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LXX Leviticus

Septuagint

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Chapter 24

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 Charge the children of Israel, and let them take for me pure olive oil beaten for the light, to burn a lamp continually, 3 outside the veil in the tabernacle of witness;⁠ and Aaron and his sons shall burn it from evening until morning before the Lord continually, a perpetual statute throughout your generations. 4 You shall burn the lamps on the pure lamp-stand before the Lord till morning. 5 And you shall take fine flour, and make of it twelve loaves; each loaf shall be of two tenth parts. 6 And you shall put them in two rows, each row containing six loaves, on the pure table before the Lord. 7 And you shall put on each row pure frankincense and salt; and these things shall be for loaves for a memorial, set forth before the Lord. 8 On the sabbath-day they shall be set forth before the Lord continually before the children of Israel, for an everlasting covenant. 9 And they shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat them in the holy place: for this is their most holy portion of the offerings made to the Lord, a perpetual statute. 10 And there went forth a son of an Israelite woman, and he was son of an Egyptian man among the sons of Israel; and they fought in the camp, the son of the Israelite woman, and a man who was an Israelite. 11 And the son of the Israelite woman named THE NAME and cursed; and they brought him to Moses: and his mother's name was Shelomith, daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan. 12 And they put him in custody, to judge him by the command of the Lord. 13 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 14 Bring forth him that cursed outside the camp, and all who heard shall lay their hands upon his head, and all the congregation shall stone him. 15 And speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them, Whoever shall curse God shall bear his sin. 16 And he that names the name of the Lord,⁠ let him die the death:⁠ let all the congregation of Israel stone him with stones; whether he is a stranger or a native, let him die for naming the name of the Lord. 17 And whoever shall strike a man and he dies, let him die the death. 18 And whoever shall strike a beast, and it shall die, let him render life for life. 19 And whoever shall inflict a blemish on his neighbor, as he has done to him, so shall it be done to himself in return; 20 bruise for bruise, eye for eye, tooth for tooth:⁠ as any one may inflict a blemish on a man, so shall it be rendered to him. 21 Whoever shall strike a man, and he shall die, let him die the death. 22 There shall be one judgment for the stranger and the native, for I am the Lord your God. 23 And Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and they brought him that had cursed out of the camp, and stoned him with stones: and the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.

Texts in conversation

Compare Leviticus 24:3 and LXX Leviticus 24:3

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

In Leviticus 24, the duty of watching the lamps is assigned only to Aaron, the high priest. The Greek Septuagint translation expands this task to include Aaron and his sons, likely to harmonize this account with a similar passage in Exodus.

Passages

Leviticus 24:3

Hebrew Bible
2 “Command the Israelites to bring to you pure oil of beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually. 3 Outside the special curtain of the congregation in the Meeting Tent, Aaron must arrange it from evening until morning before the Lord continually. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations. 4 On the ceremonially pure lampstand he must arrange the lamps before the Lord continually.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

LXX Leviticus 24:3

Septuagint
2 Charge the children of Israel, and let them take for me pure olive oil beaten for the light, to burn a lamp continually, 3 outside the veil in the tabernacle of witness; and Aaron and his sons shall burn it from evening until morning before the Lord continually, a perpetual statute throughout your generations. 4 You shall burn the lamps on the pure lamp-stand before the Lord till morning.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Leviticus

References

"... Apart from the errors that occurred during the transmission history of the text of Leviticus, literary considerations may explain some textual discrepancies. Indeed, there are cases in Leviticus where different readings allow different interpretations, so that one cannot easily assert that they are mistaken readings. Such interpretations can be observed for instance in Leviticus 9 and 24. It seems that the tasks of the high priest and those of the ordinary priests have been adjusted in some witnesses ... A reversed case occurs in Leviticus 24:3-4. Here the Masoretic text asserts that Aaron (the high priest) alone is in charge of preparing and kindling the lamps of the Menorah. However, according to the Samaritan Pentateuch and Septuagint, this task is attributed to “Aaron and his sons,” which means all of the priests. It is possible that their reading resulted from harmonization with Exodus 27:20-21, where “Aaron and his sons” is read in all the witnesses ... Interestingly, 11QTa IX,13-14 asserts that the lamps are arranged by the priests, sons of Aaron, while Aaron himself is not mentioned for this task. Thus, there is like a literary evolution and discussion dealing with who is in charge of the lamps of the Menorah ..."
Innocent Himbaza, “Where Does the Text of Leviticus Stand?” in The Text of Leviticus: Proceedings of the Third International Colloquium of the Dominique Barthélemy Institute, ed. Innocent Himbaza (Leuven: Peeters, 2020), 1–12.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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