Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
Leviticus 7
The Law of the Guilt Offering
“This is the law of the guilt offering. It is most holy. In the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, the guilt offering will be slaughtered, and its blood will be dashed against all sides of the altar. All its fat will be offered: the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the two kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the appendage of the liver, removed with the kidneys. The priest will turn them into smoke on the altar as an offering by fire to the LORD. It is a guilt offering. Every male among the priests may eat it. It will be eaten in a holy place. It is most holy.
Priestly Portions
The law is the same for the sin offering and the guilt offering: the priest who makes atonement with it will have it. The priest who presents anyone’s burnt offering will have for himself the skin of the burnt offering he has presented. Every grain offering baked in an oven, and every offering prepared in a pan or on a griddle, will belong to the priest who presents it. Every grain offering, whether mixed with oil or dry, will belong equally to all the sons of Aaron.
The Sacrifice of Well-Being
This is the law of the sacrifice of well-being that a person may offer to the LORD. If it is offered for thanksgiving, then together with the thanksgiving sacrifice the person will offer unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers spread with oil, and cakes of fine flour well mixed with oil. Together with the sacrifice of well-being for thanksgiving, the person will bring the offering with cakes of leavened bread. From each kind of offering one portion will be presented as a contribution to the LORD. It will belong to the priest who dashes the blood of the sacrifice of well-being. The flesh of the sacrifice of well-being for thanksgiving will be eaten on the day it is offered; none of it will be left until morning.
If the sacrifice is for a vow or a freewill offering, it will be eaten on the day the sacrifice is offered, and what remains may be eaten on the next day. But what remains of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day will be burned with fire. If any of the flesh of the sacrifice of well-being is eaten on the third day, the one who offered it will not be accepted, and it will not be credited to that person. It is a repulsive thing, and the person who eats it will bear guilt. Flesh that touches anything unclean will not be eaten; it will be burned with fire. As for other flesh, everyone who is clean may eat it. But a person who eats flesh from the LORD’s sacrifice of well-being while uncleanness is upon that person will be cut off from the people. If someone touches anything unclean—human uncleanness, an unclean animal, or any unclean swarming thing—and then eats from the flesh of the LORD’s sacrifice of well-being, that person will be cut off from the people.”
Fat and Blood
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the Israelites, saying: You will not eat any fat of an ox, sheep, or goat. The fat of an animal that dies by itself or is torn by wild animals may be used for any other purpose, but you will not eat it. For anyone who eats the fat of an animal from which an offering by fire is presented to the LORD, the person who eats it will be cut off from the people. You will not eat any blood, whether of bird or animal, in any of your dwellings. Any person who eats any blood will be cut off from the people.”
The Breast and the Right Thigh
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the Israelites, saying: The one who brings a sacrifice of well-being to the LORD will bring from that sacrifice the portion presented to the LORD. With the person’s own hands the offerings by fire to the LORD will be brought. The fat will be brought with the breast, so that the breast may be elevated as an elevation offering before the LORD. The priest will turn the fat into smoke on the altar, but the breast will belong to Aaron and his sons. You will give the right thigh to the priest as a contribution from your sacrifices of well-being. The son of Aaron who offers the blood and the fat of the sacrifice of well-being will have the right thigh as his portion. For I have taken from the Israelites the breast of the elevation offering and the thigh of the contribution from their sacrifices of well-being, and I have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons as a perpetual portion from the Israelites.”
Summary of the Offerings
This is the allotted portion of Aaron and the allotted portion of his sons from the offerings by fire to the LORD, from the day they were brought near to serve the LORD as priests. The LORD commanded that this be given to them from the Israelites on the day they were anointed. It is a perpetual statute throughout their generations. This is the law of the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering, and the sacrifice of well-being, which the LORD commanded Moses at Mount Sinai on the day the LORD commanded the Israelites to bring their offerings to the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai.