You shall be men consecrated to me is literally “And men of holiness you shall be to me.” This may be understood either as “You are to be my holy people” (New International Version) or as “You must be men set apart for me” (Durham). Good News Translation favors the second meaning and condenses it: “You are my people.” Consecrated or “holy” here means that the Israelites were “set apart” for God. In other words they were Yahweh’s special possession.

Therefore is the usual conjunction waw, which here introduces a result clause. One may say “Since you are my people, then you shall not…” (similarly An American Translation and Moffatt). You shall not eat uses the plural you. Any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field is literally “flesh in the field of a torn animal.” This refers to “the meat of any animal that has been killed by wild animals” (Good News Translation). The word for in the field is missing in some of the ancient versions, possibly because it is implied by the word for “torn animal.” You shall cast it to the dogs simply means, as Good News Translation expresses it, “give it to the dogs.”

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .