The elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before Yahweh; and the bull shall be killed before Yahweh.
Parallel translations
- KJV And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before the LORD: and the bullock shall be killed before the LORD.
- BSB The elders of the congregation are to lay their hands on the bull’s head before the LORD, and it shall be slaughtered before the LORD.
- NKJV And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the Lord. Then the bull shall be killed before the Lord.
- NASB Then the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the Lord, and the bull shall be slaughtered before the Lord.
- NLT The elders of the community must then lay their hands on the bull’s head and slaughter it before 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 elders lay their hands on the bull's head as representatives, and it is killed. The community identifies with the substitute through its leaders.
Overview
The elders act on behalf of the whole congregation, laying hands on the bull to identify the people with the substitute that bears their guilt. Representation is central: the many are covered through the one offering. This representative atonement foreshadows Christ, the one who stands in the place of His people and bears their sin as their representative head (Romans 5:18-19).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Lev 1:4He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.
- Lev 16:21Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them on the head of the goat, and shall send him away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.
- Lev 8:14He brought the bull of the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering.
- Exod 24:1He said to Moses, “Come up to Yahweh, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship from a distance.
- Lev 4:4He shall bring the bull to the door of the Tent of Meeting before Yahweh; and he shall lay his hand on the head of the bull, and kill the bull before Yahweh.
- Exod 24:9Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up.
- Num 11:16Yahweh said to Moses, “Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you.
- Lev 8:22He presented the other ram, the ram of consecration: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram.
- Num 8:10You shall present the Levites before Yahweh. The children of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites,
- Deut 21:3–9It shall be that the elders of the city which is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer of the herd, which hasn’t been worked with, and which has not drawn in the yoke.
- Num 11:25Yahweh came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did so no more.
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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 4:15 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.