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Leviticus
Wheel of Heaven Translation
The canon-cited chapters of Leviticus: the life that is in the blood, and the Sabbath year and the jubilee
Direct
Established or uncontested across mainstream sources, or a direct description of the project itself.
The MethodLeviticus (Hebrew Vayikra, "And he called") is the priestly law given at Sinai. This translation covers the two chapters that the Raëlian canon cites:
- Leviticus 17: slaughter at the tent of meeting, and the prohibition of blood: "for the life of the flesh is in the blood"
- Leviticus 25: the Sabbath year, the jubilee, "the land is mine; for you are sojourners and residents with me", and the redemption of land and persons
The Hebrew nefesh is not rendered "soul": at 17:11 and 17:14 it is "life", and the canon's reading of the word is given in a note. Verses with a note end in a bracketed marker [ ]; select it to open the note.
About this translation
- Edition
- Pointed Hebrew Masoretic text of the Westminster Leningrad Codex (public domain), via Sefaria. The English translation and notes are released CC0.
- Coverage
- Chapters 17 and 25 translated (71 verses): every chapter of the book cited in the Raëlian canon. The rest of the book is not translated.
- Review status
- Reviewed and signed off.
Leviticus 17 — Slaughter at the tent of meeting and the prohibition of blood
Leviticus 25 — The Sabbath year, the jubilee, and the redemption of land and persons
Editorial history
Review record. Both chapter files carry status: stable (v1.0.0) with a named human reviewer (zarazinsfuss), signed off on 2026-11-02 in wave MC of the canon-cited program. The editor report, the reviewer reports in the chapter files and the sign-off summary (data-library/canon-cited-mc-signoff-summary.md) record every decision.
Selection. Part of the program to translate, as whole chapters, every biblical chapter that the three Raëlian canon books (The Book Which Tells the Truth, Extra-Terrestrials Took Me to Their Planet, Let's Welcome the Extra-Terrestrials) cite. The program is complete: all 98 cited chapters are translated. The last eleven (Leviticus 17 and 25, Numbers 11, Joshua 3, Judges 7, 2 Samuel 6, Micah 5, Tobit 12, Wisdom 6, Revelation 5 and 1 Thessalonians 5) were signed off on 2026-11-02 in wave MC.
Conventions. The Torah volumes keep the names of the published Exodus ('Moses', 'Mitsrayim'); other names are transliterated. Šāmayim is "skies" for the physical sky and "heaven(s)" for YHWH's realm. Ketiv/Qere sites translate the Qere and record the Ketiv. The canon's readings appear only in notes headed "Wheel of Heaven reading (reception note, not a translation claim)". Nefesh in 17:10–15 is "nefesh", "life" or "person" by verse, never "soul". Yôḇēl is "jubilee", gēr and tôšāḇ "sojourner" and "resident", and the gōʾēl "redeemer" (central entry goel-geullah-redeemer-redemption-cross-corpus).
Production. Drafted by Claude Opus 5.5 and taken through the Wheel of Heaven Translation Program pipeline (Translator → Editor → Reviewer → human sign-off). Central glossary 2.90.0–2.93.0; leviticus-woh overlay v1.0.0. Reference translation: ASV (1901). Methodology: Source-Text Translation.
wayəḏabbēr YHWH ʾel-mōšeh lēʾmōr 'And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying'. Leviticus 17 opens the block of laws that scholarship calls the Holiness Code (Lev 17-26), and its first law concerns slaughter and blood. Names follow the Torah volumes (
hebrew-proper-name-transliteration-convention-torah): 'Moses', as exodus-woh prints it.