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Samaritan Leviticus

Samaritan Penteteuch

About this book
Chapter 9

1 And on the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel, 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.”

7 And Moses said to Aaron: “Come near to the altar, and offer your sin offering, and your burned offering, and make atonement for yourself and for the people; and offer the offering of the people, and make atonement for them, as Shema commanded.” 8 So Aaron came near to the altar, and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself. 9 And the sons of Aaron presented the blood to him; and he dipped his finger in the blood, and put it on the horns of the altar, and poured out the blood at the base of the altar, 10 but he burned the fat, and the kidneys, and the appendage from the liver of the sin offering on the altar, as Shema commanded Moses. 11 And he burned the meat and the skin with fire outside the camp.

12 And he killed the burned offering; and Aaron’s sons brought him the blood, and he sprinkled it on the altar all around. 13 And they brought the burned offering to him, piece by piece, and the head; and he burned them on the altar. 14 And he washed the internal organs and the legs, and burned them on the burned offering on the altar. 15 And he presented the people’s offering, and took the goat of the sin offering, which was for the people, and killed it, and offered it for sin, like the first. 16 And he presented the burned offering, and offered it according to the rule. 17 And he presented the grain offering, and filled his hands from it, and burned it on the altar, besides the burned offering of the morning. 18 He also killed the ox and the ram, the sacrifice of peace offerings, which was for the people; and Aaron’s sons brought him the blood, which he sprinkled on the altar all around, 19 and the fat of the ox and of the ram, the fat tail, and what covers the internal organs, and the kidneys, and the appendage of the liver; 20 and he put the fat on the breasts, and he burned the fat on the altar, 21 and Aaron waved the breasts and the right thigh as a wave offering in the presence of Shema, as Shema commanded Moses.

22 And Aaron raised his hand toward the people,⁠ and blessed them; and he came down from offering the sin offering, and the burned offering, and the peace offerings. 23 And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and came out, and blessed the people; and the glory of Shema appeared to all the people. 24 And fire came out from the presence of Shema, and consumed the burned offering and the fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces.

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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