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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 3:4 and Onkelos Leviticus 3:4

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

Leviticus 3 includes the term for a specific type of fat whose meaning is uncertain and debated. The Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos replaces this obscure word with a familiar Aramaic term meaning “side,” aligning it with Rabbinic interpretation.

Passages

Leviticus 3:4

Hebrew Bible
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.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

Onkelos Leviticus 3:4

Targum
3 And from the offering of the holy sacrifice, he shall offer the fat that covers the internal organs, all the fat that is on the internal organs, 4 and the two kidneys and the fat which is on them on the sides, and he shall remove the covering that is on the liver with the kidneys. 5 And the sons of Aaron shall burn it at the altar, with the burnt offering which is on the wood on the fire, an offering to be received with grace before the Lord.
50–500 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Onkelos Leviticus

References

"... Sifra and the Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 40a, admit that Scripture's hakesalim is obscure, and scholars differ as to which fat is meant. Saadiah opted for a general indefinite statement, 'inner organs.' Rashi translates it as 'flanks' and identifies it as the fat on the kidneys. Ibn Ezra derives the meaning from kesil, certain 'stars' in Isaiah 13:10 that flanked different sides of a constellation. Onkelos's gisesiya is the Aramaic term that replaces Scripture's 'side,' in Targum Jonathan to Isaiah 60:4 and 66:12, and it is the frequent talmudic usage for 'side,' such as the phrase Ridakh gisa, 'to the other side' ..."
Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner, Onkelos on the Torah, Leviticus: Understanding the Bible Text (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2008), 14.

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 3:4 and Onkelos Leviticus 3:4

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