What Does Leviticus 1:8 Mean?

And Aaron's sons, the priests, shall arrange the pieces, the head, and the fat, upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar.

Leviticus 1:8 · SDV

Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.

Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar:

THE KEY

The Hebrew verb for laying this offering “in order” is also used for preparing a table before someone.

THE MEANING

Here, the offering is concrete before you: the pieces, head, and fat each have a place on the wood over the altar fire. The verse makes the body visible part by part, within a deliberate arrangement.

THE ROOT

וְעָרְכוּ

veʿārəkû

GROWS FROM

ערך

ʿ-r-k

To arrange, set in order, or array.

“arrange” in this verse is veʿārəkû. The verb describes more than placing something down: it gives each part a position within an arrangement. The same root can describe preparing a table, linking the ordered offering with a meal set before someone without making them the same act.

ALSO GROWS

taʿarokh: You prepare or set in order.

תַּעֲרֹךְ

In Psalm 23:5, this is the verb translated “preparest” in “Thou preparest a table before me.” The same root holds both the altar’s arrangement and a table prepared before someone.

maʿarakhah: An arrangement or row.

מַעֲרָכָה

In Leviticus 24:6, the showbread is placed in rows before the LORD; the root’s sense of ordered placement appears in another priestly arrangement.

THE PATTERN

What is offered or prepared becomes visible through the specific placement of its parts.

Or anything about which he has sworn falsely, he shall turn it back with its head, and shall add its fifth upon it, and give it to the one to whom it belongs, on the day of his guilt offering.

Leviticus 6:5 · SDVThe same ritual names the wood, fire, offering, and fat as elements placed in a continuing order.

You lay out a table before my face, in full view of those who press me. You make my head rich with oil; my cup is soaked full.

Psalm 23:5 · SDVThe same root used for arranging the offering describes a table prepared before someone.

So when they stepped off onto the ground, they saw a fire of coals lying there, and fish laid on it, and bread.

John 21:9 · SDVAt the fire, the verse presents food through its concrete placement: fish on the coals, with bread.

THE THREAD

You lay out a table before my face, in full view of those who press me. You make my head rich with oil; my cup is soaked full.

Psalm 23:5 · SDV

“Preparest” translates the same Hebrew root as “lay in order” here. The root connects an offering arranged on the altar with a table set before someone, revealing how one verb can hold both ordered placement and preparation.

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