Bring a sword upon you: as in verse 6, the sword here represents all the devastation of war.

Execute vengeance for the covenant: literally “avenging vengeance of covenant.” The noun and the verb have the same root (compare 5.15). One way of translating the idea here is to say “I will surely punish you because you have broken my covenant.” On the word for covenant, see 2.13 and 24.8.

Gather: implied here is the idea of assembling or withdrawing into the cities in order to find security. This should probably be made explicit in translation. One possibility is to say “if you take refuge in your cities…” or “if you assemble in the cities for protection….”

Pestilence: this refers to a contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is deadly and very destructive. In some languages it may have to be translated “a terrible sickness that will kill many people.”

Be delivered into the hand of the enemy: the pestilence will cause the death of many of those defending the city, and this will permit the enemy to take it over. The passive construction may be made active with God as the subject. The word translated into the hand means “to be subjected to.” The whole phrase may be rendered “I will give you over to your enemies so that they will rule over you.” The image of the hand may be appropriate in some languages, but in others it should be avoided.

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 .