^1:3“ ‘If his offering is a burnt offering⁹ from the herd he must present it as a flawless male; he must present it at the entrance¹⁰ of the Meeting Tent for its¹¹ acceptance before the Lord. ^1:4He must lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted for him to make atonement¹² on his behalf. ^1:5Then the one presenting the offering¹³ must slaughter the bull¹⁴ before the Lord, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, must present the blood and splash¹⁵ the blood against the sides of the altar which is at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. ^1:6Next, the one presenting the offering¹⁶ must skin the burnt offering and cut it into parts, ^1:7and the sons of Aaron, the priest,¹⁷ must put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. ^1:8Then the sons of Aaron, the priests, must arrange the parts with the head and the suet¹⁸ on the wood that is in the fire on the altar.¹⁹^1:9Finally, the one presenting the offering²⁰ must wash its entrails and its legs in water and the priest must offer all of it up in smoke on the altar²¹—it is²² a burnt offering, a gift²³ of a soothing aroma to the Lord.

Animal from the Flock

^1:10“ ‘If his offering is from the flock for a burnt offering²⁴—from the sheep or the goats—he must present a flawless male, ^1:11and must slaughter it on the north side of the altar before the Lord, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, will splash its blood against the altar’s sides. ^1:12Next, the one presenting the offering²⁵ must cut it into parts, with its head and its suet, and the priest must arrange them on the wood which is in the fire, on the altar. ^1:13Then the one presenting the offering must wash the entrails and the legs in water, and the priest must present all of it and offer it up in smoke on the altar—it is a burnt offering, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord.

From the Birds

^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.

Read in Logos

Footnotes

9 The burnt offering (עֹלָה, ’olah) was basically a “a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord” (vv. 9, 13, 17). It could serve as a votive or freewill offering (e.g., Lev 22:18–20), an accompaniment of prayer and supplication (e.g., 1 Sam 7:9–10), part of the regular daily, weekly, monthly, and festival cultic pattern (e.g., Num 28–29), or to make atonement either alone (e.g., Lev 1:4; 16:24) or in combination with the grain offering (e.g., Lev 14:20) or sin offering (e.g., Lev 5:7; 9:7). See R. E. Averbeck, 4:.
10 Heb “door” (so , ); “doorway” (likewise throughout the book of Leviticus). The translation “door” or “doorway” may suggest a framed door in a casing to the modern reader, but here the term refers to the entrance to a tent.
11 The correctly has “it” in the text, referring to the acceptance of the animal (cf., e.g., , , ), but “he” in the margin, referring to the acceptance of the offerer (cf. , , ). The reference to a “flawless male” in the first half of this verse suggests that the issue here is the acceptability of the animal to make atonement on behalf of the offerer (Lev 1:4; cf. “for acceptance in your behalf”).
12 “To make atonement” is the standard translation of the Hebrew term כִּפֶּר, (kipper); cf. however “as a sacrifice to take away his sins” ( similar). The English word derives from a combination of “at” plus Middle English “one[ment],” referring primarily to reconciliation or reparation that is made in order to accomplish reconciliation. The primary meaning of the Hebrew verb, however, is “to wipe [something off (or on)]” (see esp. the goal of the sin offering, Lev 4, “to purge” the tabernacle from impurities), but in some cases it refers metaphorically to “wiping away” anything that might stand in the way of good relations by bringing a gift (see, e.g., Gen 32:20 [21 ], “to appease; to pacify” as an illustration of this). The translation “make atonement” has been retained here because, ultimately, the goal of either purging or appeasing was to maintain a proper relationship between the Lord (who dwelt in the tabernacle) and Israelites in whose midst the tabernacle was pitched (see R. E. Averbeck, 2: for a full discussion of the Hebrew word meaning “to make atonement” and its theological significance).
13 Heb “Then he”; the referent (the offerer) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The has “they” rather than “he,” suggesting that the priests, not the offerer, were to slaughter the bull (cf. the notes on vv. and ).
14 Heb “the son of the herd”; cf. “bullock”; , “young bull.”
15 “Splash” (cf. ) or “dash” (cf. ) is better than “sprinkle,” which is the common English translation of this verb (זָרַק, zaraq; see, e.g., , , , ). “Sprinkle” is not strong enough (contrast נָזָה [nazah], which does indeed mean “to sprinkle” or “to splatter”; cf. Lev 4:6).
16 Heb “Then he”; the referent (the offerer) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The and have “they” rather than “he” in both halves of this verse, suggesting that the priests, not the offerer, were to skin and cut the carcass of the bull into pieces (cf. the notes on vv. and ).
17 A few medieval Hebrew , , , , and . have plural “priests” here (cf. 1:5, 8) rather than the singular “priest” (cf. ). The singular “priest” would mean (1) Aaron, the (high) priest, or (2) the officiating priest, as in Lev 1:9 (cf. 6:10 [3 ], etc.). “The sons of Aaron” is probably a textual corruption caused by conflation with Lev 1:5, 8 (cf. the remarks in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], ).
18 A few Hebrew , , , , and . have the conjunction “and” before “the head,” which would suggest the rendering “and the head and the suet” rather than the rendering of the here, “with the head and the suet.” “Suet” is the specific term used for the hard, fatty tissues found around the kidneys of sheep and cattle. A number of modern English versions have simplified this to “fat” (e.g., , , , , ).
19 Heb “on the wood, which is on the fire, which is on the altar.” Cf. “on the burning wood”; “on the wood fire.”
20 Heb “Finally, he”; the referent (the offerer) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Once again, the assigns the preparation of the offering (here the entrails and legs) to the offerer because it did not bring him into direct contact with the altar, but reserves the actual placing of the sacrifice on the altar for the officiating priest (cf. the notes on vv. and ).
21 Heb “toward the altar,” but the so-called locative ה (hey) attached to the word for “altar” can indicate the place where something is or happens ( §90.d and §118.g; cf. also J. Milgrom, Leviticus [], 1:). This is a standard way of expressing “on/at the altar” with the verb “to offer up in smoke” (Hiphil of קָטַר [qatar]; cf. also Exod 29:13, 18, 25; Lev 1:9, 13, 15, 17; 2:2, etc.).
22 A few Hebrew and possibly the Leningrad B19a itself (the basis of the Hebrew text of the ), under an apparent erasure, plus , , , and . suggest that Hebrew הוּא (hu’, translated as “it is”) should be added here as in vv. 13 and 17. Whether or not the text should be changed, the meaning is the same as in vv. 13 and 17, so it has been included in the translation here.
23 The standard English translation of “gift” (אִשֶּׁה, ’isheh) is “an offering [made] by fire” (cf. , ). It is based on a supposed etymological relationship to the Hebrew word for “fire” (אֵשׁ, ’esh) and is still maintained in many versions (e.g., , , , ; B. A. Levine, Leviticus [], ). For various reasons, including the fact that some offerings referred to by this term are not burned on the altar (see, e.g., Lev 24:9), it is probably better to understand the term to mean “gift” (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [], ) or “food gift” (“food offering” in and ; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [], 1:). See R. E. Averbeck, 1: for a complete discussion.
24 Heb “And if from the flock is his offering, from the sheep or from the goats, for a burnt offering.” Here “flock” specifies the broad category, with “sheep or goats” giving specific examples.
25 Heb “Then he”; the referent (the offerer) has been specified in the translation for clarity (so also in v. 13).
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.