The land became defiled: the unacceptable behavior of the people who lived in the land made the land itself unacceptable or ritually unclean in the sight of God.

Punished its iniquity: that is, the iniquity of the land. But it is the people who lived in the land who were ultimately responsible for the iniquity. So in some languages it may be necessary to say “I will punish the land because of the terrible sins committed by the people who lived there.”

Vomited out its inhabitants: the verb used here is an image which suggests a violent rejection. In most languages, however, a literal rendering will be very unnatural. Some other possibilities are “reject” (Good News Translation), “expel,” “refuse,” or “repudiate.” The translation is further complicated by the fact that the word land is used as the subject of the verb. The ultimate agent is, however, the LORD himself. In some cases translators may have to say something like “I am rejecting them from the land.” If the vivid image of the text is to be retained, one may even add “… as a person vomits up bad food.”

I: or “the LORD,” if indirect speech is being used.

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 .