Leviticus 5:12

5:12 He must bring it to the priest and the priest must scoop out from it a handful as its memorial portion 1  and offer it up in smoke on the altar on top of the other gifts of the Lord – it is a sin offering.

Leviticus 6:15

6:15 and the priest 2  must take up with his hand some of the choice wheat flour of the grain offering 3  and some of its olive oil, and all of the frankincense that is on the grain offering, and he must offer its memorial portion 4  up in smoke on the altar 5  as a soothing aroma to the Lord. 6 

1 sn The “memorial portion” (אַזְכָּרָה, ’azkkarah) was the part of the grain offering that was burnt on the altar (Lev 2:2), as opposed to the remainder, which was normally consumed by the priests (Lev 2:3; see the full regulations in Lev 6:14-23 [6:7-16 HT]). It was probably intended to call to mind (i.e., memorialize) before the Lord the reason for the presentation of the particular offering (see the remarks in R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:335-39).

2 tn Heb “and he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. The “he” refers to the officiating priest. A similar shift between singular and plural occurs in Lev 1:7-9, but see the note on Lev 1:7 and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 89 for the possibility of textual corruption.

3 tn Heb “shall take up from it with his hand some of the choice wheat flour of the grain offering.”

4 sn See the note on Lev 2:2.

5 tc Smr reading, which includes the locative ה (hey, translated “on” the altar), is preferred here. This is the normal construction with the verb “offer up in smoke” in Lev 1-7 (see the note on Lev 1:9).

6 tn Heb “and he shall offer up in smoke [on] the altar a soothing aroma, its memorial portion, to the Lord.”