What Does Leviticus 3:11 Mean?
And the priest sends it up in smoke upon the altar. It is the bread of an offering of fire to the LORD.
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.
King James wording
King James Version
And the priest shall burn it upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire unto the LORD.THE KEY
The Hebrew root behind “burn” also gives “incense” and “smoke,” so the verse names what rises from the altar as food for the LORD.
THE MEANING
What reaches the altar is named as food for the LORD. The verse holds fire and meal together: the offering rises in smoke, yet it is not described as mere disappearance.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The fire only destroys what is placed on the altar.
THE ROOT
וְהִקְטִירוֹ
wəhiqṭîrô
GROWS FROM
קטר
Q-Ṭ-R
Make smoke rise; burn incense or an offering.
“sends it up in smoke” in this verse is wəhiqṭîrô. The priest’s “burn” is הִקְטִיר (hiqtir, make smoke rise or offer by fire), from קטר (qatar). The same root gives words for incense and smoke, revealing an upward movement within the burning while the verse calls the offering food for the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
qetoret: Incense burned so its smoke rises.
קְטֹרֶת
This branch shares the root behind “burn” and shows that the altar’s action belongs to the language of rising smoke.
qitor: Smoke or vapor.
קִיטוֹר
This branch makes visible what the root’s burning produces: smoke, not simply disappearance.
THE PATTERN
Scripture binds altar offerings to the language of food and eating, making sacrifice meal-shaped.
They are set apart to their God, and they do not pierce the name of their God; for the fires of the LORD, the bread of their God, they bring near; therefore they are set apart.Command the children of Israel, and say to them, My drawing near, my bread, my offerings of fire, a fragrance of rest to me, you shall guard to bring near to me in their appointed time.Look at Israel according to the flesh. Are not those who eat the slain offerings sharers in common of the altar?THE THREAD
And Aaron shall make sweet smoke rise upon it every morning; when he trims the lamps, he shall make the smoke rise upon it.Exodus uses the same root, קטר (qatar, make smoke rise), for burning incense. It places the verb beside קְטֹרֶת (qetoret, incense), opening the smoke-making sense of the altar action in Leviticus.
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