Leviticus 22:24

Lev 22:24 Ye shall not offer unto the LORD that which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut; neither shall ye make [any offering thereof] in your land.

Ver. 24. Neither shall you make any offering.] No, not a freewill offering. Religion loves to lie clean. God will take up with a poor, but it must be a pure sacrifice.

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.

Verse 24. Bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut] That is, no bullock or lamb that is injured in any of the above ways, shall be offered unto the Lord.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(24) That which is bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut.—These four terms express the four ways which the ancients used to emasculate animals.

Neither shall ye make any offering thereof in your land.—Better, and this shall ye not do in your land; that is, not only are animals thus mutilated prohibited as offerings for the altar, but this practice of gelding is altogether forbidden to the Israelites with regard to any animal whatsoever throughout the country. This law is binding upon the orthodox Jews to this day, and the question has recently been discussed by some of their spiritual guides, since it seriously affects those of their community who are engaged in farming land.

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

24. A reference to emasculation. Animals thus treated were forbidden to be offered.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Neither from a stranger's hand shall ye offer the bread of your God of any of these,.... That is, from a Gentile, a proselyte of the gate, who had renounced idolatry, and was willing to offer sacrifice to the true God; but what had such defects and blemishes in them as before described the priest might not take of his hands, and offer on the altar of God; and this is the rather observed, because on the one hand the Gentile might think such sacrifices would be acceptable, since he might have been used to offer such to idols; and on the other hand, the priest might think such would do well enough for Gentiles, though not for Israelites:

because their corruption is in them; or they are corrupt through being bruised, crushed, broken, or cut:

and blemishes be in them; which seems to be added to explain the former, and may have respect to all the blemishes before named, and whatsoever is included in them; for though there are but here mentioned, the Jews reckon no less than fifty (c):

they shall not be accepted for you; to make atonement for you; Jarchi says, or "from you", the priests; they shall not be accepted of the Lord from their hands, and so be of no avail to the offerers, nor to those for whom they are offered.

(c) Maimon. Hilchot Biath Hamikdash, c. 7. sect. 1, &c.

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

The literal meaning of the passage in italics is, and this shall ye not do in your land. It appears to have been understood by the Jews as a prohibition of the mutilation of animals.

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

Bruised. Hebrew does not specify what part, no more than the Syriac or Arabic versions; but the Septuagint, Chaldean, Rabbins, and most commentators agree with us. --- Do any, &c. (faciatis.) You shall not sacrifice (Syriac) any thing that is rendered unfit to propagate its kind: neither shall you reduce either man or beast to that condition. (Josephus, contra Apion ii.; Rabbins)

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).

24. Bruised, crushed, broken, or cut — Here are four ways of castrating animals. Such victims are plainly prohibited for sacrifice, since they are not perfect. Neither shall ye make (such) in your land — This is evidently the meaning of this passage, instead of that given in the Authorized Version. The R.V. has “neither shall ye do thus in your land.” Josephus (Ant. Lev_4:8, § 40) says, “It is not lawful to geld either men or any other animals.” He regards such as of “a monstrous nature.”

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

Castrated animals were not to be sacrificed, nor in fact to be kept in the land at all. מעוּך compressus, θλιβίας, an animal with the stones crushed; כּתוּת contusus, θλασίας, with them beaten to pieces; נתוּק avulsus, σπάδων, with them twisted off; כּרוּי excisus, τομίας or ἐκτομίας, with them cut off. In all these different ways was the operation performed among the ancients (cf. Aristot. hist. an. ix. 37, 3; Colum. vi. 26, vii. 11; Pallad. vi. 7). "And in your land ye shall not make," sc., וגו מעוּך, i.e., castrated animals, that is to say, "not castrate animals." This explanation, which is the one given by Josephus (Ant. iv. 8, 40) and all the Rabbins, is required by the expression "in your land," which does not at all suit the interpretation adopted by Clericus and Knobel, who understand by עשׂה the preparation of sacrifices, for sacrifices were never prepared outside the land. The castration of animals is a mutilation of God's creation, and the prohibition of it was based upon the same principle as that of mixing heterogeneous things in Lev 19:19.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

must not present the bread of your God

Here "bread" represents food in general. God did not actually eat the sacrifices. Priests would offer the sacrifice on God's altar, and they would eat some of the meat. AT: "must not present an animal as a food offering to your God" (See: Synecdoche)

from the hand of a foreigner

The word "hand" represents the whole person. It is implied that Israelites could not use animals as a sacrifice to God if they bought it from a foreigner, because foreigners castrated their animals making them unacceptable to God. AT: "that a foreigner has given you, because they castrate their animals" (See: Synecdoche and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

they will not be accepted for you

This can be stated in active form. AT: "Yahweh will not accept them from you" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

Yahweh

hand

God

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

ומעוך וכתות ונתוק וכרות are forbidden as sacrifices whether the mutilation be in the testicles or the membrum.

מעוך means, one whose testicles have been pressed by hand.

כתות CRUSHED — it implies more severely crushed than מעוך.

נתוק — they have been torn off by the hand, so that the threads on which they hang have snapped but they are still in the scrotum, the scrotum itself not having been torn off.

וכרות — they have been cut away by an instrument but are still in the scrotum (cf. Sifra, Emor, Chapter 7 9; Bekhorot 39b).

[ומעוך — Its translation in the Targum is, ודי מריס; this is its exact translation in Aramaic, because this Aramaic root has the meaning of pounding.

וכתות, however, is translated by the Targum ודי רסיס “and that which is smashed”, (a stronger term than מרס), similar to, Amos 6:11) “The great house shall be smitten into רסיסים‎” i. e. into small fragments; similar is the Talmudical expression (Shabbat 80b) a reed crushed to pieces (מרוסס‎‎‎‎)].

ובארצכם לא תעשו NEITHER SHALL YE DO IN YOUR LAND this thing — to castrate any cattle or beast even if it be unclean. That is why Scripture adds “in your land” — to include every animal that is in your land under this law (cf. Chagigah 14b and Tosafot there). For it is impossible to say that they are here commanded to abstain from mutilating animals in the Land of Israel only, (and that the word must be translated: “In your land you must not do this”, implying, but you may do it elsewhere) for surely the command regarding mutilation is a personal duty and any personal duty has to be practiced both in the Land and outside the Land (Kiddushin 36b; cf. Sifra, Emor, Chapter 7 11).

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.