Discovery BoxLeviticus 9:15-21 
Context9:15 Then he presented the people’s offering. He took the sin offering male goat which was for the people, slaughtered it, and performed a decontamination rite with it 1 like the first one. 2 9:16 He then presented the burnt offering, and did it according to the standard regulation. 3 9:17 Next he presented the grain offering, filled his hand with some of it, and offered it up in smoke on the altar in addition to the morning burnt offering. 4 9:18 Then he slaughtered the ox and the ram – the peace offering sacrifices which were for the people – and Aaron’s sons handed 5 the blood to him and he splashed it against the altar’s sides. 9:19 As for the fat parts from the ox and from the ram 6 (the fatty tail, the fat covering the entrails, 7 the kidneys, and the protruding lobe of the liver), 9:20 they 8 set those on the breasts and he offered the fat parts up in smoke on the altar. 9:21 Finally Aaron waved the breasts and the right thigh as a wave offering before the Lord just as Moses had commanded.
1 tn The expression “and performed a decontamination rite [with] it” reads literally in the MT, “and decontaminated [with] it.” The verb is the Piel of חטא (kht’, Qal = “to sin”), which means “to decontaminate, purify” (i.e., “to de-sin”; see the note on Lev 8:15).
2 sn The phrase “like the first one” at the end of the verse refers back to the sin offering for the priests described in vv. 8-11 above. The blood of the sin offering of the common people was applied to the burnt offering altar just like that of the priests.
3 tn The term “standard regulation” (מִשְׁפָּט, mishpat) here refers to the set of regulations for burnt offering goats in Lev 1:10-13. Cf. KJV “according to the manner”; ASV, NASB “according to the ordinance”; NIV, NLT “in the prescribed way”; CEV “in the proper way.”
4 sn The latter part of the verse (“in addition to the morning burnt offering”) refers to the complex of morning (and evening) burnt and grain offerings that was the daily regulation for the tabernacle from the time of its erection (Exod 40:29). The regulations for it were appended to the end of the section of priestly consecration regulations in Exod 29 (see Exod 29:38-40) precisely because they were to be maintained throughout the priestly consecration period and beyond (Lev 8:33-36). Thus, the morning burnt and grain offerings would already have been placed on the altar before the inaugural burnt and grain offerings referred to here.
5 tn See the note on Lev 9:12.
6 tn Heb “And the fat from the ox and from the ram.”
7 tn The text here has only the participle “the cover” or “that which covers,” which is elliptical for “the fat which covers the entrails” (see Lev 3:3, 9, 14; 7:3).
8 tn The plural “they” refers to the sons of Aaron (cf. v. 18). The LXX, Smr, and Syriac have singular “he,” referring to Aaron alone as in the latter half of the verse (the singular is followed here by NLT). Cf. NCV “Aaron’s sons put them.”
