For whatever man he is that has a defect, he shall not draw near: a blind man, or a lame, or he who has a flat nose, or any deformity,
Parallel Translations
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For whatever man he is that has a defect, he shall not draw near: a blind man, or a lame, or he who has a flat nose, or any deformity,
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For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,
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For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath any thing maimed, or anything too long,
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Leviticus 21:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Timothy 3:2-3 The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching; not a drinker, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;
- 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.’ ”
- Isaiah 56:10 His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all mute dogs. They can’t bark— dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
- Matthew 23:16-17 “Woe to you, you blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?
- Matthew 23:19 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
- 1 Timothy 3:7 Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside, to avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil.
- Titus 1:7 For the overseer must be blameless, as God’s steward, not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain;
- Titus 1:10 For there are also many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Which is deformed or bruised.
Which is deformed or bruised.
As not of equal proportion, or having in number more or less.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Lev 21:18 For whatsoever man [he be] that hath…
Lev 21:18 For whatsoever man [he be] that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,
Ver. 18. He shall not approach.] Lest his ministry be slighted for his personal defects and deformities: how much more for his ignorance, envy, indirect aims, uneven walking, injudiciousness, unheavenly mindedness, &c., purported by these bodily imperfections?
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain He shall not approach unto God, or to serve…
He shall not approach unto God, or to serve him in his sanctuary.
A flat nose: most restrain this word to the nose and to some great deformity relating to it, either the want of it wholly or in part, or the shortness, flatness, or crookedness of it. But according to others, it signifies more generally a person that wants some member or members, because the next word, to which it is opposed, signifies one that hath more members than he should.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish,....…
For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish,.... Let him be otherwise ever so well qualified for his office, as with respect to his parentage, against which no objection lies; or, as to his character and abilities, being a man of knowledge and of good manners; and whether these blemishes be, as the Jews (z) call them, fixed, settled ones, which have attended them ever since they were born, and are likely to attend them as long as they live; or are transient ones, only for the present, and perhaps, in a short time, wilt be removed; yet it matters not, while these blemishes are on them:
he shall not approach; to the altar to offer sacrifice, or do any part of the priestly office, for this phrase is expressive of a sacerdotal act: the particular blemishes unfitting a man for such service follow:
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a blind man, or a lame; that is blind of one eye, or of both; and is lame of one leg, or of both:
or he that hath a flat nose; which Jarchi explains, whose nose is sunk between his two eyes, whose nose is short, and crooked, or mutilated:
or anything superfluous; more members than usual, as six fingers on an hand, or two gristles in an ear, as Ben Gersom; or whose members are not proportionate, as one eye large and the other small, or one thigh or leg longer than the other, so Jarchi; the Targum of Jonathan is,"whose thigh (or thigh bone) is out of joint;''and so a man draws his foot after him, which is the sense of the Rabbins, as observed by Kimchi (a), and Ben Melech from him; and so such are not fit to be called the priests of the Lord, and much less ministers of his word, who are blind as to the knowledge of divine and spiritual things, and walk not as becomes the Gospel of Christ; or halt between two opinions, or savour not the things of God, and lay not aside all superfluity of naughtiness.
(z) Misn. Zebachim, c. 12. sect 1. & Becorot, c. 7. sect. 1. (a) Sepher Shorash. rad.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain A flat nose - Most restrain this word to…
A flat nose - Most restrain this word to the nose, and to some great deformity relating to it. But according to others, it signifies more generally, a person that wants some member or members, because the next word, to which it is opposed, signifies one that hath more members than he should.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 18. A blind man] That is, in one…
Verse 18. A blind man] That is, in one eye; for he that was utterly blind could not possibly be employed in such a service. A flat nose, like that of an ape; so the best versions. Any thing superfluous, such as six fingers, six toes, &c.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Lev 21:18. A flat nose — Most restrain this…
Lev 21:18. A flat nose — Most restrain this word to the nose, and to some great deformity relating to it. But according to others it signifies, more generally, a person that wants some member or members, because the next word, to which it is opposed, signifies one that hath more members than he should.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Nose. Hebrew, "a flat nose, or any thing superfluous."…
Nose. Hebrew, "a flat nose, or any thing superfluous." Septuagint, "the nose, (hand) or ears slit." This verse rejects those whose members are too large, as the next does those who have them too small.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 18. Blemish — The blemishes may be classified as…
18. Blemish — The blemishes may be classified as 1.) essential physical defects, rendering the adequate performance of the service impossible, and 2.) aesthetical defects, where the powers may be unimpaired but the appearance is repulsive. Of the former are the blind, the lame, and various kinds of maimed.
A flat nose — Furst, following the Seventy, renders it snub-nosed. The Vulgate has three nasal blemishes, si parvo, vel grandi, vel torto naso, “if he has a small, or a huge, or a twisted nose.”
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Superfluous — The original occurs elsewhere only in Lev_22:23, and Isa_28:20, and seems to signify limbs disproportioned in length. The Vulgate limits it to the nose. The Seventy translates it “with the ears cropped or slit.” The Targum of Palestine says, “mutilated in the thigh.”
Keil inclines to our English rendering — any thing superfluous, as more than ten fingers or toes, or any thing beyond what is normal, such as an ill-formed bodily member.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 18. a flat nose] slit, as R.V. mg., rather…
18. a flat nose] slit, as R.V. mg., rather than ‘flat.’ The Heb. word does not occur elsewhere in O.T. But the cognate root in Arabic, having the sense perforate, pierce, admits of the sense of perforation of the lip, or the lobe of the ear, as well as a slit in the partition between the nostrils.
any thing superfluous] The rendering of the EVV is too vague. The Heb. root denotes extension, and is applied to an extended (i.e. abnormally long) limb or other member, in this case of a man, in its only other occurrence (Lev_22:23) of a beast. The LXX. ὠτότμητος, having the ear split, following the Aram. rendering mutilated, is wrong.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (18) For whatsoever man . . . —This part…
(18) For whatsoever man . . . —This part of the verse is simply an emphatic repetition of the same declaration at the end of the last verse to introduce the examples of the bodily blemishes which disqualified the priests for the service at the altar. A similar law obtained among the Greeks and Romans, that a priest should be perfect in all his parts; and according to the Hindoo law, Brahmins born with a bodily defect, or who received one before their sixteenth year, are excluded from the rites of consecration.
A blind man.—During the second Temple, this was not only interpreted to be partial blindness on both eyes, or on one eye, but was taken to include any blemish in the eye or in the eyelid, of which the administrators of the Law enumerate twenty-six cases, nineteen in the eye and seven in the eyelid.
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Or a lame.—This was understood during the second Temple to refer to any imperfection in the gait of the priest, which might show itself in twenty different ways.
Or he that hath a flat nose.—Of the nasal deformity no less than nine different illustrations are given.
Or any thing superfluous.—That is, one member of the body more stretched out or longer than the others, or out of proportion, as an eye, shoulder, thigh, leg, &c.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 must not approach Yahweh
must not approach Yahweh
A priest had to meet specific physical standards in order to approach Yahweh. This does not imply that physical defects were the result of immorality or that all people with physical defects are unable to approach Yahweh.
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one who is disfigured or deformed
"one whose body or face is deformed"
to offer the bread of his God
Here "bread" represents food in general. AT: "to make burnt offering of food on God's altar" (See: Synecdoche)
translationWords
sacrifice
bread
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.