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Leviticus

About this book
Chapter 9

1 On the eighth day Moses summoned Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel, 2 and said to Aaron, “Take for yourself a bull calf for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both flawless, and present them before the Lord. 3 Then tell the Israelites:⁠ ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering and a calf and a lamb, both a year old and flawless, for a burnt offering, 4 and an ox and a ram for peace offerings to sacrifice before the Lord, and a grain offering mixed with olive oil, for today the Lord is going to appear to you.’”⁠ 5 So they took what Moses had commanded to the front of the Meeting Tent, and the whole congregation presented them and stood before the Lord. 6 Then Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded you to do so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.” 7 Moses then said to Aaron, “Approach the altar and make your sin offering and your burnt offering, and make atonement on behalf of yourself and on behalf of the people; and also make the people’s offering and make atonement on behalf of them just as the Lord has commanded.” 8 So Aaron approached the altar and slaughtered the sin-offering calf which was for himself. 9 Then Aaron’s sons presented the blood to him, and he dipped his finger in the blood and put it on the horns of the altar, and the rest of the blood he poured out at the base of the altar. 10 The fat and the kidneys and the protruding lobe of the liver from the sin offering he offered up in smoke on the altar just as the Lord had commanded Moses, 11 but the flesh and the hide he completely burned up outside the camp. 12 He then slaughtered the burnt offering, and his sons handed the blood to him, and he splashed it against the altar’s sides. 13 The burnt offering itself they handed to him by its parts, including the head, and he offered them up in smoke on the altar, 14 and he washed the entrails and the legs and offered them up in smoke on top of the burnt offering on the altar. 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 purification rite with it like the first one. 16 He then presented the burnt offering, and did it according to the standard regulation. 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. 18 Then he slaughtered the ox and the ram—the peace-offering sacrifices which were for the people—and Aaron’s sons handed the blood to him, and he splashed it against the altar’s sides. 19 As for the fat parts from the ox and from the ram (the fatty tail, the fat covering the entrails, the kidneys, and the protruding lobe of the liver), 20 they set those on the breasts, and he offered the fat parts up in smoke on the altar. 21 Finally Aaron waved the breasts and the right thigh as a wave offering before the Lord just as Moses had commanded. 22 Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people⁠ and blessed them and descended from making the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offering. 23 Moses and Aaron then entered into the Meeting Tent. When they came out, they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. 24 Then fire went out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat parts on the altar, and all the people saw it, so they shouted loudly and fell down with their faces to the ground.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Leviticus 9:3 and Samaritan Leviticus 9:3

Hebrew Bible · Samaritan

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Summary

In Leviticus, Moses tells Aaron to pass the instructions for the day’s offerings to the entire people of Israel. In the Samaritan Pentateuch, Aaron gives the same instructions to the elders of Israel, who receive the command instead of all the people.

Passages

Leviticus 9:3

Hebrew Bible
2 and said to Aaron, “Take for yourself a bull calf for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both flawless, and present them before the Lord. 3 Then tell the Israelites: ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering and a calf and a lamb, both a year old and flawless, for a burnt offering, 4 and an ox and a ram for peace offerings to sacrifice before the Lord, and a grain offering mixed with olive oil, for today the Lord is going to appear to you.’” 5 So they took what Moses had commanded to the front of the Meeting Tent, and the whole congregation presented them and stood before the Lord. 6 Then Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded you to do so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Leviticus

Samaritan Leviticus 9:3

Samaritan · Samaritan Penteteuch
2 and he said to Aaron: “Take a calf of the herd for a sin offering, and a ram for a burned offering, both without blemish, and offer them in the presence of Shema. 3 And you shall speak to the elders of Israel, saying, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both a year old without blemish, for a burned offering, 4 and an ox and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice in the presence of Shema, and a grain offering mixed with oil; for today Shema appears to you.’” 5 And they brought what Moses commanded in front of the tent of meeting; and all the congregation came near and stood in the presence of Shema. 6 And Moses said: “This is what Shema commanded you to do; and the glory of Shema shall appear to you.”
130–120 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Samaritan Leviticus

References

"... With the discovery of Qumran manuscripts that agree with the Samaritan Pentateuch in major details, we can now distinguish between the substratum of the Samaritan Pentateuch that was current in ancient Israel in the last pre-Christian centuries and a thin second layer that was superimposed on this substratum. The criteria for the separation of the two layers are, on the one hand, the identified features of the pre-Samaritan texts from Qumran that are also found in the substratum of the Samaritan Pentateuch and, on the other hand, the characteristics of the Samaritan religion and language as known from later sources. By means of these features we can isolate the second layer of their Torah. It seems that the Samaritans made but few ideological and phonological changes to the presumed base text. All other characteristics of the Samaritan Pentateuch were already found in early texts such as the so-called pre-Samaritan Qumran texts. At the same time, the Samaritan Pentateuch also differs in small details from these texts. The paucity of information on the pre-Samaritan texts does not allow us to make precise statements on all the types of differences. What characterized the ancient scribes of the Samaritan Pentateuch and the pre-Samaritan texts is the freedom with which they approached the biblical text during the last pre-Christian centuries as opposed to the tradition of meticulous copying that characterized other texts. In contrast, at a second stage, after the content of the Samaritan tradition had been fixed, the Samaritan Pentateuch was copied with great precision, like the texts belonging to the Masoretic text group ..."
Benyamim Tsedaka, The Israelite Samaritan Version of the Torah: First English Translation Compared with the Masoretic Version (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013), vii-viii, 247.

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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