‘Anyone from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox, a lamb, or a goat in the camp or outside of it
Parallel translations
- WEB Whatever man there is of the house of Israel, who kills a bull, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or who kills it outside the camp,
- KJV What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp,
- NKJV “Whatever man of the house of Israel who kills an ox or lamb or goat in the camp, or who kills it outside the camp,
- NASB “Anyone from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox, a lamb, or a goat in the camp, or slaughters it outside the camp,
- NLT “If any native Israelite sacrifices a bull or a lamb or a goat anywhere inside or outside the camp
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Anyone who slaughters an animal for sacrifice, whether inside or outside the camp, is in view.
Overview
This sets up a regulation requiring sacrificial animals to be brought to the sanctuary rather than offered anywhere a person chose. It curbed the temptation to set up rival, unsanctioned worship sites. The law centralizes sacrifice around God's appointed place, foreshadowing the truth that access to God comes only on his terms, ultimately fulfilled in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Deut 12:11–15then the LORD your God will choose a dwelling for His Name. And there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to the LORD.
- Deut 12:26–27But you are to take your holy things and your vow offerings and go to the place the LORD will choose.
- Lev 17:15And any person, whether native or foreigner, who eats anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening; then he will be clean.
- Lev 17:12–13Therefore I say to the Israelites, ‘None of you may eat blood, nor may any foreigner living among you eat blood.’
- Deut 12:20–22When the LORD your God expands your territory as He has promised, and you crave meat and say, “I want to eat meat,” you may eat it whenever you want.
- Lev 17:8Tell them that if anyone from the house of Israel or any foreigner living among them offers a burnt offering or a sacrifice
- Deut 12:5–7Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 17:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.