The altar: if necessary the translator may make explicit the fact that it is the altar of sacrifice and not the incense altar that is referred to here.

Seven times: compare 4.6.

All its utensils: that is, those articles that were used on the altar. Since there are several different items listed in this verse that are to be sprinkled, some translators may wonder whether the action is to be performed individually or collectively. If the receptor language requires such a distinction, it is probably better to indicate a collective action rather than seven individual sprinklings of items.

The laver: a bronze basin stood “between the tent of meeting and the altar” (Exo 30.18). Later in the history of the people of Israel there were more basins (1 Kgs 7.27-39), and they were probably arranged differently.

To consecrate them: see verse 10.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .