Leviticus 17:3

3 ‘Anyone from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox, [a] a lamb, or a goat in the camp or outside of it

Leviticus 17:3 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 17:3

What man soever [there be] of the house of Israel
Whether high or low, rich or poor:

that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat in the camp;
which are particularly mentioned, as Gersom observes, because of these the offerings were; for the law respects the killing of them not for common food, but for sacrifice, as appears from the following verses; for this law was to be a statute for ever, whereas in that sense it was not, and could not be observed, especially when they were come into the land of Canaan; nor would it have been decent or convenient to have brought such vast numbers of cattle every day to be killed at the door of the tabernacle, and must have made the service of the priests extremely laborious to kill them, or even to see that they were killed aright:

or that killeth [it] out of the camp;
which furnishes out another reason against the same notion, since it was not usual to kill for common food without the camp, but in their own tents within it; whereas to sacrifice without the camp was commonly done.

Leviticus 17:3 In-Context

1 Then the LORD said to Moses,
2 “Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites and tell them this is what the LORD has commanded:
3 ‘Anyone from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox, a lamb, or a goat in the camp or outside of it
4 instead of bringing it to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting to present it as an offering to the LORD before His tabernacle—that man shall incur bloodguilt. He has shed blood and must be cut off from among his people.
5 For this reason the Israelites will bring to the LORD the sacrifices they have been offering in the open fields. They are to bring them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and offer them as sacrifices of peace offerings to the LORD.

Footnotes 1

The Berean Bible and Majority Bible texts are officially placed into the public domain