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Leviticus

About this book
Chapter 1

1 Then the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the Meeting Tent: 2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When someone among you presents an offering to the Lord, you must present your offering from the domesticated animals, either from the herd or from the flock. 3 “‘If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he must present it as a flawless male; he must present it at the entrance of the Meeting Tent for its acceptance before the Lord. 4 He must lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf. 5 Then the one presenting the offering must slaughter the bull⁠ before the Lord, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, must present the blood and splash the blood against the sides of the altar, which is at the entrance of the Meeting Tent. 6 Next, the one presenting the offering must skin the burnt offering and cut it into parts, 7 and the sons of Aaron, the priests, must put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. 8 Then the sons of Aaron, the priests, must arrange the parts with the head and the suet on the wood that is in the fire on the altar. 9 Finally, the one presenting the offering must wash its entrails and its legs in water, and the priest must offer all of it up in smoke on the altar—it is a burnt offering, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord.⁠ 10 “‘If his offering is from the flock for a burnt offering—from the sheep or the goats—he must present a flawless male, 11 and must slaughter it on the north side of the altar before the Lord, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, will splash its blood against the altar’s sides. 12 Next, the one presenting the offering must cut it into parts, with its head and its suet, and the priest must arrange them on the wood that is in the fire on the altar. 13 Then the one presenting the offering must wash the entrails and the legs in water, and the priest must present all of it and offer it up in smoke on the altar—it is a burnt offering, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord. 14 “‘If his offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, he must present his offering from the turtledoves or from the young pigeons. 15 The priest must present it at the altar, pinch off its head and offer the head up in smoke on the altar, and its blood must be drained out against the side of the altar.⁠ 16 Then the priest must remove its entrails by cutting off its tail feathers, and throw them to the east side of the altar into the place of fatty ashes, 17 and tear it open by its wings without dividing it into two parts. Finally, the priest must offer it up in smoke on the altar on the wood which is in the fire—it is a burnt offering, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord.

Texts in conversation

Compare Leviticus 1:15 and LXX Leviticus 1:15

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Leviticus says the sacrificial blood is to be drained “on the wall of the altar,” while the Greek Septuagint translates this as “at the base of the altar.” This follows other changes in the Septuagint that clarify ritual details and ambiguous language.

Passages

Leviticus 1:15

Hebrew Bible
14 “‘If his offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, he must present his offering from the turtledoves or from the young pigeons. 15 The priest must present it at the altar, pinch off its head and offer the head up in smoke on the altar, and its blood must be drained out against the side of the altar. 16 Then the priest must remove its entrails by cutting off its tail feathers, and throw them to the east side of the altar into the place of fatty ashes,
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

LXX Leviticus 1:15

Septuagint
14 And if you bring a gift, a burnt offering to the Lord, of birds, then he will bring his gift of doves or pigeons. 15 And the priest shall bring it to the altar, and shall wring off its head; and the priest shall put it on the altar, and shall wring out the blood at the bottom of the altar. 16 And he shall take away the crop with the feathers, and shall cast it forth by the altar toward the east to the place of the ashes.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Leviticus

References

"... In the Masoretic text, this corresponds to "on the wall of the altar". This expression is found only here and in Leviticus 5:9, where it is nevertheless correctly translated with "on the wall of the altar." The Greek term βάσις is generally used to translate the Hebrew יְסוֹד. It is only here that the translation is different. This must also be considered in 7:2, where the Masoretic text has "and he shall pour its blood on the altar all around", which the Septuagint translates specifically: "and the blood shall be poured at the base of the altar all around." This reading also appears in 11QTemple 34:8, 52:21, and in the Septuagint of Deuteronomy 12:27, but regarding the holocaust. According to Dion and Milgrom, it reflects the concern, explicitly expressed in the Mishnah, Zebahim 3:32a, that this blood should not be poured on the ramp leading to the altar, but rather on the base of the same altar, under penalty of invalidating the sacrifice ..."
Giorgio Paximadi, “Entre variantes et interprétations. Corruption textuelle ou exégèse dans le texte de la Septante du Lévitique ?” in The Text of Leviticus: Proceedings of the Third International Colloquium of the Dominique Barthélemy Institute, ed. Innocent Himbaza (Leuven: Peeters, 2020), 133–148.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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