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Anima cum obtulerit oblationem sacrificii Domino, simila erit ejus oblatio; fundetque super eam oleum, et ponet thus,

ac deferet ad filios Aaron sacerdotes: quorum unus tollet pugillum plenum similae et olei, ac totum thus, et ponet memoriale super altare in odorem suavissimum Domino.

Quod autem reliquum fuerit de sacrificio, erit Aaron et filiorum ejus, Sanctum sanctorum de oblationibus Domini.

Cum autem obtuleris sacrificium coctum in clibano: de simila, panes scilicet absque fermento, conspersos oleo, et lagana azyma oleo lita.

Si oblatio tua fuerit de sartagine, similae conspersae oleo et absque fermento,

divides eam minutatim, et fundes super eam oleum.

Sin autem de craticula fuerit sacrificium, aeque simila oleo conspergetur:

quam offerens Domino, trades manibus sacerdotis.

Qui cum obtulerit eam, tollet memoriale de sacrificio, et adolebit super altare in odorem suavitatis Domino:

10 quidquid autem reliquum est, erit Aaron, et filiorum ejus, Sanctum sanctorum de oblationibus Domini.

11 Omnis oblatio quae offeretur Domino, absque fermento fiet, nec quidquam fermenti ac mellis adolebitur in sacrificio Domino.

12 Primitias tantum eorum offeretis ac munera: super altare vero non imponentur in odorem suavitatis.

13 Quidquid obtuleris sacrificii, sale condies, nec auferes sal foederis Dei tui de sacrificio tuo: in omni oblatione tua offeres sal.

14 Si autem obtuleris munus primarum frugum tuarum Domino de spicis adhuc virentibus, torrebis igni, et confringes in morem farris, et sic offeres primitias tuas Domino,

15 fundens supra oleum, et thus imponens, quia oblatio Domini est:

16 de qua adolebit sacerdos in memoriam muneris partem farris fracti, et olei, ac totum thus.

The Grain Offering

‘When anyone offers (A)a grain offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour. And he shall pour oil on it, and put (B)frankincense on it. He shall bring it to Aaron’s sons, the priests, one of whom shall take from it his handful of fine flour and oil with all the frankincense. And the priest shall burn (C)it as a memorial on the altar, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. (D)The rest of the grain offering shall be Aaron’s and his (E)sons’. (F)It is most holy of the offerings to the Lord made by fire.

‘And if you bring as an offering a grain offering baked in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers (G)anointed[a] with oil. But if your offering is a grain offering baked in a [b]pan, it shall be of fine flour, unleavened, mixed with oil. You shall break it in pieces and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering.

‘If your offering is a grain offering baked in a (H)covered pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. You shall bring the grain offering that is made of these things to the Lord. And when it is presented to the priest, he shall bring it to the altar. Then the priest shall take from the grain offering (I)a memorial portion, and burn it on the altar. It is an (J)offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. 10 And (K)what is left of the grain offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’. It is most holy of the offerings to the Lord made by fire.

11 ‘No grain offering which you bring to the Lord shall be made with (L)leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey in any offering to the Lord made by fire. 12 (M)As for the offering of the firstfruits, you shall offer them to the Lord, but they shall not be burned on the altar for a sweet aroma. 13 And every offering of your grain offering (N)you shall season with salt; you shall not allow (O)the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. (P)With all your offerings you shall offer salt.

14 ‘If you offer a grain offering of your firstfruits to the Lord, (Q)you shall offer for the grain offering of your firstfruits green heads of grain roasted on the fire, grain beaten from (R)full heads. 15 And (S)you shall put oil on it, and lay frankincense on it. It is a grain offering. 16 Then the priest shall burn (T)the memorial portion: part of its beaten grain and part of its oil, with all the frankincense, as an offering made by fire to the Lord.

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 2:4 spread
  2. Leviticus 2:5 flat plate or griddle

Laws for Grain Offerings

“When anyone brings a (A)grain offering as an offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour. (B)He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it and bring it to Aaron's sons the priests. And he shall take from it a handful of the fine flour and oil, with all of its frankincense, and the priest shall burn this as its (C)memorial portion on the altar, a food (D)offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. But the (E)rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; (F)it is a most holy part of the Lord's food offerings.

“When you bring a grain offering baked in the oven as an offering, it shall be (G)unleavened loaves of fine flour mixed with oil or unleavened wafers smeared with oil. And if your offering is a grain offering (H)baked on a griddle, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mixed with oil. You shall break it in pieces and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering. And if your offering is a grain offering cooked in a pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. And you shall bring the grain offering that is made of these things to the Lord, and when it is presented to the priest, he shall bring it to the altar. And the priest shall take from the grain offering its memorial portion and burn this on the altar, a food (I)offering with a (J)pleasing aroma to the Lord. 10 But the (K)rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; (L)it is a most holy part of the Lord's food offerings.

11 “No grain offering that you bring to the Lord shall be made with (M)leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey as a food offering to the Lord. 12 (N)As an offering of firstfruits you may bring them to the Lord, but they shall not be offered on the altar for a pleasing aroma. 13 You (O)shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the (P)salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; (Q)with all your offerings you shall offer salt.

14 “If you offer a grain offering of firstfruits to the Lord, you shall offer for the grain offering of your firstfruits fresh (R)ears, roasted with fire, crushed new grain. 15 And (S)you shall put oil on it and lay frankincense on it; it is a grain offering. 16 And the priest shall burn as its (T)memorial portion some of the crushed grain and some of the oil with all of its frankincense; it is a food offering to the Lord.

Grain-Offering Regulations: Offering of Raw Flour

“‘When a person presents a grain offering[a] to the Lord, his offering must consist of choice wheat flour,[b] and he must pour olive oil on it and put frankincense[c] on it. Then he must bring it to the sons of Aaron, the priests, and the priest[d] must scoop out from there a handful of its choice wheat flour and some of its olive oil in addition to all of its frankincense, and the priest must offer its memorial portion[e] up in smoke on the altar—it is[f] a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord. The remainder of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and to his sons[g]—it is[h] most holy[i] from the gifts of the Lord.

Processed Grain Offerings

“‘When you present an offering of grain baked in an oven, it must be made of[j] choice wheat flour baked into unleavened loaves[k] mixed with olive oil or[l] unleavened wafers smeared[m] with olive oil. If your offering is a grain offering made on the griddle, it must be choice wheat flour mixed with olive oil, unleavened. Crumble it in pieces[n] and pour olive oil on it—it is a grain offering. If your offering is a grain offering made in a pan,[o] it must be made of choice wheat flour deep fried in olive oil.[p]

“‘You must bring the grain offering that must be made from these to the Lord. Present it to the priest,[q] and he will bring it to the altar. Then the priest must take up[r] from the grain offering its memorial portion and offer it up in smoke on the altar—it is[s] a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord. 10 The remainder of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and to his sons—it is[t] most holy from the gifts of the Lord.

Additional Grain-Offering Regulations

11 “‘No grain offering which you present to the Lord can be made with yeast,[u] for you must not offer up in smoke any yeast or honey as a gift to the Lord.[v] 12 You can present them to the Lord as an offering of firstfruit,[w] but they must not go up to the altar for a soothing aroma. 13 Moreover, you must season every one of your grain offerings with salt; you must not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be missing from your grain offering[x]—on every one of your grain offerings you must present salt.

14 “‘If you present a grain offering of first ripe grain to the Lord, you must present your grain offering of first ripe grain as soft kernels roasted in fire—crushed bits of fresh grain.[y] 15 And you must put olive oil on it and set frankincense on it—it is a grain offering. 16 Then the priest must offer its memorial portion up in smoke—some of its crushed bits, some of its olive oil, in addition to all of its frankincense—it is[z] a gift to the Lord.

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 2:1 sn The “grain offering” (מִנְחָה [minkhah]; here קָרְבַּן מִנְחָה, [qorban minkhah], “an offering of a grain offering”) generally accompanied a burnt or peace offering to supplement the meat with bread (the libation provided the drink; cf. Num 15:1-10), thus completing the food “gift” to the Lord. It made atonement (see the note on Lev 1:4) along with the burnt offering (e.g., Lev 14:20) or alone as a sin offering for the poor (Lev 5:11-13).
  2. Leviticus 2:1 tn The Hebrew term for “choice wheat flour” (סֹלֶת, solet) is often translated “fine flour” (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NCV), but it refers specifically to wheat as opposed to barley (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 10). Moreover, the translation “flour” might be problematic, since the Hebrew term may designate the “grits” rather than the more finely ground “flour” (see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:179 as opposed to Levine, 10, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 30).
  3. Leviticus 2:1 sn This is not just any “incense” (קְטֹרֶת, qetoret; R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 3:913-16), but specifically “frankincense” (לְבֹנָה, levonah; R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:756-57).
  4. Leviticus 2:2 tn Heb “and he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. The syntax is strange here and might suggest that it was the offerer who scooped out a handful of the grain offering for the memorial portion (G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 66), but based on v. 9 below it should be understood that it was the priest who performed this act (see, e.g., NRSV “After taking from it a handful of the choice flour and oil…the priest shall…”; see also J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:177, 181 and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 30).
  5. Leviticus 2:2 sn The “memorial portion” (אַזְכָּרָה, ʾazkarah) was the part of the grain offering that was burnt on the altar (see the previous clause), as opposed to the remainder, which was normally consumed by the priests (v. 3; see the full regulations in Lev 6:14-23 [7-16]). It was probably intended to call to mind (i.e., memorialize) before the Lord the reason for the presentation of the particular offering (see the remarks in R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:335-39).
  6. Leviticus 2:2 tn The words “it is” have been supplied. See the notes on Lev 1:9 and 2:3. There is no text critical problem here, but the syntax suggests the same translation.
  7. Leviticus 2:3 tn Heb “…is to Aaron and to his sons.” The preposition “to” (ל, lamed) indicates ownership. Cf. NAB, NASB, NIV and other English versions.
  8. Leviticus 2:3 tn The words “it is” (הוּא, huʾ) are not in the MT, but are supplied for the sake of translation into English. The Syriac also for translational reasons adds it between “most holy” and “from the gifts” (cf. 1:13, 17).
  9. Leviticus 2:3 tn Heb “holy of holies”; KJV, NASB “a thing most holy.”
  10. Leviticus 2:4 tn The insertion of the words “it must be made of” is justified by the context and the expressed words “it shall be made of” in vv. 7 and 8 below.
  11. Leviticus 2:4 sn These “loaves” were either “ring-shaped” (HALOT 317 s.v. חַלָּה) or “perforated” (BDB 319 s.v. חַלָּה; cf. J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:184).
  12. Leviticus 2:4 tn Heb “and.” Here the conjunction vav (ו) has an alternative sense (“or”).
  13. Leviticus 2:4 tn The Hebrew word מְשֻׁחִים (meshukhim) translated here as “smeared” is often translated “anointed” in other contexts. Cf. TEV “brushed with olive oil” (CEV similar).
  14. Leviticus 2:6 tn There is no vav (ו, “and”) in the MT at the beginning of v. 6 and the verb is pointed as an infinite absolute. The present translation has rendered it as an imperative (see GKC 346 §113.bb) and, therefore, the same for the following vav consecutive perfect verb (cf. NIV “Crumble it and pour oil on it”; cf. also NRSV, NEB, NLT, and J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:185, but note the objections to this rendering in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 26). The LXX seems to suggest adding a vav (“and”) and pointing the verb as a consecutive perfect, which yields “and you shall break it in pieces” (cf. the BHS textual note; Hartley, 26, prefers the LXX rendering).
  15. Leviticus 2:7 tn Heb “a grain offering of a pan”; cf. KJV “fryingpan”; NAB “pot”; CEV “pan with a lid on it.”
  16. Leviticus 2:7 sn Lev 7:9 makes it clear that one cooked “on” a griddle but “in” a pan. This suggests that the oil in the pan served for deep fat frying, hence the translation “deep fried in olive oil” (see, e.g., J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:185); cf. also NAB.
  17. Leviticus 2:8 tc There are several person, gender, and voice verb problems in this verse. First, the MT has “And you shall bring the grain offering,” but the LXX and Qumran have “he” rather than “you” (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:185). Second, the MT has “which shall be made” (i.e., the third person masculine Niphal passive verb which, in fact, does not agree with its feminine subject, מִנְחָה, minkhah, “grain offering”), while the LXX has “which he shall make” (third person Qal), thus agreeing with the LXX third person verb at the beginning of the verse (see above). Third, the MT has a third person vav consecutive verb “and he shall present it to the priest,” which agrees with the LXX but is not internally consistent with the second person verb at the beginning of the verse in the MT. The BHS editors conjecture that the latter might be repointed to an imperative verb yielding “present it to the priest.” This would require no change of consonants and corresponds to the person of the first verb in the MT. This solution has been tentatively accepted here (cf. also J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 26-27), even though it neither resolves the gender problem of the second verb nor fits the general grammatical pattern of the chapter in the MT.
  18. Leviticus 2:9 tn The Hebrew verb הֵרִים (herim, “to take up”; cf. NAB “lift”) is commonly used for setting aside portions of an offering (see, e.g., Lev 4:8-10 and R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 4:335-36). A number of English versions employ the more normal English idiom “take out” here (e.g., NIV, NCV); cf. NRSV “remove.”
  19. Leviticus 2:9 tn The words “it is” (הוּא, huʾ) both here and in vv. 10 and 16 are not in the MT, but are assumed (cf. vv. 2b and 3b and the notes there).
  20. Leviticus 2:10 tn See the note on “it is” in v. 9b.
  21. Leviticus 2:11 tn Heb “Every grain offering which you offer to the Lord must not be made leavened.” The noun “leaven” is traditional in English versions (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV), but “yeast” is more commonly used today.
  22. Leviticus 2:11 tc A few Hebrew mss, Smr, LXX, and Tg. Ps.-J. have the verb “present” rather than “offer up in smoke,” but the MT is clearly correct. One could indeed present leavened and honey sweetened offerings as firstfruit offerings, which were not burned on the altar (see v. 12 and the note there), but they could not be offered up in fire on the altar. Cf. the TEV’s ambiguous “you must never use yeast or honey in food offered to the Lord.”tn Heb “for all leaven and all honey you must not offer up in smoke from it a gift to the Lord.”
  23. Leviticus 2:12 sn The “firstfruit” referred to here was given to the priests as a prebend for their service to the Lord, not offered on the altar (Num 18:12).
  24. Leviticus 2:13 tn Heb “from upon your grain offering.”
  25. Leviticus 2:14 tn The translation of this whole section of the clause is difficult. Theoretically, it could describe one, two, or three different ways of preparing first ripe grain offerings (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 27). The translation here takes it as a description of only one kind of prepared grain. This is suggested by the fact that v. 16 uses only one term “crushed bits” (גֶּרֶשׂ, geres) to refer back to the grain as it is prepared in v. 14 (a more technical translation is “groats”; see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:178, 194). Cf. NAB “fresh grits of new ears of grain”; NRSV “coarse new grain from fresh ears.”
  26. Leviticus 2:16 tn See the note on “it is” in 2:9b.

The Grain Offering

“‘When anyone brings a grain offering(A) to the Lord, their offering is to be of the finest flour.(B) They are to pour olive oil(C) on it,(D) put incense on it(E) and take it to Aaron’s sons the priests. The priest shall take a handful of the flour(F) and oil, together with all the incense,(G) and burn this as a memorial[a] portion(H) on the altar, a food offering,(I) an aroma pleasing to the Lord.(J) The rest of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons;(K) it is a most holy(L) part of the food offerings presented to the Lord.

“‘If you bring a grain offering baked in an oven,(M) it is to consist of the finest flour: either thick loaves made without yeast and with olive oil mixed in or thin loaves(N) made without yeast and brushed with olive oil.(O) If your grain offering is prepared on a griddle,(P) it is to be made of the finest flour mixed with oil, and without yeast. Crumble it and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering. If your grain offering is cooked in a pan,(Q) it is to be made of the finest flour and some olive oil. Bring the grain offering made of these things to the Lord; present it to the priest, who shall take it to the altar. He shall take out the memorial portion(R) from the grain offering and burn it on the altar as a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.(S) 10 The rest of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons;(T) it is a most holy part of the food offerings presented to the Lord.(U)

11 “‘Every grain offering you bring to the Lord must be made without yeast,(V) for you are not to burn any yeast or honey in a food offering presented to the Lord. 12 You may bring them to the Lord as an offering of the firstfruits,(W) but they are not to be offered on the altar as a pleasing aroma. 13 Season all your grain offerings with salt.(X) Do not leave the salt of the covenant(Y) of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.

14 “‘If you bring a grain offering of firstfruits(Z) to the Lord, offer crushed heads of new grain roasted in the fire. 15 Put oil and incense(AA) on it; it is a grain offering. 16 The priest shall burn the memorial portion(AB) of the crushed grain and the oil, together with all the incense,(AC) as a food offering presented to the Lord.(AD)

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 2:2 Or representative; also in verses 9 and 16