What dies of itself or what is torn by beasts: literally “a dead body or a torn (animal).” The first term refers to an animal that has died a natural death, and the second to one attacked and killed by another animal. In either case the blood of the dead animal would not have been properly drained, and so the meat could not be eaten.

A native or a sojourner: see 16.29, where the second term is different but the meaning is the same. In this context these terms actually qualify “any person” at the beginning of the verse. Good News Translation and many other versions therefore shift them to a position earlier in the verse so that their function is clearer.

Wash his clothes: see 11.25.

Bathe himself in water: see 15.5.

Be unclean until the evening: see 15.24.

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 .