Rise up before: getting up in the presence of an older person is one way of showing respect. But the meaning here is more general and should be seen as parallel with the second admonition which follows. Although most versions translate this expression more or less literally, it will be better to follow the Good News Translation model and render it in more general terms.

The hoary head: this is translated in New American Bible and New Jerusalem Bible as “the aged.” It refers to any person who has gray hair. So it is the equivalent of an old man in the second part of this verse.

Honor the face: the face represents the person. It would be a mistake in most languages to translate this literally. This is parallel to the expression rise up before. It is just another way of saying “to show respect for.” The first two parts of this verse constitute a kind of parallelism that is very common in Hebrew. If the repetition of the same basic idea is distracting or confusing in the receptor language, the idea may be translated only once.

Fear your God: or “fear me” in direct discourse when the LORD himself is speaking. Good News Translation has “Reverently obey me.” See verse 14.

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 .