Richard Müller and Juha Pakkala on Textual Variants in Leviticus 17:4

  

An illustrative case of a large expansion that has no clear parallel in another biblical passage but adds details and information can be found in Lev 17. The Samaritan Pentateuch, 4Q26 (4QLev^d), and the LXX contain a large plus that is missing in the Masoretic Text:

 

Lev 17:4 MT

Lev 17:4 SP/LXX/4Q26

and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to present (it) as an offering to Yahweh before the tabernacle of Yahweh, he shall be held guilty of bloodshed; he has shed blood, and he shall be cut off from the people.

and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, to make it a burnt offering or a peace offering to Yahweh, at your own will, for a sweet-smelling savor, and (who) slaughters it outside and does not bring ti to the entrance of the tent of meeting to present it as an offering to Yahweh before the tabernacle of Yahweh, he shall be held guilty of bloodshed; he has shed blood, and he shall be cut off from the people.

 

While the MT version only generally refers to sacrifices that should be presented (להקריב קרבן) to Yahweh at the tent of meeting, the plus gives details as to which sacrifices should be offered. It seems probable that the more detailed version is the result of a later addition that goes beyond the older text in the information it provides. Burnt and peace offerings, which are mentioned in the addition, are typical animal offerings and are therefore an expected further development. One should also note the repetition of the sentence “does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting,” which corresponds to a Wiederaufnahme, which classic literary criticism has assumed to be a possible sign of a later expansion. There is no reason to assume that the Mt is the result of a secondary abbreviation. (Richard Müller and Juha Pakkala, Editorial Techniques in the Hebrew Bible: Toward a Refined Criticism [Resources for Biblical Study 97; Atlanta, Ga.: SBL Press, 2022], 230)