No one devoted: here the reference is definitely to a human being. This should be made clear in translation. Compare verses 21 and 28 above. Good News Translation adds the word “even,” to reinforce the importance of the act and stress the fact that it was absolutely final and could not be changed.

Utterly destroyed: the word used here has the same root as devoted above and is virtually synonymous with be put to death at the end of the verse. For this reason it is left implicit in Good News Translation and New English Bible. Compare Exodus 22.20.

Ransomed: this is different from the word translated “redeemed” in verses 27, 28, and elsewhere, but the meaning is essentially the same.

Be put to death: literally “dying he shall die.” The passive formulation of Revised Standard Version may be translated “they must certainly kill him” or “he must surely die” in many languages. See 20.2.

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 .