shall be cut off from his people.	25 X Anyone who eats the fat of an animal from which an offering by fire may be made to the LORD X X X X must be cut off from his people.	25 For every one who eats fat from cattle from which he shall offer a burnt-offering to Yahweh, the person who thus eats shall be cut off from his people.	7:25 כִּי כָּל-אֹכֵל^QPT חֵלֶב מִן-הַבְּהֵמָה אֲשֶׁר יַקְרִיב^{^[g]} מִמֶּנָּה אִשֶּׁה לַיהוָה וְנִכְרְתָה^NP3fs הַנֶּפֶשׁ הָאֹכֶלֶת^QPTfs מֵעַמֶּיהָ:
7:16 πᾶν αἷμα οὐκ ἔδεσθε ἐν πάσῃ τῇ κατοικίᾳ ὑμῶν ~~ἀπό~~ [τε] τῶν πετεινῶν καὶ ~~ἀπὸ~~ τῶν κτηνῶν.	26 Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings.	26 X 'You are not to eat any blood, [either] of bird or X animal, in any of your dwellings.	26 And wherever you live, you must not eat X the blood of any bird or X animal.	26 So y’all must not eat any blood in any of your places of residence. [This goes] for the bird as well as the cattle.	7:26 וְכָל-דָּם לֹא תֹאכְלוּ^QI2mp בְּכֹל מוֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם לָעוֹף וְלַבְּהֵמָה:
7:17 πᾶσα ψυχή, ἣ ἄν φάγῃ αἷμα, ~~ἀπολ~~εῖται ἡ ψυχὴ ἐκείνη ἀπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτῆς.	27 Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.	27 'Any person who eats any blood, even that person shall be cut off from his people.'"	27 [If] anyone X eats X blood, that person must X be cut off from his people.'"	27 Any person who eats any blood, that person shall then be cut off from his people.’”	7:27 כָּל-נֶפֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר-תֹּאכַל^QI3fs כָּל-דָּם וְנִכְרְתָה^NP3fs הַנֶּפֶשׁ הַהִוא מֵעַמֶּיהָ: פ

^{^[1]} Thus Matthew Henry and also John Gill assert. I know not on what authority.

^{^[2]} Curiously, the only places that we’ve seen the word “clean” so far in Leviticus are the two references to the ash dump outside the camp in 4:12 and 6:11, but remember that fire kills bacteria, and we get soap from lye, which is water mixed with ashes.

^{^[3]} Such as creating tallow candles or polishing leather. God recommended that some such animals could be given or sold to foreigners in Deut. 14:21.