Because the priests were intermediaries between God and his people, they were required more than all others to avoid contact with death. This included both contact with dead bodies and with the whole mourning procedure. This verse lists three distinct funeral customs in which the priests were forbidden to participate. In some languages clarity will require that the whole verse be restructured and started with a summary statement as follows: “You must leave to all your fellow Israelites the task of mourning the dead. But you yourselves must not leave your hair uncombed….” Choosing this structure will probably make it unnecessary to add “to show that you are in mourning” later in the verse.
And: the transition word here should indicate the continuation of the narrative.
And to … his sons: the Good News Translation rendering here may be misunderstood as referring to Moses’ sons. The translation should make it clear that the sons referred to are Aaron’s (see Exo 6.23). Furthermore, it may be necessary to say something like “his other two sons” since the previous verses have already spoken of Nadab and Abihu who were also sons of Aaron. A possible unambiguous model may be “And Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s two remaining sons….”
Do not let the hair of your heads hang loose: literally “Do not neglect your heads.” This may be understood as prohibiting the priests from leaving their heads uncovered (see New American Bible and New International Version note), but most commentators prefer the interpretation followed in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. As a sign of mourning, ordinary Israelites often refused to take proper care of their hair. But this practice was forbidden to the priests. The words of your heads may be left implicit in most languages. The negative construction may have to be put positively in some languages, “Be sure to keep your hair orderly” or “Continue to pay attention to the combing of your hair.”
And do not rend your clothes: the tearing of clothing was another common sign of mourning among the Israelites. In many places in the world the meaning of this gesture will not be understood. It should therefore be made clear in the receptor language by adding something like the phrase found in Good News Translation: “to show that you are in mourning” or “as a sign that you are sad.” If the introductory statement suggested at the end of the first paragraph under this verse is accepted, then this addition will probably be unnecessary here.
Lest you die: on the expression lest… see 8.35 (compare also verses 7 and 9).
Lest wrath come upon all the congregation: literally “and he will be angry with all the community.” The negation with the preceding verb “to die” also governs the verb “be angry.” The entire construction is better restructured as a separate conditional sentence in many languages: “If you do this, you will die, and the LORD will be angry with the whole community.”
The idea of anger, whether divine or human, is often expressed in very different ways in the languages of the world. Some ways of communicating this concept are “to feel hot toward someone,” “to have a burning heart,” “to have an angry stomach,” or “to see anger.”
Your brethren, the whole house of Israel: the term brethren is used here in its broadest sense (see comment on verse 4) and is explained by the phrase that follows. The word house refers to the tribe or nation that came from Israel (Jacob). Hence Good News Translation has “your fellow Israelites.” Aaron and his sons were obviously a part of the whole house of Israel. New American Bible communicates this same fact by saying “the rest of the house of Israel.”
Bewail: the word used here may be understood in the general sense “to cry” or in the sense of ritual lamentation. The latter meaning is more probable here. So it may be translated “mourn,” or in some languages simply “weep” or “cry over death.”
The burning which the LORD has kindled: the noun and the verb used in this expression have the same root, but the whole phrase is used to represent the two men who were destroyed by fire. The people of Israel are therefore allowed to mourn for “those (men) whom the LORD destroyed by fire,” or “those who died in the fire sent by the LORD,” or “those punished by the fire of the LORD.”
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 .