What Does Leviticus 4:19 Mean?
And he lifts all its fat from it, and sends it up in smoke upon the altar.
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 he shall take all his fat from him, and burn it upon the altar.THE KEY
The animal’s rich portion is lifted away, then sent upward as smoke on the altar.
THE MEANING
The rich portion is lifted from the animal and given to the altar in fire. The verse gives the whole share of that portion to the offering.
THE ROOT
יָרִים
yārîm
GROWS FROM
רום
rûm
To rise or be high; to lift or raise.
“take” in this verse is yārîm. The verb is yārîm, from rûm: he lifts the fat away from the animal. The same root appears in terumah, a contribution set apart, linking lifting with giving.
ALSO GROWS
high: High or elevated.
רָם
This branch makes the upward sense in the verb yārîm visible.
contribution: A contribution or offering set apart.
תְּרוּמָה
This related word carries the same root of lifting into the language of giving.
חֵלֶב
ḥēleb
GROWS FROM
חלב
ḥ-l-b
Fat; the rich or choice portion, and by extension richness.
The Hebrew noun ḥēleb names fat and also the rich or choice portion. Here, that range makes what goes onto the altar the animal’s abundance.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēleb ha’āreṣ: The richness or best produce of the land.
חֵלֶב הָאָרֶץ
This phrase uses the same word for fat to name abundance, illuminating the value of the portion offered here.
ḥēleb: The rich portion of Abel’s flock.
חֵלֶב
The same word appears in another offering, linking this portion with the gift Abel brings.
הִקְטִיר
hiqṭîr
GROWS FROM
קטר
q-ṭ-r
To make smoke or burn incense.
“sends it up in smoke” in this verse is hiqṭîr. The verb belongs to the word-family for making smoke and burning incense. The altar fire sends the rich portion upward as smoke, joining sacrifice and incense in the same Hebrew word-family.
ALSO GROWS
incense: Incense burned to produce fragrant smoke.
קְטֹרֶת
The shared root connects the offering’s smoke with the smoke of incense.
burn incense: To cause incense or an offering to smoke.
הִקְטִיר
This verb shows that the action rendered “burn” carries the sense of making something smoke.
THE PATTERN
Scripture marks an offering by giving its choice portion or whole self to God.
And Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock, and of their fat. And the LORD gazed upon Abel and upon his offering.And the priest sends them up in smoke upon the altar, bread of an offering of fire for a fragrance that settles. All the fat is the LORD's.Therefore I urge you, brothers, through the compassions of God, to set your bodies beside God as a living sacrifice, set apart, well-pleasing to him, which is your true service.THE THREAD
And Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock, and of their fat. And the LORD gazed upon Abel and upon his offering.The same Hebrew word, ḥēleb, names the fat Abel brings as part of his offering. Leviticus 4:19’s lifted fat belongs to this same scriptural thread: the rich portion is presented at the altar.
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