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Leviticus

About this book
Chapter 3

1 “‘Now if his offering is a peace-offering sacrifice, if he presents an offering from the herd, he must present before the Lord a flawless male or a female. 2 He must lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, must splash the blood against the altar’s sides. 3 Then the one presenting the offering must present a gift to the Lord from the peace-offering sacrifice: He must remove the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that surrounds the entrails, 4 the two kidneys with the fat on their sinews,⁠ and the protruding lobe on the liver (which he is to remove along with the kidneys). 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. 6 “‘If his offering for a peace-offering sacrifice to the Lord is from the flock, he must present a flawless male or female. 7 If he presents a sheep as his offering, he must present it before the Lord. 8 He must lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it before the Meeting Tent, and the sons of Aaron must splash its blood against the altar’s sides. 9 Then he must present a gift to the Lord from the peace-offering sacrifice: He must remove all the fatty tail up to the end of the spine, the fat covering the entrails, and all the fat on the entrails, 10 the two kidneys with the fat on their sinews, and the protruding lobe on the liver (which he is to remove along with the kidneys). 11 Then the priest must offer it up in smoke on the altar as⁠ a food gift to the Lord. 12 “‘If his offering is a goat, he must present it before the Lord, 13 lay his hand on its head, and slaughter it before the Meeting Tent, and the sons of Aaron must splash its blood against the altar’s sides. 14 Then he must present from it his offering as a gift to the Lord: the fat which covers the entrails and all the fat on the entrails, 15 the two kidneys with the fat on their sinews, and the protruding lobe on the liver (which he is to remove along with the kidneys). 16 Then the priest must offer them up in smoke on the altar as a food gift for a soothing aroma—all the fat belongs to the Lord. 17 This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all the places where you live: You must never eat any fat or any blood.’”⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Leviticus 3:11 and LXX Leviticus 3:11

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Leviticus 3 describes an animal being burned as a “food gift to God.” An early Greek version, found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, avoids calling this “bread,” a word used in later Greek versions. This was likely changed to avoid implying that God eats.

Passages

Leviticus 3:11

Hebrew Bible
10 the two kidneys with the fat on their sinews, and the protruding lobe on the liver (which he is to remove along with the kidneys). 11 Then the priest must offer it up in smoke on the altar as a food gift to the Lord. 12 “‘If his offering is a goat, he must present it before the Lord, 13 lay his hand on its head, and slaughter it before the Meeting Tent, and the sons of Aaron must splash its blood against the altar’s sides.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

LXX Leviticus 3:11

Septuagint
10 and both the kidneys and the fat that is upon them, and that which is on the thighs, and the caul which is on the liver with the kidneys, 11 the priest shall offer these on the altar: it is a smell of sweet aroma, a burnt offering to the Lord. 12 And if his offering be of the goats, then he will bring it before the Lord.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Leviticus

References

"... The two Greek manuscripts from Qumran, 4QLXXLeva and 4QpapLXXLevb, which contain the earliest formulation of the Septuagint of Leviticus, are the best candidates to reflect the profile of the translator of that book. The translation technique was free and the translator avoided semitisms. The terminology he chose was less ideological and less standardized. This does not exclude any ideological approach in his translation, since in Leviticus 3:11 he clearly avoided, on ideological grounds we may suppose, the notion that God should receive “bread”. The other aspect of the translation I pointed out is that it was closer to the Samaritan Pentateuch than the actual edited Septuagint (Rahlfs). Thus, the literal aspect, the word-by-word technique of translation of the edited Septuagint are the result of a later recension. Therefore, although the two Greek manuscripts of Leviticus from Qumran are fragmentary, they allow us to recover the closest and the earliest text of the Septuagint, as well as the earliest profile of the translator ..."
Innocent Himbaza, “The Edited Septuagint of Leviticus Is Not the Septuagint: A Plea for a Paradigm Shift,” in The Text of Leviticus: Proceedings of the Third International Colloquium of the Dominique Barthélemy Institute, ed. Innocent Himbaza (Leuven: Peeters, 2020), 107–120.

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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Leviticus 3:11 and LXX Leviticus 3:11

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