Leviticus 1

Leviticus 1

Leviticus 1:1 Yahveh invited[1] Moses and spoke to him from the conference tent,[2] and this is what he said,

Leviticus 1:2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, when any human among you brings an offering to Yahveh, you will bring your offering of livestock from the herd or the flock.

Leviticus 1:3 “If his offering is an ascending offering[3] from the herd, he will offer a perfect male. He will bring it to the entrance of the conference tent so that he may be accepted to Yahveh’s face.[4]

Leviticus 1:4 He will lay his hand on the head of the ascending offering, and it will be accepted for him to provide reconciliation for him.

Leviticus 1:5 Then he will kill the bull to Yahveh’s face, and Aaron’s sons the priests will bring the blood and coat the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the conference tent with the blood.

Leviticus 1:6 Then he will chop the ascending offering cutting it in pieces,

Leviticus 1:7 and the sons of Aaron the priest will set fire to the altar and place wood on the fire.

Leviticus 1:8 And Aaron’s sons the priests will place the pieces, the head, and the fat, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar;

Leviticus 1:9 but he will first wash its entrails and its legs with water. The priest will burn all of it on the altar as an ascending offering, which is a fire offering to Yahveh with a pacifying[5] aroma.

Leviticus 1:10 “If his gift for an ascending offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, he will bring a perfect male,

Leviticus 1:11 and he will kill it on the north side of the altar to Yahveh’s face, and Aaron’s sons the priests will coat the sides of the altar with its blood.

Leviticus 1:12 And he will cut it into pieces, with its head and its fat, and the priest will place them on the wood that is on the fire on the altar,

Leviticus 1:13, but the entrails and the legs he will wash with water. The priest will offer all of it and burn it on the altar; it is an ascending offering, a fire offering to Yahveh with a pacifying aroma.

Leviticus 1:14 “If his offering to Yahveh is an ascending offering of birds, then he will bring his offering of turtledoves or pigeons.

Leviticus 1:15 And the priest will bring it to the altar and wring off its head and burn it on the altar. Its blood will be pressed out on the wall of the altar.

Leviticus 1:16 He will remove its crop with its contents and toss it beside the altar on the east side, in the place for ashes.

Leviticus 1:17 He will tear it open by its wings but will not divide it completely. And the priest will burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is an ascending offering, a fire offering to Yahveh with a pacifying aroma.

[1] קָרָא = invite, cry out, convene. Leviticus 1:1; 9:1; 10:4; 13:45; 23:2, 4, 21, 37; 25:10.

[2] ‎ אֹ֥הֶל מוֹעֵ֖ד= conference tent. Leviticus 1:1, 3, 5; 3:2, 8, 13; 4:4, 5, 7, 14, 16, 18; 6:16, 26, 30; 8:3, 4, 31, 33, 35; 9:5, 23; 10:7, 9; 12:6; 14:11, 23; 15:14, 29; 16:7, 16, 17, 20, 23, 33; 17:4, 5, 6, 9; 19:21; 24:3.

[3] עֹלָה = ascending offering. Leviticus 1:3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 13, 14, 17; 3:5; 4:7, 10, 18, 24, 25, 29, 30, 33, 34; 5:7, 10; 6:9, 10, 12, 25; 7:2, 8, 37; 8:18, 21, 28; 9:2, 3, 7, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 22, 24; 10:19; 12:6, 8; 14:13, 19, 20, 22, 31; 15:15, 30; 16:3, 5, 24; 17:8; 22:18; 23:12, 18, 37.

[4] פָּנֶה = face. Leviticus 1:3, 5, 11; 3:1, 7, 8, 12, 13; 4:4, 6, 7, 14, 15, 17, 18, 24; 6:7, 14, 25; 7:30; 8:9, 26, 27, 29; 9:2, 4, 5, 21, 24; 10:1, 2, 3, 4, 15, 17, 19; 12:7; 13:41; 14:7, 11, 12, 16, 18, 23, 24, 27, 29, 31, 53; 15:14, 15, 30; 16:1, 2, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 30; 17:4, 5, 10; 18:23, 24, 27, 28, 30; 19:14, 15, 22, 32; 20:3, 5, 6, 23; 22:3; 23:11, 20, 28, 40; 24:3, 4, 6, 8; 26:7, 8, 10, 17, 37; 27:8, 11.

[5] נִיחוֹחַ = pacifying. Leviticus 1:9, 13, 17; 2:2, 9, 12; 3:5, 16; 4:31; 6:15, 21; 8:21, 28; 17:6; 23:13, 18; 26:31.

Leviticus 1 quotes:

“He is giving people the opportunity to simply bring what they can afford. If they could not bring a bullock to the Brazen Altar, they were welcome to present their hearts before Him with something as simple as a pigeon! The real issue here is our willingness to give our ALL to the Lord. The issue has nothing to do with comparing our sacrifice to someone else’s. The sole question is whether we have given our ALL.”

Stringer, Doug. Born to Die : So We May Live. Bridge-Logos, 2006. p. 32.

“In sum, Leviticus 1-7 discuss a variety of laws and sacrifices unified by the call to holiness, the value of communal ritual, and the benefits that come from embracing and maintaining right relationship with God. The priests and attendants of the sanctuary must have the proper interior disposition and perform their duties according to proper form. These values flow into the theme of ordination in chapters 8-10. The priest has prestige and responsibilities, but his vocation is fraught with danger as the death of Nadab and Abihu will show.”

Owens, J. Edward. Leviticus. Liturgical Press, 2011. p. 28.

“Our problem, we think (amazingly, for Christians!), is how to get God close. The Bible’s problem, more often, is what to do when God draws very close, maybe even to “tabernacle” with us, on the way: “The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” John 1:14). Leviticus’s “Manual of Sacrifice” (a possible title for the first seven chapters of Leviticus), one of the most profound answers to this dilemma in all of Scripture, begins right here.”

Boyce, Richard Nelson. Leviticus and Numbers. 1st ed, Westminster John Knox Press, 2008. p. 12.