God's New Bible

The Third Book of Moses: Leviticus

Catholic Public Domain Version 2009

- Chapter 7 -

(Leviticus 5:14–19; Leviticus 6:1–7)
1
Likewise, this is the law of the sacrifice for a transgression. It is the Holy of holies.(a)
2
Therefore, where the holocaust is immolated, the victim for a transgression shall also be slain. Its blood shall be poured out all around the altar.
3
They shall offer from it: the rump, and the fat that covers the vital organs,
4
the two little kidneys, and the fat that is near the sides, and the mesh of the liver with the little kidneys.
5
And the priest shall burn them upon the altar. It is the incense of the Lord on behalf of a transgression.
6
Every male of priestly descent shall feed on this flesh in a holy place, because it is the Holy of holies.
7
Just as the sacrifice for sin is offered, so also for a transgression; one law shall be for both sacrifices. It shall belong to the priest who offers it.
8
The priest who offers the victim of holocaust shall have its skin.
9
And every sacrifice of fine wheat flour which is baked in the oven, and whatever is prepared on the oven grating or in the frying pan, shall be for the priest who offers it.
10
Whether these will be sprinkled with oil, or left dry, an equal measure shall be divided to each one of the sons of Aaron.

The Peace Offering

(Leviticus 3:1–17)
11
This is the law of the victim of peace offerings, which is offered to the Lord.
12
If the oblation will be an act for giving thanks, they shall offer bread without leaven sprinkled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and fine wheat flour fried, and cakes sprinkled and mixed with oil,
13
and also, leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, which is immolated for peace offerings.
14
Of these, one shall be offered to the Lord as the first-fruits, and one shall be for the priest who will pour out the blood of the victim.
15
The flesh of it shall be eaten on the same day; neither shall any of it remain until morning.
16
If anyone, by a vow or of his own accord, will have offered a sacrifice, it shall be eaten in a similar manner on the same day. But then if any of it will have remained until tomorrow, it is lawful to eat it.
17
Then whatever will be found on the third day shall be consumed with fire.
18
If anyone will have eaten from the flesh of the victim of peace offerings on the third day, the oblation will be nullified; neither will it benefit the one who offered it. But instead, whatever soul will contaminate itself with such foods will be guilty of a betrayal.
19
The flesh that has touched anything unclean shall not be eaten, but it shall be burnt with fire. He that is clean will feed on it.(b)
20
If a soul which is polluted will have eaten from the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which is offered to the Lord, he shall perish from his people.
21
And whoever will have touched the uncleanness of man, or of beast, or of anything which is able to defile, and who will have eaten from this kind of flesh, shall be cut off from his people.

Fat and Blood Forbidden

22
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
23
Say to the sons of Israel: The fat of a sheep, and of an ox, and of a goat you shall not eat.
24
The fat of a carcass that has died on its own, or of an animal that has been seized by a wild beast, you shall have for various uses.
25
If anyone will have eaten the fat which ought to be offered as a burnt sacrifice of the Lord, he shall perish from his people.
26
Likewise, you shall not take as food the blood of any animals at all, whether of birds or beasts.
27
Every soul that will have eaten blood shall perish from his people.

The Priests’ Portion

28
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
29
Speak to the sons of Israel, saying: Whoever offers a victim of peace offerings to the Lord, let him also offer at the same time a sacrifice, that is, its libations.
30
He shall hold in his hands the fat of the victim, and the breast. And when he will have offered and consecrated both to the Lord, he shall deliver them to the priest,
31
who shall burn the fat upon the altar. But the breast shall be for Aaron and his sons.
32
Likewise also, the right shoulder of the victim of peace offerings shall fall to the priest as first-fruits.
33
Among the sons of Aaron, whoever will have offered the blood and the fat, the same one shall also have the right shoulder for his portion.
34
So then, the breast that is lifted up, and the shoulder that is separated, I have taken from the sons of Israel, from their victims of peace offerings, and I have given these to Aaron the priest and to his sons, as a law in perpetuity, from all the people of Israel.
35
This is the anointing of Aaron and his sons, by the ceremonies of the Lord, in the day when Moses offered them, so that they may fulfill the priesthood,
36
and this is what the Lord instructed to be given to them by the sons of Israel, as a perpetual observance in their generations.
37
This is the law of the holocaust, and of the sacrifice for sin, and for transgression, and for consecration, and for the victims of peace offerings,
38
which the Lord appointed to Moses on mount Sinai, when he commanded the sons of Israel to offer their oblations to the Lord in the desert of Sinai.

Footnotes

(a)7:1 Trespass:Trespasses, for which these offerings were to be made, were lesser offences than those for which the sin offerings were appointed.(Challoner)
(b)7:19 The phrase ‘he that is clean’ may refer to the Lord, because the burned flesh is consumed due to God’s law. Or it may refer to the cleansing fire; the fire cleans it by feeding on it.(Conte)