What Does Leviticus 17:6 Mean?

And the priest shall dash the blood upon the altar of the LORD at the door of the tent of meeting, and send the fat up in smoke for a fragrance that settles to the LORD.

Leviticus 17:6 · 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 priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the LORD.

THE KEY

The “sweet savour” carries the language of rest: the offering burns as a fragrance that settles before the LORD.

THE MEANING

The offering is both visible and perceptible: blood lands on the LORD’s altar, while the fat becomes a sweet savour before him. That savour carries the language of rest, placing the burning act within an image of fragrance that settles before the LORD.

THE ROOT

נִיחֹחַ

nichoach

GROWS FROM

נוח

nuach

To rest, settle, or come to repose.

“fragrance that settles” in this verse is nichoach. The word rendered “savour” is associated with the root for rest and settling. The fragrance is described with more than the language of pleasant smell: it carries the sense of something settling before the LORD.

ALSO GROWS

nuach: To rest or settle.

נוּחַ

This verb makes the root’s sense of coming to rest explicit.

menuchah: Rest or a resting place.

מְנוּחָה

This noun shows the same root extending from the act of settling to a state or place of rest.

מִזְבֵּחַ

mizbeach

GROWS FROM

זבח

zabach

To slaughter or offer a sacrifice.

The Hebrew word for altar is formed from the root for sacrifice. The altar is named through the act carried out upon it, binding the place and the offering together in the word itself.

ALSO GROWS

zavach: To slaughter or offer a sacrifice.

זָבַח

This verb names the act from which the altar’s name is formed.

zevach: A sacrifice or sacrificial offering.

זֶבַח

This noun shares the altar’s root and identifies what is brought to it.

THE PATTERN

An offering brought to the altar becomes a fragrance perceived by the LORD.

And the LORD smelled the fragrance of rest, and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground for man's sake, for the shaping of man's heart is evil from his youth, and I will not again strike down every living thing, as I have done.

Genesis 8:21 · SDVThe LORD receives the offering through its sweet savour, joining fragrance with a spoken response.

And its inward parts and its legs he shall wash in water, and the priest shall send all of it up in smoke upon the altar, a rising offering, an offering of fire, a fragrance that settles to the LORD.

Leviticus 1:9 · SDVThe burnt offering, like the offering in this verse, rises from the altar as a sweet savour unto the LORD.

And walk in love, as the Anointed One also loved us and handed himself over for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, a fragrance that settles sweetly.

Ephesians 5:2 · SDVThe offering and its savour appear again as a connected image of what is given to God.

THE THREAD

And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

Genesis 8:4 · SDV

The Hebrew word behind “sweet savour” is associated with ⁨נוח⁩, the root used for “rested” here. The connection opens the offering’s fragrance as an image of something settling before the LORD.

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