If it has any defect—is lame or blind, or has any defect whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to Yahweh your God.
Parallel Translations
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If it has any defect—is lame or blind, or has any defect whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to Yahweh your God.
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And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God.
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And if there be any blemish therein, lameness, or blindness, any ill blemish whatsoever, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God.
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Deuteronomy 15:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Deuteronomy 17:1 You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox or a sheep in which is a defect or anything evil; for that is an abomination to Yahweh your God.
- Malachi 1:7-8 You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ In that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is contemptible.’ When you offer the blind for sacrifice, isn’t that evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, isn’t that evil? Present it now to your governor! Will he be pleased with you? Or will he accept your person?” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Leviticus 22:19-25 that you may be accepted, you shall offer a male without defect, of the bulls, of the sheep, or of the goats. But you shall not offer whatever has a defect, for it shall not be acceptable for you. Whoever offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yahweh to accomplish a vow, or for a free will offering of the herd or of the flock, it shall be perfect to be accepted. It shall have no defect. You shall not offer what is blind, is injured, is maimed, has a wart, is festering, or has a running sore to Yahweh, nor make an offering by fire of them on the altar to Yahweh. Either a bull or a lamb that has any deformity or lacking in his parts, that you may offer for a free will offering; but for a vow it shall not be accepted. You must not offer to Yahweh that which has its testicles bruised, crushed, broken, or cut. You must not do this in your land. You must not offer any of these as the bread of your God from the hand of a foreigner, because their corruption is in them. There is a defect in them. They shall not be accepted for you.’ ”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (5 sources)
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John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And if there be any blemish therein,.... In the…
And if there be any blemish therein,.... In the firstling, as if it be "lame or blind", or have
any ill blemish: thou shall not sacrifice it unto the Lord thy God; blemishes in any beast made it unfit for sacrifices which were required; and so all peace offerings, vows, and freewill offerings, were to be free from any, Lev 22:19, such were not fit for an holy sacrifice or an holy feast.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 21. If there be any blemish] See Clarke…
Verse 21. If there be any blemish] See Clarke on Le 22:20. God will have both a perfect priest and a perfect offering.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 21. any blemish] See on Deu_17:1. Thou shalt not…
21. any blemish] See on Deu_17:1. Thou shalt not sacrifice it, i.e. at the one altar where alone sacrifice was now lawful; but—
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Sacrifices to be without blemish.
Sacrifices to be without blemish.
A reference to passages in the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, will show the frequency with which the injunction here contained was insisted upon, and the importance attached to it. Sacrifices offered to God must be without blemish. The entire Mosaic system of sacrifice was symbolic in relation to the Church that then was, and typical in relation to the Church of the future. We can scarcely miss the teaching of the enactment before us, if only we seek to interpret it with reverent and loyal hearts. Surely it taught two things in the region of law, and also two things in the sphere of grace. The former were:
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1. That in the eye of the All-pure One, every moral flaw or defect was an offence, and therefore could not be accepted by him.
2. That as man was guilty before God, he could not, on the reckoning of bare law, be well-pleasing in the eyes of a righteous Being, to whom all evil was an abomination.
The latter were:
1. That a flawless sacrifice was to be selected and offered to God by, and in the name, and on the behalf of, the guilty one.
2. That such flawless sacrifice, if offered in sincerity and penitence of spirit, would be accepted on his behalf. Now, we are not left to interpret the type as best we may, nor are we called on to offer the symbolic sacrifice. The antitype has come. The reality is ours. And an inspired interpretation of ancient rites is given us by apostles and prophets of our Lord and Savior. (Heb_9:14; 1Pe_1:19; Eph_5:27; Jud_1:24; Rev_14:5) With such teaching before us, we can see a sixfold significance in our text.
I HERE IS A DIVINE APPEAL TO THE CONSCIENCE. It says, in language which ought never to be mistaken, "the least speck of sin is an offence to God;" and guilty man cannot, on the ground of his own right, have any standing-ground for an instant before him. It is said that in the later days of the Jewish economy, when the offerer brought his sacrifice, the slaughterer (who was other than the priest) took a two-edged knife and ran it from the nape of the neck down the spine, laying it bare. Not infrequently this would disclose a dark spot: this was a blemish; the animal was unfit for sacrifice, and had to be cast away. Hence the allusion in Heb_4:12, which, so understood, has in it marvelous power. For this blemish did not appear on the surface, it came not out to the light till the spinal marrow was exposed to view. Hence, see Heb_4:13, specially the marvelous phrase, "pa de gumna kaina k.t.l.. Every creature is "opened" unto the eyes of him with whom is our account. And though exterior conduct may be such as to commend itself to the eye of man, yet in the "marrow" of one"s being there may be a sin which is an offence to God. May be? There is. There are sins upon sins, and there is sinfulness, which is the root and ground of all. And hence it must be the case that sinful man has no right, on the ground of his own merits, to expect acceptance before God. This is the very ground-work of evangelical theology. It is said, "Pectus facit theologum," but we would say rather theolgum; for only as this appeal to (as has been remarked to us), "Conscientia facit" the conscience is felt, will the after-appeals properly tell.
II HERE IS A DIVINE INVITATION TO FAITH. There was to be a sacrifice chosen, without blemish, which was to be presented by and on behalf of the offerer. (Joh_1:29) God has provided a Lamb for a burnt offering, and for a sin offering too (Isa_53:6; 2Co_5:21) (For a discussion of the grounds on which the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all could be valid for the race, see Dale on the Atonement, sect. 10.) Suffice it here to say that this offering had the dignity of a Divine Sacrifice, the appropriateness of a human one, and the "sweet-smelling savor" of a perfectly pure one. Besides which it had all the spontaneity of a voluntary offering, and all the generosity of a noble serf-surrender for the sake of others; in making which the Redeemer was satisfied. And this offering which infinite love has made, loving faith may take and call its own; and abandoning all pretence to a standing-ground in native right, it may find an everlastingly firm one in sovereign grace!
III HERE IS A DIVINE CALL TO PENITENCE. The sacrifice was to be offered with confession of sin. (see Lev_16:21) All the several ordinances which were spread over different sacrificial services in Israel, find their varied significances grouped in one, in the attitude of the sinner before the cross of his Savior. Well might Watts write, "My faith would lay her hand," etc. While we accept the Divine Sacrifice for sin, penitential confession over sin should ever mark us. (see Ps 51)
IV HERE IS A DIVINE DEMAND FOR RECTITUDE OF HEART. When we bring our offerings to the Lord, no defect should be knowingly tolerated by us. Grace gives no warrant to laxity, and true penitence will be scrupulously intolerant of it. (Psa_66:18) The freeness of pardon to the penitent involves no modification of ethical stringency, for the fact is, wherever there is any known tolerance of ill, to that extent penitence does not exist. God puts away sin by forgiving it, only as we put it away by repenting of it and casting it off.
V HERE IS A DIVINE SUMMONS TO DEVOTION. Jesus died, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. And where a man, sorry for sin, intolerant of the evil in his nature, struggling against it, and pleading with God to uproot it, casts himself before God in this genuine uprightness of soul, none of the imperfections over which he mourns shall prevent the Divine acceptance of such an offering, presented, as it will be, in the name of the spotless Son of God. The virtue of his spotless sacrifice ensures the acceptance of ours. Every true and sincere penitent is, on this ground of free grace and dying love, as well-pleasing to God and as near to his heart as the purest angel before the eternal throne. The offering to God of a broken and a contrite heart is one which he cannot and will not despise. (see also Heb_13:15, Heb_13:16)
VI HERE IS A DIVINE PROPHECY, TO INSPIRE HOPE. These sacrifices of ours, offered in penitence, faith, and love, are still but imperfect. And the holiest souls are most alive to such imperfection, and most sorrowful over it. Hence it should be no small joy to find in the Word of God precisely the same expressions used to express the future purity of believers that are employed to indicate the perfection of the Redeemer"s sacrifice. As the one Great Sacrifice was "without blemish and without spot," so all those who are themselves living sacrifices to God, shall be "without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." He who received them at first on the ground of his own purity, shall create in them a spotlessness like his own. They shall be "without fault" before the throne of God. And he who died for them shall then present them as his own!
Have we not here (in conclusion) a remarkable illustration of what the Apostle Paul so often speaks of as "the righteousness of God?" Each one of these six steps is a fresh aspect of it. The first shows the righteousness of God in taking cognizance of sin; the second, the righteousness of God in offering a spotless sacrifice for sin; the third, the righteousness of God in requiring penitential acknowledgment of sin; the fourth, the righteousness of God in demanding intolerance of sin; the fifth, the righteousness of God in accepting our consecration in the name of a Sinless One, only when we penitently put away sin; the sixth, the righteousness of God in ensuring that those who are living sacrifices to him shall ultimately be perfectly freed from all sin! Thus from beginning to end "grace reigns through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." Now unto him that is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 15:21 A defect was any imperfection that devalued an…
15:21 A defect was any imperfection that devalued an animal; it was no sacrifice to give up something that was of little or no worth to begin with (2 Sam 24:24).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.