What Does Leviticus 9:20 Mean in the King James?

And they put the fat upon the breasts, and he burnt the fat upon the altar:

Leviticus 9:20 · KJV

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 altar’s action is not merely burning: the Hebrew verb means making smoke, from the same root as the word for incense.

THE MEANING

The fat is set upon the breasts, then made smoke on the altar. The Hebrew verb holds the action of burning and the rising smoke together, as it does in the word for incense. The verse keeps the offering tangible: fat, breasts, altar.

THE ROOT

וַיַּקְטֵר

wayyaqṭēr

GROWS FROM

קטר

q-ṭ-r

To make smoke; to offer as incense.

The verb translated “burnt” shares its root with the Hebrew word for incense and with a word for smoke. The English gives the action as burning; the root also lets you see the offering becoming smoke on the altar.

ALSO GROWS

qetōret: Incense

קְטֹרֶת

This is the incense that is made to smoke; its shared root reveals the link between the altar’s burning and incense.

qīṭōr: Smoke, as from a furnace

קִיטֹר

This word names what the altar’s action produces: smoke.

THE PATTERN

An offering placed before God becomes smoke that rises, and prayer is pictured in the same way.

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.

Leviticus 3:16 · KJVThe fat is burned upon the altar as an offering made by fire.

Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Psalm 141:2 · KJVPrayer and lifted hands are pictured as incense and sacrifice set before God.

And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.

Revelation 8:4 · KJVIncense smoke rises before God together with the prayers.

THE THREAD

And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.

Exodus 30:7 · KJV

The Hebrew verb for “burn” here shares the root ⁨קטר⁩ (q-ṭ-r), meaning to make smoke or offer as incense, with the verb in Leviticus. The root connects the altar’s burning fat with incense made to smoke.

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