Leviticus 5:11-13
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
11 If the person is unable to afford even two turtledoves or two pigeons, that person shall bring as an offering for the wrong committed one tenth of an ephah[a] of bran flour for a purification offering. The guilty party shall not put oil or place frankincense on it, because it is a purification offering.(A) 12 The individual shall bring it to the priest, who shall take a handful as a token of the offering and burn it on the altar with the other oblations for the Lord. It is a purification offering. 13 Thus the priest shall make atonement on the person’s behalf for the wrong committed in any of the above cases, so that the individual may be forgiven. The rest of the offering, like the grain offering, shall belong to the priest.
Reparation Offerings.[b]
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- 5:11 Ephah: see note on Is 5:10.
- 5:14–26 This last half of the chapter deals with a distinct sacrifice, the reparation offering (Heb. ’asham). The Hebrew root for this term has a basic meaning of “be guilty.” The noun can have a consequential sense of “that which is due from guilt,” i.e., “compensation, indemnification, reparation”; hence the translation “reparation offering,” rather than the alternatives “guilt offering” or “trespass offering.” This offering is brought most often in cases of sacrilege.
Leviticus 6:7-16
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
7 This is the ritual of the grain offering. Aaron’s sons shall offer it before the Lord, in front of the altar. 8 A priest shall then take from the grain offering a handful of bran flour and oil, together with all the frankincense that is on it,(A) and this he shall burn on the altar as a token of the offering, a sweet aroma to the Lord. 9 The rest of it Aaron and his sons may eat; but it must be eaten unleavened in a sacred place:(B) in the court of the tent of meeting they shall eat it. 10 It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it to them as their portion from the oblations for the Lord; it is most holy,(C) like the purification offering and the reparation offering. 11 Every male of Aaron’s descendants may eat of it perpetually throughout your generations as their rightful due from the oblations for the Lord. Whatever touches the oblations becomes holy.
High Priest’s Daily Grain Offering.[a] 12 The Lord said to Moses: 13 This is the offering that Aaron and his sons shall present to the Lord on the day he is anointed: one tenth of an ephah of bran flour for the regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening. 14 You shall bring it well kneaded and fried in oil on a griddle.(D) Having broken the offering into pieces, you shall present it as a sweet aroma to the Lord. 15 The anointed priest descended from Aaron who succeeds him shall do likewise. This is the Lord’s due forever. The offering shall be wholly burned.(E) 16 Every grain offering of a priest shall be a whole offering; it may not be eaten.
Purification Offerings.[b]
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- 6:12–16 This seems to refer to a grain offering offered twice daily by the high priest, perhaps identical to the regular grain offering in Nm 4:16 (cf. Neh 10:34). This offering is distinct from the grain offering that accompanies the daily burnt offering.
- 6:17–23 There are two types of purification offering: one whose blood is used inside the tent sanctuary (4:1–12, 13–21) and another whose blood was only used at the outer sacrificial altar (4:22–26, 27–31, 32–35). The carcasses of the former, as well as of purification offerings brought by the priests themselves (cf. 8:14–17; 9:8–11), are not eaten by priests but disposed of at the ash heap outside the camp, which itself is set up around the sanctuary (Ex 29:14; Lv 4:11–12, 21; 6:23; 8:17; 9:11; 16:27). The Letter to the Hebrews compares Jesus’ suffering “outside the gate” to the disposal of purification offering carcasses outside the camp (Hb 13:11–13).
Leviticus 7:9-14
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
9 [a](A)Also, every grain offering that is baked in an oven or made in a pan or on a griddle shall belong to the priest who offers it, 10 whereas all grain offerings(B) that are mixed with oil or are dry shall belong to all of Aaron’s sons without distinction.
Communion Sacrifices.[b] 11 (C)This is the ritual for the communion sacrifice that is offered to the Lord. 12 [c]If someone offers it for thanksgiving, that person shall offer it with unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers spread with oil, and cakes made of bran flour mixed with oil and well kneaded. 13 One shall present this offering together with loaves of leavened bread along with the thanksgiving communion sacrifice. 14 From this the individual shall offer one bread of each type of offering as a contribution[d] to the Lord; this shall belong to the priest who splashes the blood of the communion offering.
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- 7:9–10 For the distinction between uncooked and cooked grain offerings, see 2:1–10 and note on 2:1. The contradiction between v. 9 and 2:10 may reflect a development in custom, with the distribution in v. 9 coming from earlier times, when sanctuary personnel was more limited.
- 7:11–36 This section discusses three types of communion sacrifice: the thanksgiving offering (vv. 12–15), a votive offering, and a voluntary offering (vv. 16–18). The latter two are similar and are thus mentioned together. Verses 19–36 apply to all types of communion sacrifice.
- 7:12–13 Four types of breads accompany the thanksgiving offering. Three types are cooked grain offerings comparable to those in 2:4–10. Also required are loaves of leavened bread (see 2:11).
- 7:14 Contribution: Hebrew terumah. This does not indicate a particular ritual action. The word simply means “gift, something set apart.”
Leviticus 24:5-9
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
5 You shall take bran flour and bake it into twelve cakes,(A) using two tenths of an ephah of flour for each cake. 6 These you shall place in two piles, six in each pile, on the pure gold table before the Lord. 7 With each pile put some pure frankincense, which shall serve as an oblation to the Lord, a token of the bread offering. 8 Regularly on each sabbath day the bread(B) shall be set out before the Lord on behalf of the Israelites by an everlasting covenant. 9 It shall belong to Aaron and his sons, who must eat it in a sacred place, since it is most sacred,(C) his as a perpetual due from the oblations to the Lord.
Punishment of Blasphemy.[a]
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Numbers 15:1-21
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 15
Secondary Offerings. 1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 [a]Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you for your settlements, 3 if you make to the Lord an oblation from the herd or from the flock—either a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow, or as a voluntary offering, or for one of your festivals—to produce a pleasing aroma for the Lord, 4 the one presenting the offering shall also present to the Lord a grain offering, a tenth of a measure[b] of bran flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil, 5 as well as wine for a libation, a fourth of a hin. You will do this with the burnt offering or the sacrifice, for each lamb. 6 Alternatively for a ram you shall make a grain offering of two tenths of a measure of bran flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil, 7 and for a libation, a third of a hin of wine, thereby presenting a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 8 If you make an offering from the herd—either a burnt offering, or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow, or as a communion offering to the Lord, 9 with it a grain offering of three tenths of a measure of bran flour mixed with half a hin of oil will be presented; 10 and you will present for a libation, half a hin of wine—a sweet-smelling oblation to the Lord. 11 The same is to be done for each ox, ram, lamb or goat. 12 Whatever the number you offer, do the same for each of them.
13 All the native-born shall make these offerings in this way, whenever they present a sweet-smelling oblation to the Lord. 14 Likewise, in any future generation, any alien residing with you or anyone else in your midst, who presents an oblation of pleasing aroma to the Lord, must do as you do. 15 There is but one statute for you and for the resident alien, a perpetual statute throughout your generations. You and the resident alien will be alike before the Lord; 16 you and the alien residing with you will have the same rule and the same application of it.
17 The Lord spoke to Moses: 18 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land into which I am bringing you 19 and eat of the bread of the land, you shall offer the Lord a contribution. 20 A round loaf from your first batch of dough[c] you shall offer as a contribution. Just like a contribution from the threshing floor you shall offer it.(A) 21 Throughout your generations you shall give a contribution to the Lord from your first batch of dough.
Purification Offerings.[d]
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- 15:2–16 These laws on sacrifice are complementary to those of Lv 1–3. Since the food of the Israelites consisted not only of meat but also of bread, oil and wine, they offered flour, wine and oil in sacrifice to the Lord besides the animal oblations.
- 15:4 Measure: the word, supplied from the context, does not appear in the Hebrew (as also in vv. 6, 9; 28:9, 12, 20, 28; 29:3, 9, 14). Probably the ephah (which is named in 5:15; 28:5) is intended. Hin: see note on Ez 45:24.
- 15:20 Dough: the meaning of the Hebrew term is uncertain; some render, “baking utensils.” This word is used elsewhere only in Ez 44:30 and Neh 10:33; a related Hebrew word is used in Lv 2:14.
- 15:22–31 See note on Lv 4:2. Although Lv 4–5 and Nm 15:22–31 both concern inadvertent sins, the emphasis here, as opposed to Lv 4–5, is on the failure of the community to perform “positive commands” rather than on doing what is prohibited.
Genesis 4:3-5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
3 In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the ground, 4 while Abel, for his part, brought the fatty portion[a] of the firstlings of his flock.(A) The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry and dejected.
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- 4:4 Fatty portion: it was standard practice to offer the fat portions of animals. Others render, less satisfactorily, “the choicest of the firstlings.” The point is not that Abel gave a more valuable gift than Cain, but that God, for reasons not given in the text, accepts the offering of Abel and rejects that of Cain.
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