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LXX Leviticus

Septuagint

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Chapter 3

1 And if his gift to the Lord be a peace-offering, if he should bring it of the oxen, whether it be male or whether it be female, he shall bring it unblemished before the Lord. 2 And he shall lay his hands on the head of the gift, and shall kill it by the doors of the tabernacle of witness. And the priests the sons of Aaron shall pour the blood on the altar of burnt offerings all around. 3 And they shall bring of the peace-offering a burnt sacrifice to the Lord, the fat covering the belly, and all the fat on the belly. 4 And the two kidneys and the fat that is upon them; he shall take away that which is on the thighs, and the caul above the liver together with the kidneys. 5 And the priests the sons of Aaron shall offer them on the altar on the burnt offering, on the wood which is on the fire upon the altar: it is a burnt offering, a smell of sweet aroma to the Lord. 6 And if his gift be of the sheep, a peace-offering to the Lord, male or female, he shall bring it unblemished. 7 If he bring a lamb for his gift, he shall bring it before the Lord. 8 And he shall lay his hands on the head of his offering, and shall kill it by the doors of the tabernacle of witness; and the priests the sons of Aaron shall pour out the blood on the altar all around. 9 And he shall bring of the peace-offering a burnt sacrifice to God: the fat and the hinder part unblemished he shall take away with the lower back, and the fat of the belly, 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. 13 And he shall lay his hands on its head; and they shall kill it before the Lord by the doors of the tabernacle of witness; and the priests the sons of Aaron shall pour out the blood on the altar all around. 14 And he shall offer of it a burnt offering to the Lord, even the fat that covers the belly, and all the fat that is on the belly. 15 And both the kidneys, and all the fat that is upon them, that which is upon the thighs, and the caul of the liver with the kidneys, he will take away. 16 And the priest shall offer it upon the altar: it is a burnt offering, a smell of sweet aroma to the Lord. All the fat belongs to the Lord. 17 It is a perpetual statute throughout your generations, in all your habitations; you shall eat no fat and no 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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