If any of the flesh … is eaten on the third day: this passive formulation will have to be made active in some languages: “If a person eats … on the third day.”

He who offers it shall not be accepted: this is another passive form that may have to be rendered “God will not accept the person who offered the sacrifice….” Good News Translation interprets this to mean that “the man’s offering” rather than the person himself is not accepted by God. The translations are almost equally divided as to whether the pronoun should be “it” (New International Version and New Jerusalem Bible) or “him” (see New Jerusalem Bible and New English Bible). However, it is probably better to see it as referring to the person.

Neither shall it be credited to him: still another passive, but in this case the meaning is essentially the same as above, although here the subject is clearly the offering and not the person. It may be translated “He shall receive no credit for it,” or “It will not be honored (or, recognized),” or “It will be counted as worthless.”

An abomination: “unclean” or “impure” (see 5.2), but the word used here is even stronger. It comes from a root word meaning “corpse.” The whole phrase it shall be an abomination is introduced by the conjunction “but” in Good News Translation, and New American Bible has “rather.” New International Version, on the other hand, inserts “because.” While the text has no overt marker of the relationship between this and the first part of the verse, the relationship is probably one of contrast. However, most versions have no transition word here.

Bear his iniquity: see 5.1, 17.

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 .