Every male among the children of Aaron: although there are cases where the female members of the priestly family may eat a part of what is brought as an offering to God (see 10.14; 22.12-13), this is not to happen in the case under consideration. The intent of the text is to limit those sharing in the food to the male members of the priestly family. It may be translated “the male descendants of Aaron” (Good News Translation), or “any male descendant of Aaron” (Moffatt), or possibly “any male member of the priestly family.”
As decreed for ever throughout your generations: it may be necessary in some cases to shift this information to the beginning of the sentence as in Good News Translation. The word rendered for ever in Revised Standard Version has the meaning “regular” or “continual” in a context such as this. And the term decreed is actually a singular noun which in Leviticus and Ezekiel carries the meaning “portion” or “share.” Therefore the rendering of Good News Translation is more accurate: “their continuing share.”
From the LORD’s offerings by fire: see 1.9.
Whoever: the Hebrew word thus translated may also mean “whatever” (compare verse 27) and is so translated in New International Version. Possibly both human beings and nonhumans were intended by the writer. In any case, the male members of the priestly family are not included since they were specifically given permission to eat. For this reason it may be better to translate “Anyone else…” as in Good News Translation or “anyone who is not a priest.” In some languages a contrastive conjunction like “but” may also be required.
Shall become holy: this verse highlights the fact that the word frequently translated holy does not have as its primary meaning the ethical and moral connotations often attributed to it. The central meaning has to do with being “set aside for a particular purpose” or “withheld (or, excluded) from ordinary use.” In other contexts this implies being consecrated to God. But here it has more the idea of being unfit for ordinary human use. The meaning approaches that of “taboo” in some cultures. An American Translation and Moffatt, in fact, translate here “shall be(come) taboo.” Good News Translation seeks to render this same idea more dynamically with “will be harmed by the power of its holiness.” Another modern version translates “will experience unfortunate consequences.” Care should be taken in this context not to translate in such a way as to give the impression that anyone or anything touching a food offering would suddenly change in moral character or receive any other positive benefit. What happens here is clearly negative. Some writers even suggest that the real meaning is that any person other than the male descendants of Aaron who touch the offering must die. Some other ways of rendering this idea are “will suffer from his act,” or “will find misfortune,” or “will experience dire consequences.” The term used for holy will certainly need to be explained in detail in the glossary.
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 .