But: this word indicates the contrast between the permission to eat the food offerings and the denial of permission to perform the priestly functions associated with the actual offering of the food to God.

Come near the veil: on this expression, see 4.6 and Exodus 26.31-35. In front of this curtain inside the Tent of the LORD’s presence there was the table for the bread offered to God, the lampstand (Exo 26.35) and the incense altar (Exo 30.6). The expression come near the veil, then, means to go into the first part of the sanctuary to put the bread on the table, to light the lamps, and to burn the incense to God. These rites were reserved for those priests that were considered acceptable to the LORD, while those having any physical deformity were excluded. It is legitimate to translate less ambiguously as “must not go into the sanctuary.”

Approach the altar: see verse 21.

Profane: see 18.21.

My sanctuaries: the use of the plural here is surprising and troubling to scholars. Some have suggested that it is evidence of a time when there were several shrines where the Israelites worshiped, but others see it as a reference to “my sanctuary and all its contents” (see Traduction oecuménique de la Bible). This interpretation is essentially the one followed by New Jerusalem Bible and New American Bible as well as Good News Translation, and should be adopted in the receptor language. A literal rendering of my sanctuaries would be misleading, and the singular (as in New International Version and Living Bible) does not accurately reflect the text.

I am the LORD …: see verse 8 as well as 11.44.

Them: as it stands, the pronoun in Revised Standard Version seems to refer to the word sanctuaries. But it is probably more likely that the reference here is to the priests. This interpretation is supported by the ancient versions. So it may have to be made explicit in some languages by saying “It is I, the LORD, who sanctify the priests” (compare Bible en français courant). Whichever interpretation is adopted, the alternative should probably be indicated in a marginal note.

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 .