^8:14Then he brought near the sin offering bull¹⁸ and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the sin offering bull, ^8:15and he slaughtered it.¹⁹ Moses then took the blood and put it all around on the horns of the altar with his finger and decontaminated the altar,²⁰ and he poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar and so consecrated it to make atonement on it.²¹^8:16Then he²² took all the fat on the entrails, the protruding lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and their fat,²³ and Moses offered it all up in smoke on the altar,²⁴^8:17but the rest of the bull—its hide, its flesh, and its dung—he completely burned up²⁵ outside the camp just as the Lord had commanded Moses.²⁶

Read in Logos

Footnotes

18 See Lev 4:3–12 above for the sin offering of the priests. In this case, however, the blood manipulation is different because Moses, not Aaron (and his sons), is functioning as the priest. On the one hand, Aaron and his sons are, in a sense, treated as if they were commoners so that the blood manipulation took place at the burnt offering altar in the court of the tabernacle (see v. 15 below), not at the incense altar inside the tabernacle tent itself (contrast Lev 4:5–7 and compare 4:30). On the other hand, since it was a sin offering for the priests, therefore, the priests themselves could not eat its flesh (Lev 4:11–12; 6:30 [23 ]), which was the normal priestly practice for sin offerings of commoners (Lev 6:26[19], 29[22]).
19 Contrary to some English versions (e.g., , , , ), Aaron (not Moses) most likely slaughtered the bull, possibly with the help of his sons, although the verb is singular, not plural. Moses then performed the ritual procedures that involved direct contact with the altar. Compare the pattern in Lev 1:5–9, where the offerer does the slaughtering and the priests perform the procedures that involve direct contact with the altar. In Lev 8 Moses is functioning as the priest in order to consecrate the priesthood. The explicit reintroduction of the name of Moses as the subject of the next verb seems to reinforce this understanding of the passage (cf. also vv. 19 and 23 below).
20 The verb is the Piel of חָטָא (khata’, “to sin”) and means “to de-sin” the altar. This verse is important for confirming the main purpose of the sin offering, which was to decontaminate the tabernacle and its furniture from any impurities. See the note on .
21 Similar to v. 10 above, “and consecrated it” refers to the effect of the blood manipulation earlier in the verse. The goal here was to consecrate the altar in order that it might become a place on which it would be appropriate “to make atonement” before the Lord.
22 Again, Aaron probably performed the slaughter and collected the fat parts (v. 16a), but Moses presented it all on the altar (v. 16b; cf. the note on v. above).
23 See Lev 3:3–4 for the terminology of fat and kidneys here.
24 Heb “toward the altar” (see the note on ).
25 Heb “he burned with fire,” an expression which is sometimes redundant in English, but here means “burned up,” “burned up entirely.”
26 See Lev 4:11–12, 21; 6:30 23[].

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Then he brought the bull of the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering. And he killed it, and Moses took the blood, and with his finger put it on the horns of the altar around it and purified the altar and poured out the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it to make atonement for it. And he took all the fat that was on the entrails and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat, and Moses burned them on the altar. But the bull and its skin and its flesh and its dung he burned up with fire outside the camp, as the Lord commanded Moses.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

He then presented the bull for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. Moses slaughtered the bull and took some of the blood, and with his finger he put it on all the horns of the altar to purify the altar. He poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. So he consecrated it to make atonement for it. Moses also took all the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, and both kidneys and their fat, and burned it on the altar. But the bull with its hide and its flesh and its intestines he burned up outside the camp, as the Lord commanded Moses.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Then he brought the bull near for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull for the sin offering. Then Moses slaughtered it, took the blood, and applied it with his finger to the horns of the altar on all sides, purifying the altar. He poured out the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it so that atonement can be made on it. Moses took all the fat that was on the entrails, the fatty lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat, and he burned them on the altar. He burned the bull with its hide, flesh, and waste outside the camp, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

NLTNew Living Translation

Then Moses presented the bull for the sin offering. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the bull’s head, and Moses slaughtered it. Moses took some of the blood, and with his finger he put it on the four horns of the altar to purify it. He poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. Through this process, he made the altar holy by purifying it. Then Moses took all the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat around them, and he burned it all on the altar. He took the rest of the bull, including its hide, meat, and dung, and burned it on a fire outside the camp, just as the Lord had commanded him.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

Then he brought forth the bull of the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons placed their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering, and he slaughtered it, and Moses took the blood and put it with his finger on the altar’s horns all around and purified the altar; then he poured the blood out on the altar’s base—thus he consecrated it in order to make atonement for it. Then he took all the fat that was on the inner parts and the lobe on the liver and the two kidneys and their fat, and Moses turned them into smoke on the altar, but he burned the bull and its skin and its meat and its offal in the fire outside the camp, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

KJV 1900King James Version

And he brought the bullock for the sin offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock for the sin offering. And he slew it; and Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured the blood at the bottom of the altar, and sanctified it, to make reconciliation upon it. And he took all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and Moses burned it upon the altar. But the bullock, and his hide, his flesh, and his dung, he burnt with fire without the camp; as the Lord commanded Moses.

Public Domain