^1:14“ ‘If his offering to the Lord is a burnt offering from the birds,²⁶ he must present his offering from the turtledoves or from the young pigeons.²⁷^1:15The priest must present it at the altar, pinch off²⁸ its head and offer the head²⁹ up in smoke on the altar, and its blood must be drained out against the side of the altar. ^1:16Then the priest³⁰ must remove its entrails by cutting off its tail feathers,³¹ and throw them³² to the east side of the altar into the place of fatty ashes, ^1:17and tear it open by its wings without dividing it into two parts.³³ Finally, the priest must offer it up in smoke on the altar on the wood which is in the fire—it is a burnt offering, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord.

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Footnotes

26 Heb “from the [category] ‘bird.’ ”
27 Heb “from the sons of the pigeon,” referring either to “young pigeons” (cf. , , , ) or “various species of pigeon” (contrast J. Milgrom, Leviticus [], 1:, with J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], ).
28 The action here seems to involve both a twisting action, breaking the neck of the bird and severing its vertebrae, as well as pinching or nipping the skin to sever the head from the main body. Cf. , “wring off its head”; “snap its head loose”; “twist off its head.”
29 Many English versions have “it” here, referring to the head of the bird, which the priest immediately tossed on the altar fire. However, “it” could be misunderstood to refer to the bird’s body, so “head” is repeated in the present translation for clarity. As the following lines show, certain things needed to be done to the body of the bird before it could be placed on the altar.
30 Heb “Then he”; the referent (apparently still the priest) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
31 This translation (“remove its entrails by [cutting off] its tail feathers”) is based on the discussion in J. Milgrom, Leviticus (), 1:, although he translates, “remove its crissum by its feathers.” Others possibilities include “its crop with its contents” (., cf. , ; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], ) or “its crop with its feathers” (, , ; “crop” refers to the enlarged part of a bird’s gullet that serves a pouch for the preliminary maceration of food).
32 The pronoun “them” here is feminine singular in Hebrew and refers collectively to the entrails and tail wing which have been removed.
33 Heb “he shall not divide it.” Several Hebrew , , , and have a vav on the negative, yielding the translation, “but he shall not divide it into two parts.” Cf. “not severing it completely” ( similar).

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

“If his offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves or pigeons. And the priest shall bring it to the altar and wring off its head and burn it on the altar. Its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar. He shall remove its crop with its contents and cast it beside the altar on the east side, in the place for ashes. He shall tear it open by its wings, but shall not sever it completely. And the priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

“ ‘If the offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, you are to offer a dove or a young pigeon. The priest shall bring it to the altar, wring off the head and burn it on the altar; its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar. He is to remove the crop and the feathers and throw them down east of the altar where the ashes are. He shall tear it open by the wings, not dividing it completely, and then the priest shall burn it on the wood that is burning on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

“If his offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, he is to present his offering from the turtledoves or young pigeons. Then the priest is to bring it to the altar, and will twist off its head and burn it on the altar; its blood should be drained at the side of the altar. He will remove its digestive tract, cutting off the tail feathers, and throw it on the east side of the altar at the place for ashes. He will tear it open by its wings without dividing the bird. Then the priest is to burn it on the altar on top of the burning wood. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

NLTNew Living Translation

“If you present a bird as a burnt offering to the Lord, choose either a turtledove or a young pigeon. The priest will take the bird to the altar, wring off its head, and burn it on the altar. But first he must drain its blood against the side of the altar. The priest must also remove the crop and the feathers and throw them in the ashes on the east side of the altar. Then, grasping the bird by its wings, the priest will tear the bird open, but without tearing it apart. Then he will burn it as a burnt offering on the wood burning on the altar. It is a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

“ ‘But if his offering for Yahweh is a burnt offering from the birds, then he must present his offering from the turtledoves or from the young doves. The priest will present it at the altar and must wring off its head and turn it into smoke on the altar, and its blood will be drained out on the wall of the altar. He must remove its crop with its plumage and throw it to the east beside the altar on the place of the fatty ashes. Then he must tear it apart by its wings but must not sever it; then the priest will turn it into smoke on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering by fire as an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh.’ ”

KJV 1900King James Version

And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the Lord be of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons. And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and burn it on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar: And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, by the place of the ashes: And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder: and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord.

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