But: marking the contrast between the person who does what is required and the one who fails to do so. New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, and New Jerusalem Bible also use this conjunction, but a number of English versions leave it untranslated.

Wash them or bathe his flesh: Good News Translation has left this implicit. In other languages it may be better to say “if he does not do what is required” or something similar. Another possibility is to say more explicitly “if he fails to wash his clothes, or if he does not wash his body.”

Bear his iniquity: although the precise consequences are not clearly stated here, the general meaning of this phrase is clear. The person failing to do what is prescribed must accept responsibility for his failure to act. Compare 5.1 and 7.18.

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 .