And the priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire unto the LORD.
Parallel translations
- WEB The priest shall burn it on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to Yahweh.
- 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 unto their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.
- Lev 21:17Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.
- Lev 3:5And Aaron’s sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is upon the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.
- Lev 21:8Thou shalt sanctify him therefore; for he offereth the bread of thy God: he shall be holy unto thee: for I the LORD, which sanctify you, am holy.
- Lev 3:16And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat is the LORD’s.
- Ezek 44:7In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.
- Num 28:2Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, My offering, and my bread for my sacrifices made by fire, for a sweet savour unto me, shall ye observe to offer unto me in their due season.
- Mal 1:7Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.
- Lev 21:21–22No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.
- Lev 22:25Neither from a stranger’s hand shall ye offer the bread of your God of any of these; because their corruption is in them, and blemishes be in them: they shall not be accepted for you.
- Ps 22:14I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
- Mal 1:12But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible.
- Rev 3:20Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
- Isa 53:4–10Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
- Rom 8:32He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
- 1 Cor 10:21Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.
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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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