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Leviticus 1: What the Passage Says

56 claims across 17 verses, in the order the chapter makes them.

Not a sermon outline. What Leviticus 1 says, and what its hard words meant. The reading of it is yours.

The Chapter in a Sentence

The LORD calls to Moses from the tent of meeting and gives him instructions for the people of Israel about burnt offerings. The rules cover three kinds of animal: a male without blemish from the herd, a male without blemish from the flock of sheep or goats, and a turtledove or young pigeon. For each kind, the chapter sets out what the person who brings the offering does and what Aaron's sons the priests do at the altar, ending each time with the whole offering burned as an offering made by fire, a pleasing smell to the LORD.

Claim by Claim

  1. 1:1
    • The LORD called to Moses.
    • The LORD spoke to Moses out of the tent of meeting.
    • The LORD's speech to Moses was introduced as follows.
  2. 1:2
    • The LORD told Moses to speak to the children of Israel.
    • The LORD told Moses to say to them the following.
    • If any person among you brings an offering to the LORD, the offering is to be brought from the livestock.
    • The offering is to be brought from the herd or from the flock.
  3. 1:3
    • If a person's offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he is to offer a male.
    • The male offered must be without blemish.
    • He shall offer it at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
    • He shall offer it for acceptance before the LORD.
  4. 1:4
    • He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering.
    • The offering shall be accepted for him.
    • The offering serves to make atonement for him.
  5. 1:5
    • He shall slaughter the young bull before the LORD.
    • Aaron's sons the priests shall present the blood.
    • They shall sprinkle the blood on the altar all around.
    • The altar is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
  6. 1:6
    • He shall skin the burnt offering.
    • He shall cut it into its pieces.
  7. 1:7
    • The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar.
    • They shall arrange wood on the fire.
  8. 1:8
    • Aaron's sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, the head, and the fat.
    • They shall arrange them on the wood that is on the fire that is on the altar.
  9. 1:9
    • Its entrails and its legs he shall wash in water.
    • The priest shall burn all of it on the altar.
    • It is a burnt offering.
    • It is an offering made by fire.
    • It is a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
  10. 1:10
    • If a person's offering for a burnt offering is from the flock, it may be from the sheep or from the goats.
    • He shall offer a male.
    • The male offered must be without blemish.
  11. 1:11
    • He shall slaughter it on the north side of the altar before the LORD.
    • Aaron's sons the priests shall sprinkle its blood on the altar all around.
  12. 1:12
    • He shall cut it into its pieces, with its head and its fat.
    • The priest shall arrange them on the wood that is on the fire that is on the altar.
  13. 1:13
    • He shall wash the entrails and the legs with water.
    • The priest shall present all of it.
    • The priest shall burn it on the altar.
    • It is a burnt offering.
    • It is an offering made by fire.
    • It is a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
  14. 1:14
    • If a person's burnt offering to the LORD is from birds, he shall bring his offering from turtledoves or from young pigeons.
  15. 1:15
    • The priest shall bring it to the altar.
    • The priest shall wring off its head.
    • The priest shall burn it on the altar.
    • Its blood shall be drained out against the side wall of the altar.
  16. 1:16
    • He shall remove its crop with its feathers.
    • He shall throw it beside the altar on the east side.
    • He shall throw it at the place of the ashes.
  17. 1:17
    • He shall split it open by its wings.
    • He shall not divide it apart.
    • The priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire.
    • It is a burnt offering.
    • It is an offering made by fire.
    • It is a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

1:1
The tent of meeting (KJV "tabernacle of the congregation") was the portable tent sanctuary Israel carried through the wilderness, described in Exodus 25-40. "Congregation" here does not mean a crowd of worshipers inside it; the Hebrew means the appointed place where God and Moses met.
1:2
"Offering" translates Hebrew *qorban*, from a verb meaning to bring near: a gift brought into God's presence. KJV "cattle" is used in its older, wider sense of livestock generally, not cows specifically; "herd" means cattle and "flock" means sheep and goats.
1:3
A "burnt offering" (Hebrew *olah*, literally "that which goes up") was the one sacrifice burned entirely, with no portion eaten by the worshiper or the priest. "Without blemish" means physically sound and unmaimed, not morally pure. The Hebrew behind KJV "of his own voluntary will" is disputed: it can mean either that the worshiper brings it willingly, or that he brings it so that it may be accepted on his behalf.
1:4
Laying a hand on the animal's head was a formal gesture of identification, marking this animal as this man's offering. "Atonement" translates Hebrew *kipper*, a verb whose root sense is variously taken as to wipe clean, to cover over, or to pay a ransom.
1:5
Aaron was Moses' brother; his sons were the priests, the only men permitted to handle blood and altar. The verb KJV renders "sprinkle" means to throw or dash liquid from a vessel, not to scatter drops.
1:6
"Flay" simply means to skin. The hide was the one part not burned; elsewhere the law gives it to the officiating priest.
1:7
The altar meant here stood outside in the courtyard, not inside the tent. Exodus 27 describes it as a hollow wooden frame plated with bronze, roughly seven and a half feet square and four and a half feet high, with a ramp or ledge for the priests to work from. The fire on it was wood-burning and was kept going continuously (Leviticus 6:12).
1:8
The fat is singled out because in the ancient world it was the richest and most desirable part of the animal rather than waste. Later chapters forbid Israelites to eat the fat of sacrificial animals at all; it belongs on the altar.
1:9
"A sweet savour unto the LORD" (Hebrew *reah nihoah*) is a fixed liturgical phrase, roughly "a soothing, restful smell." Similar wording appears in other ancient Near Eastern accounts of sacrifice, and it functions here as a formula of acceptance rather than as a description of God's appetite.
1:10
Not every family owned cattle. A sheep or a goat cost much less than a bull. So people could give what they were able to give.
1:11
The north side is specified because the altar's other sides were in use: the ramp or approach, the ash place to the east, and the basin. Fixing the spot kept the ritual uniform.
1:14
Birds were the cheapest offering available, and the law elsewhere allows them explicitly for those who cannot afford a sheep. A turtledove is a small wild dove, named for its call; it has nothing to do with turtles.
1:15
KJV "wring off" means to twist or pinch off. With a bird there is too little blood to catch in a vessel and dash against the altar, so it is pressed out down the altar's side instead.
1:16
The crop is the pouch in a bird's throat where food is held before digestion. The Hebrew word paired with it is uncertain: KJV takes it as the feathers, while others read it as the crop's undigested contents or the filth in it.
1:17
The bird is split open along the wings so it lies flat and burns through, but is not torn into two separate halves, unlike the large animals, which were cut into pieces.

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