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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 9:4 and Onkelos Leviticus 9:4

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

Leviticus says God will appear to the people during a ceremony, implying a physical presence. The Aramaic translation in Targum Onkelos says the “glory” of God will appear to avoid this, the only place in Leviticus where the Targum makes this change.

Passages

Leviticus 9:4

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

Onkelos Leviticus 9:4

Targum
3 And he spoke with the sons of Israel, saying, Take a young goat for a sin offering, and a calf, and a year-old lamb, unblemished, for a burnt offering; and a bull and a ram for a holy offering, 4 to sacrifice before the Lord; and a mincha of flour sprinkled with oil: for today the glory of the Lord will be revealed to you. 5 And they brought what Moses had commanded before the Tent of Meeting, and all the congregation approached and stood before the Lord.
50–500 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Onkelos Leviticus

References

"... Our Targumist transforms scripture's anthropomorphic “for today the Lord appears to you” by adding yekara, “glory,” the only instance in Leviticus where this insertion is made. Rashbam and Ibn Ezra explain that the Bible's "revelation of God" was not meant to be taken literally: it is a metaphor for the miraculous fire that will consume the sacrifice at the end of the ceremony, which is described in verse 24. However, Sforno maintains that the word nirch is actually past tense and refers to the glory of God that had already filled the Tabernacle in Exodus 40:34, and that the sacrifices were being brought now to honor His present presence ..."
Israel Drazin and Stanley M. Wagner, Onkelos on the Torah, Leviticus: Understanding the Bible Text (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2008), 58.

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 9:4 and Onkelos Leviticus 9:4

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