The priest shall burn it on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to Yahweh.
Parallel translations
- KJV And the priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire unto the LORD.
- BSB Then the priest is to burn them on the altar as food, an offering made by fire to the LORD.
- NKJV and the priest shall burn them on the altar as food, an offering made by fire to the Lord.
- NASB Then the priest shall offer it up in smoke on the altar as food, an offering by fire to the Lord.
- NLT and the priest will burn them on the altar. It is a special gift of food presented to the Lord.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The priest burns these portions as the food of the offering made to God. The offering is poetically called God's food, given wholly to Him.
Overview
Describing the burned portions as 'food' for God is figurative; Scripture is clear that God needs nothing and is not fed by sacrifices (Psalm 50:12-13). The language expresses that the offering belongs to God and is wholly His. This vivid imagery conveys God's full ownership and acceptance of the offering, ultimately satisfied not by animal sacrifice but by the perfect offering of Christ (Hebrews 10:5-10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Lev 21:6They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God; for they offer the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy.
- Lev 21:17“Say to Aaron, ‘None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect may approach to offer the bread of his God.
- Lev 3:5Aaron’s sons shall burn it on the altar on the burnt offering, which is on the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.
- Lev 21:8You shall sanctify him therefore; for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you; for I Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy.
- Lev 3:16The priest shall burn them on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma; all the fat is Yahweh’s.
- Ezek 44:7in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add to all your abominations.
- Num 28:2“Command the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘See that you present my offering, my food for my offerings made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to me, in their due season.’
- Mal 1:7You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ In that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is contemptible.’
- Lev 21:21–22No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall come near to offer the offerings of Yahweh made by fire. Since he has a defect, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.
- Lev 22:25You must not offer the bread of your God from the hand of a foreigner as any of these; because their corruption is in them. There is a defect in them. They shall not be accepted for you.’”
- Ps 22:14I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is melted within me.
- Mal 1:12“But you profane it, in that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible.’
- Rev 3:20Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.
- Isa 53:4–10Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.
- Rom 8:32He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?
- 1 Cor 10:21You can’t both drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can’t both partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons.
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 3:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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