Leviticus 22:19

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

that you may be accepted, you shall offer a male without blemish, of the bulls, of the sheep, or of the goats.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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בַּכְּשָׂבִ֖ים

keseb

H3775

“in/at the · lambs”

Preposition, Determined + Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute

Appears 13× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 30:32

Full BDB Definition

Origin: apparently by transposition for H3532

TWOT: 949

lamb, young ram, sheep

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

6: words
6: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is בַּכְּשָׂבִ֖ים lamb H3775 — appearing just 13 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

בַּכְּשָׂבִ֖ים lamb H3775 occurs in 13 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

4 nouns
2 adjectives

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 22 words from the Hebrew and 20 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Leviticus 22:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Leviticus 1:3 "'If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall offer it at the door of the Tent of Meeting, that he may be accepted before Yahweh.
Leviticus 1:10 "'If his offering is from the flock, from the sheep, or from the goats, for a burnt offering, he shall offer a male without blemish.
Exodus 12:5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats:
2 Corinthians 5:21 For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Ephesians 5:27 that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
1 Peter 1:19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb without spot, the blood of Christ;
1 Peter 2:22–24 who did not sin, "neither was deceit found in his mouth."
Leviticus 4:32 "'If he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish.

Matthew 27:4 saying, "I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? You see to it."
Matthew 27:24 So when Pilate saw that nothing was being gained, but rather that a disturbance was starting, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this righteous person. You see to it."
Matthew 27:54 Now the centurion, and those who were with him watching Jesus, when they saw the earthquake, and the things that were done, feared exceedingly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God."
Hebrews 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
1 Peter 3:18 Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
Matthew 27:19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, "Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him."
Luke 23:14 and said to them, "You brought this man to me as one that perverts the people, and see, I have examined him before you, and found no basis for a charge against this man concerning those things of which you accuse him.
Luke 23:41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong."

Luke 23:47 When the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, "Certainly this was a righteous man."
John 19:4 Then Pilate went out again, and said to them, "Behold, I bring him out to you, that you may know that I find no basis for a charge against him."

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Leviticus 22:19 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

לִֽרְצֹנְכֶ֑ם תָּמִ֣ים זָכָ֔ר בַּבָּקָ֕ר בַּכְּשָׂבִ֖ים וּבָֽעִזִּֽים

that you may be accepted, you shall offer a male without blemish, of the bulls, of the sheep, or of the goats.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Leviticus 22:19 Septuagint · lemma form

δεκτός σύ ἄμωμος ἄρσην ἐκ ὁ βουκόλιον καί ἐκ ὁ πρόβατον καί ἐκ ὁ αἴξ

your free will offerings shall be males without blemish of the herds, or of the sheep, or of the goats.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

לְרַעֲוָא לְכוֹן שְׁלִים דְכוּרָא בְּתוֹרֵי בְּאִמְרַיָא וּבְעִזַיָא

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

לְרַעֲוָא לְכוֹן שְׁלִים דְכַר בְּתוֹרֵי בְּאִימְרַיָא וּבִבְנֵי עִזַיָא

to be acceptable for you, it shall be perfect, a male of the bullocks, of the lamb, or of the young goats.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Leviticus 22:19 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Lev 22:19 [Ye shall offer] at your own will a male without blemish, of the beeves, of the sheep, or of the goats.

Ver. 19. At your own will.] Yet observing strictly the law in that case provided, with all the rites appointed. Such will worship is very acceptable.

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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Lev 22:19. Ye shall offer it at your own will — This is better rendered by the Seventy, the Arabic, and other versions, In order to its being accepted ye shall offer a male. And so we render the same word לרצון, leratson, in the next verse. Males were required in burnt-offerings: but females were accepted in peace-offerings and sin-offerings.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

THE SACRIFICES MUST BE WITHOUT BLEMISH. (Lev. 22:17-33)

Ye shall offer at your own will--rather, to your being accepted.

a male without blemish--This law (Lev 1:3) is founded on a sense of natural propriety, which required the greatest care to be taken in the selection of animals for sacrifice. The reason for this extreme caution is found in the fact that sacrifices are either an expression of praise to God for His goodness, or else they are the designed means of conciliating or retaining His favor. No victim that was not perfect in its kind could be deemed a fitting instrument for such purposes if we assume that the significance of sacrifices is derived entirely from their relation to Jehovah. Sacrifices may be likened to gifts made to a king by his subjects, and hence the reasonableness of God's strong remonstrance with the worldly-minded Jews (Mal 1:8). If the tabernacle, and subsequently the temple, were considered the palace of the great King, then the sacrifices would answer to presents as offered to a monarch on various occasions by his subjects; and in this light they would be the appropriate expressions of their feelings towards their sovereign. When a subject wished to do honor to his sovereign, to acknowledge allegiance, to appease his anger, to supplicate forgiveness, or to intercede for another, he brought a present; and all the ideas involved in sacrifices correspond to these sentiments--those of gratitude, of worship, of prayer, of confession and atonement [BIB. SAC.].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) Ye shall offer at your own will a male.—Better, that it may be accepted for you it shall be a male; or, ye shall offer for your acceptance a male. repeating the word offer; or, for your acceptance it must be a male, as the Authorised version renders the same phrase in Lev_22:20-21; Lev_22:27 (see Lev_1:3).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

For whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer,.... Which is the general rule, the particulars of which are after given, and which has been imitated by the Heathens. The Egyptians, as they only sacrificed the males of beeves, so they were very curious in examining them, that they might be entirely pure and perfect (s); and it was a custom among the Romans, that such sheep should be chosen for sacrifice, in which there was nothing wanting (t); and so, among the Grecians, Homer (u) speaks of perfect goats offered in sacrifice to appease the gods:

for it shall not be acceptable for you; be grateful to God, and accepted by him on their account, if blemished; see Mal 1:13.

(s) Heredot. Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 38. (t) Servius in Virgil. Aeneid. l. 4. (u) Iliad. 1. ver. 66.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ye shall offer at your own will a male - Rather, That it may be accepted (so Lev 22:29) for you it shall be a male. See Lev 1:3. It is the same phrase as in Lev 22:20-21, Lev 22:27.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Without blemish. To teach us to aim at perfection in all our offerings and performances.

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).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

A male for a burnt-offering, which was always of that kind; but the females were accepted in peace-offerings, Lev 3:1, and sin-offerings, Lev 4:32; 5:6.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

19. At your own will — The better translation is, for your acceptance, or, as the R.V., “that ye may be accepted.” See Lev_1:3, note, and Lev_23:11, in the original.

Without blemish — See Lev_1:3, note, also Lev_22:22-24; Lev_22:27.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

A male - For a burnt-offering, which was always of that kind: but the females were accepted in peace-offerings, and sin- offerings.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

לרצנכם — The meaning is: bring such a thing (animal) as is fitted to cause רצון, propitiation for you before Me. The word לרצנכם means: so that it may be to you for propitiation; apaisement in old French And which animal is it that is fitting to effect propitiation?

תמים זכר בבקר בכבשים ובעזים A MALE WITHOUT BLEMISH OF THE CATTLE, OF THE SHEEP, OR OF THE GOATS — but in the case of a burnt-offering that consists in a bird, the unblemished condition and the male sex are not essential, and it does not become unfit for sacrifice by reason of a mere blemish (a bodily defect), but only by reason of the loss of a limb (Sifra, Emor, Section 7 2).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Leviticus, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 6 words (6 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is keseb (“lamb”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word keseb carries the sense “lamb.” How does it shape the verse?
Genesis 30:32 shares the word «lamb» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 15 words in this verse.
6 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 6 words in this verse.