The priest: the priest is specifically mentioned three times in this verse. In most languages it will be more natural to refer to him using the pronoun “he” in the last two cases.

Shall command that they empty the house: literally “shall command and they [indefinite] shall empty the house.” Some languages may be quite similar to the rather literal rendering of the Hebrew expression in Revised Standard Version. The verb “to empty” will have to be rendered “take everything out…” in some cases.

Lest: Good News Translation has “otherwise.” In some languages it may be necessary to begin a completely new sentence and say something like “If this is not done….” Another way of handling this is to say “in order that nothing in the house will have to be declared unclean” (compare New International Version and New Jerusalem Bible).

Afterward: meaning “after the house has been emptied” or “as soon as the things of the house have been taken out.”

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .