Leviticus 1:15

1:15 The priest must present it at the altar, pinch off ¹  its head and offer the head ²  up in smoke on the altar, and its blood must be drained out against the side of the altar.

Leviticus 2:9

2:9 Then the priest must take up ³  from the grain offering its memorial portion and offer it up in smoke on the altar – it is ⁴  a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord.

Leviticus 2:11

Additional Grain Offering Regulations

2:11 “‘No grain offering which you present to the Lord can be made with yeast, ⁵  for you must not offer up in smoke any yeast or honey as a gift to the Lord. ⁶ 

Leviticus 2:16

2:16 Then the priest must offer its memorial portion up in smoke – some of its crushed bits, some of its olive oil, in addition to all of its frankincense – it is ⁷  a gift to the Lord.

Leviticus 3:5

3:5 Then the sons of Aaron must offer it up in smoke on the altar atop the burnt offering that is on the wood in the fire as a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord. ⁸ 

Leviticus 4:26

4:26 Then the priest ⁹  must offer all of its fat up in smoke on the altar like the fat of the peace offering sacrifice. So the priest will make atonement ¹⁰  on his behalf for ¹¹  his sin and he will be forgiven. ¹² 

Leviticus 14:20

14:20 and the priest is to offer ¹³  the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. So the priest is to make atonement for him and he will be clean.

Leviticus 17:6-7

17:6 The priest is to splash ¹⁴  the blood on the altar ¹⁵  of the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, and offer the fat up in smoke for a soothing aroma to the Lord. 17:7 So they must no longer offer ¹⁶  their sacrifices to the goat demons, ¹⁷  acting like prostitutes by going after them. ¹⁸  This is to be a perpetual statute for them throughout their generations. ¹⁹ 

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¹ tn 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. NASB, NRSV “wring off its head”; NAB “snap its head loose”; NLT “twist off its head.”

² tn 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.

³ tn The Hebrew verb הֵרִים (herim, “to take up”; cf. NAB “lift”) is commonly used for setting aside portions of an offering (see, e.g., Lev 4:8-10 and R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 4:335-36). A number of English versions employ the more normal English idiom “take out” here (e.g., NIV, NCV); cf. NRSV “remove.”

⁴ tn The words “it is” (הוּא, hu’) both here and in vv. 10 and 16 are not in the MT, but are assumed. (cf. vv. 2b and 3b and the notes there).

⁵ tn Heb “Every grain offering which you offer to the Lord must not be made leavened.” The noun “leaven” is traditional in English versions (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV), but “yeast” is more commonly used today.

⁶ tc A few Hebrew mss, Smr, LXX, and Tg. Ps.-J. have the verb “present” rather than “offer up in smoke,” but the MT is clearly correct. One could indeed present leavened and honey sweetened offerings as first fruit offerings, which were not burned on the altar (see v. 12 and the note there), but they could not be offered up in fire on the altar. Cf. the TEV’s ambiguous “you must never use yeast or honey in food offered to the Lord.”

tn Heb “for all leaven and all honey you must not offer up in smoke from it a gift to the Lord.”

⁷ tn See the note on “it is” in 2:9b.

⁸ tn Or “on the fire – [it is] a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord” (see Lev 1:13b, 17b, and the note on 1:9b).

⁹ tn Heb “Then he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. Based on the parallel statements in 4:10 and 4:31, it is the priest who performs this action rather than the person who brought the offering.

¹⁰ sn The focus of sin offering “atonement” was purging impurities from the tabernacle (see the note on Lev 1:4).

¹¹ tn Heb “from.” In this phrase the preposition מִן (min) may be referring to the reason or cause (“on account of, because of”; GKC 383 §119.z). As J. E. Hartley (Leviticus [WBC], 47) points out, “from” may refer to the removal of the sin, but is an awkward expression. Hartley also suggests that the phrasing might be “an elliptical expression for יְכַפֵּר עַל־לְטַהֵר אֶת־מִן, ‘he will make expiation for…to cleanse…from…,’ as in 16:30.”

¹² tn Heb “there shall be forgiveness to him” or “it shall be forgiven to him” (KJV similar).

¹³ tn Heb “cause to go up.”

¹⁴ tn For the translation “splash” see the note on Lev 1:5.

¹⁵ tn The LXX adds “all around” (i.e., Hebrew סָבִיב [saviv, “all around”]), which is normal for this overall construction (see, e.g., Lev 1:5; 3:8, etc.).

¹⁶ tn Heb “sacrifice.” This has been translated as “offer” for stylistic reasons to avoid the redundancy of “sacrifice their sacrifices.”

¹⁷ tn On “goat demons” of the desert regions see the note on Lev 16:8.

¹⁸ tn Heb “which they are committing harlotry after them.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “for your generations.”