If an animal has damaged testicles or is castrated, you may not offer it to the Lord. You must never do this in your own land,
Parallel translations
- WEB You must not offer to Yahweh that which has its testicles bruised, crushed, broken, or cut. You must not do this in your land.
- KJV 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.
- BSB You are not to present to the LORD an animal whose testicles are bruised, crushed, torn, or cut; you are not to sacrifice them in your land.
- NKJV ‘You shall not offer to the Lord what is bruised or crushed, or torn or cut; nor shall you make any offering of them in your land.
- NASB Also anything with its testicles squashed, crushed, torn off, or cut off, you shall not offer to the Lord, nor sacrifice in your land,
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
Animals with damaged or removed reproductive parts must not be offered, and this practice is forbidden in the land.
Overview
Such mutilation rendered an animal unfit for sacrifice, marring the wholeness God required. The added prohibition against doing this 'in your land' set Israel apart from surrounding pagan practices. The persistent emphasis on physical integrity in offerings serves the larger lesson that God is worthy of unimpaired devotion.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Lev 22:20But whatever has a defect, that you shall not offer; for it shall not be acceptable for you.
- Deut 23:1He who is emasculated by crushing or cutting shall not enter into Yahweh’s assembly.
- Lev 21:20or hunchbacked, or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in his eye, or an itching disease, or scabs, or who has damaged testicles.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 22:24 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
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