Leviticus 17

## Summary Leviticus 17 commands that every slaughter of an ox, sheep, or goat by an Israelite be brought to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting as an offering to Yahweh, forbidding sacrifice "in the open field" or to "goat-demons" (v.1-9). It then prohibits eating blood of any kind, for both native and sojourner, explaining that blood carries the *nefesh* ("life/soul") of the flesh and is assigned for atonement on the altar (v.10-14), and closes with rules for animals found dead or torn (v.15-16). ## Key words - *nefesh* ("life/soul/person", H5315) — used both for the "life" contained in blood (v.11, 14) and for "a person" who violates the law (v.10, 12); the same word links the identity of the sinner and the substance of blood. - *dam* ("blood", H1818) — the central noun of the chapter, occurring both as the physical substance to be sprinkled (*zaraq*, H2236, v.6) and as the forbidden food (*'akal dam*, "to eat blood", v.10-14). - *karat* ("he will be cut off", niphal imperfect/perfect, H3772I) — the recurring penalty formula (v.4, 9, 14), grammatically passive, describing removal "from among his people" (*miqqerev 'ammo*) without naming an agent. - *kaphar* ("make atonement", piel infinitive, H3722A, v.11) — the piel stem marks an intensive/causative action performed with the blood on the altar (*'al hammizbeach*), tying the blood-prohibition to its sacrificial function. - *ger* ("sojourner", H1616) — repeated in construct with *haggar betokham* ("who sojourns among them", v.8, 10, 12, 13, 15), extending each prohibition explicitly to non-Israelite residents alongside "*ish ish mibbeit Yisra'el*" ("any man of the house of Israel"). ## What the text says The chapter is built on repeated legal formulas introduced by *'ish 'ish* ("a man, a man" — a doubled construction functioning distributively, "any man/whoever," v.3, 8, 10, 13). Each case-law unit follows the pattern: condition (relative clause with *'asher*, "who/which"), consequence (*niphal* verb such as *yikkaret*, "he will be cut off," or *yechashev*, "it will be reckoned"). The sequential perfect forms (*ve-* + perfect, e.g., *ve-zarak*, "and he will sprinkle," v.6; *ve-hiqtir*, "and he will make smoke," v.6) chain the priest's ritual actions as consequences that follow once the animal reaches "the entrance of the Tent of Meeting" (*petach 'ohel mo'ed*, H6607/H0168G, repeated in v.4, 5, 6, 9). The blood prohibition (v.10-14) is grounded in a causal clause using *ki* ("for/because," H3588A): "*ki nefesh habbasar bassam hiw*" — "for the life of the flesh, it is in the blood" (v.11). The syntax places *nefesh* in construct with *basar* ("flesh") and predicates it with the prepositional phrase "in the blood," identifying blood as the locus of life rather than merely a substance. The same *nefesh...dam* pairing recurs in v.14 as a general principle (*"nefesh kol basar damo be-nafsho hu"* — "the life of all flesh, its blood is in its life"), functioning as the stated rationale (*'al ken*, "therefore," v.12) for the eating prohibition given to "*bnei Yisra'el*" and the *ger* together. ## Differences between versions The LXX at verses 3-4 renders the injunction with reference to a "burnt offering or peace offering" (*holokautoma e soterion*) not present as such in the Hebrew clause structure at that point, and at verse 4 adds explanatory material ("so as not to make it... a pleasing aroma") absent from the terser Hebrew "*dam yechashev*" ("blood will be reckoned"). At verse 7 the Hebrew *se'irim* ("