What Does Leviticus 3:16 Mean in the King James?
And 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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The richest portion is named as the LORD’s food, and its rising smoke carries the image of rest.
THE MEANING
The verse names the fat as the LORD’s own portion and the altar’s smoke as an aroma of rest. The richest share is set apart and given over; it is not treated as what remains. Its fragrance makes the offering’s rising visible even after the portion itself is consumed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what belongs to God is only the lesser or leftover share: here, the prized portion is the LORD’s.
THE ROOT
חֵלֶב
ḥēleḇ
GROWS FROM
חלב
ḥ-l-b
Fat, richness, the choice portion. The same consonants also spell the Hebrew word for milk, ḥālāḇ.
The shared consonants connect the fat set apart here with nourishment and abundance. The verse calls this rich portion the LORD’s, making the claim reach the part most associated with plenty.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēleḇ: The rich or prized fat of an animal.
חֵלֶב
This is the portion named as belonging to the LORD in the verse.
milk: Milk, a nourishing food.
חָלָב
Its shared consonants echo nourishment beside the rich portion reserved for the LORD.
רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ
rēaḥ nîḥōaḥ
GROWS FROM
נוח
n-w-ḥ
To rest, settle, or come to rest; nîḥōaḥ carries the sense of something restful or satisfying.
The Hebrew phrase is an aroma of rest, adding a sense of settling to the KJV’s “sweet savour.” The offering rises as smoke, while its fragrance is pictured as something that comes to rest before the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
Noah: Rest.
נֹחַ
The name shares the root idea of rest carried by nîḥōaḥ.
resting place: Rest, repose, or a place of rest.
מְנוּחָה
This branch makes the restful quality within the offering’s aroma easier to hear.
THE PATTERN
The first or richest portion is presented as a concentrated sign of the whole.
And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the LORD, them have I given thee.But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.THE THREAD
And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:The word translated “fat” is חֵלֶב (ḥēleḇ), the same word used in Leviticus for the portion declared to be the LORD’s. Genesis shows that rich portion being brought with the firstlings; Leviticus makes its ownership explicit.
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