1 The Lord [a]called to Moses out of the Tent of Meeting, and said to him,
2 Say to the Israelites, When any man of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of [domestic] animals from the herd or from the flock.
3 If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it at the door of the Tent of Meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord.(A)
4 And he shall lay [both] his hands upon the head of the burnt offering [transferring symbolically his guilt to the victim], and it shall be [b]an acceptable atonement for him.(B)
5 The man shall kill the young bull before the Lord, and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall present the blood and dash [it] round about upon the altar that is at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
6 And he shall skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces.
7 And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and lay wood in order on the fire;
8 And Aaron’s sons the priests shall lay the pieces, the head and the fat, in order on the wood on the fire on the altar.
9 But its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar for a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a sweet and satisfying odor to the Lord.(C)
10 And if the man’s offering is of the flock, from the sheep or the goats, for a burnt offering, he shall offer a male without blemish.
11 And he shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall dash its blood round about against the altar.
12 And [the man] shall cut it into pieces, with its head and its fat, and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire on the altar.
13 But he shall wash the entrails and legs with water. The priest shall offer all of it and burn it on the altar; it is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, a sweet and satisfying fragrance to the Lord.
14 And if the offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, then [the man] shall bring turtledoves or young pigeons.
15 And the priest shall bring it to the altar, and wring off its head, and burn it on the altar; and its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar.
16 And he shall take away its crop with its feathers and cast it beside the altar on the east side, in the place for ashes.
17 And he shall split it open [holding it] by its wings, but shall not cut it in two. And the priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire; it is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, a sweet and satisfying odor to the Lord.
Footnotes
- Leviticus 1:1 The first step toward understanding the message of Leviticus is to appreciate its viewpoint indicated here—“The Lord called to Moses out of the Tent of Meeting,” and talked to him. Before this a forbidding God had spoken from the burning mountain. But now the tabernacle is erected according to the God-given pattern, and the God Who dwells among His people in fellowship with them talks with His servant Moses “out of the Tent of Meeting.” The people, therefore, are not treated as sinners alienated from God, “but as being already brought into a new relationship, even that of fellowship, on the ground of a blood-sealed covenant” (J. Sidlow Baxter, Explore the Book).
- Leviticus 1:4 To render the self-sacrifice perfect, it was necessary that the offerer should spiritually die, sinking it as it were into the death of the sacrifice that had died for him, so that through the mediator of his salvation he should put his soul into a living fellowship with the Lord and bring his bodily members within the operations of the gracious Spirit of God. Thereby he would be renewed and sanctified [separated for holy use], both body and soul, and enter into union with God (Karl Keil and F. Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament).