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.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

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

Laws for Grain Offerings

“‘When a person[a] brings a grain offering to Yahweh, his offering must be finely milled flour, and he must pour out oil on it and place frankincense on it. And he shall bring it to the sons of Aaron, the priests, and he[b] shall take his handful from its finely milled flour[c] and from its oil in addition to all its frankincense. The priest[d] shall turn its token portion into smoke on the altar as an offering made by fire, as an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh. The remainder[e] of the grain offering belongs to[f] Aaron and to his sons—it is a most holy thing[g] from the offerings made by fire for[h] Yahweh.

“‘But if you bring a grain offering of something oven-baked, it must be of finely milled flour as ring-shaped unleavened bread mixed with oil or wafers of unleavened bread smeared with oil. If your offering is a grain offering baked on a[i] flat baking pan, it must be finely milled flour, unleavened bread mixed with oil; break it into pieces and pour out oil on it; it is a grain offering.

“‘If[j] your offering is a grain offering prepared in a cooking pan, it must be with finely milled flour in oil. And you shall bring the grain offering that is made from these things to Yahweh, and the offerer[k] shall bring it to the priest, and he shall bring it to the altar. And the priest shall take away from the grain offering its token portion, and he shall turn it into smoke on the altar as an offering made by fire, as an appeasing fragrance for Yahweh. 10 And the remainder of the grain offering belongs to[l] Aaron and to his sons—it is a most holy thing[m] from the offerings made by fire for[n] Yahweh.

11 “‘Every grain offering you[o] bring to Yahweh must not be made of yeasted food, because you must not turn into smoke any yeast or any honey from[p] an offering made by fire for Yahweh. 12 As an offering of the choicest portion, you[q] may bring them to Yahweh, but they must not be offered on the altar as an appeasing fragrance. 13 Also all[r] of your grain offerings you must season with salt; you[s] must not omit the salt of your God’s covenant from your offering.

14 “‘And if you bring to Yahweh a grain offering of firstfruits, you must bring an ear of new grain roasted by fire, coarsely crushed ripe grain, as the grain offering of your firstfruits. 15 And you shall put oil on it and place frankincense on it; it is a grain offering. 16 The[t] priest shall turn into smoke its token portion from its coarsely crushed grain together with all of its frankincense—it is an offering made by fire for Yahweh.’”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 2:1 Or “a soul”
  2. Leviticus 2:2 That is, the priest—see v. 9
  3. Leviticus 2:2 Literally “from there his handful from its finely milled flour”
  4. Leviticus 2:2 Or “And the priest”
  5. Leviticus 2:3 Or “And the remainder”
  6. Leviticus 2:3 Literally “for”
  7. Leviticus 2:3 Literally “a holiness of holinesses”
  8. Leviticus 2:3 Hebrew “of”
  9. Leviticus 2:5 Hebrew “the”
  10. Leviticus 2:7 Or “And if”
  11. Leviticus 2:8 Changing from 2ms in the first verb to 3ms in the second verb apparently moves from general to specific; NET takes the second verb as an imperative (“Present it”), and NJPS translates it as an indefinite 3ms, making it passive (“it shall be brought”)
  12. Leviticus 2:10 Literally “for”
  13. Leviticus 2:10 Literally “a holiness of holinesses”
  14. Leviticus 2:10 Hebrew “of”
  15. Leviticus 2:11 The first time a plural 2m verb has been employed since 1:2
  16. Leviticus 2:11 Hebrew “from it”
  17. Leviticus 2:12 Another occurrence of the 2mp
  18. Leviticus 2:13 Or “And all”
  19. Leviticus 2:13 Or “and you”
  20. Leviticus 2:16 Or “And the”