What Does Leviticus 7:31 Mean?
And the priest shall burn the fat upon the altar. But the breast shall be Aaron's and his sons'.
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 the fat upon the altar: but the breast shall be Aaron’s and his sons’.THE KEY
The offering becomes both altar smoke and human food: its sacred order makes room for both.
THE MEANING
The fat is burned on the altar, while the breast becomes Aaron’s and his sons’ portion. Sacred giving here does not mean everything disappears; the offering is divided between the altar and the household that serves it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse loosens the assumption that what belongs to God must be removed from human provision: the altar receives one part, and the priestly household receives another.
THE ROOT
וְהִקְטִיר
wehiqṭîr
GROWS FROM
קטר
To make smoke; in offerings, to burn something so its smoke rises.
The word translated “burn” carries the sense of making smoke. The same root connects the fat on the altar with incense, so the verse describes not mere destruction but a portion transformed into rising smoke, alongside a portion kept as food.
ALSO GROWS
qetoret: Incense
קְטֹרֶת
Incense is made to smoke from the same root, linking the fat’s altar portion to the language of fragrant offerings.
miqṭār: Incense altar or burner
מִקְטָר
This related word names the place or instrument for incense smoke, showing how the root extends from the act of making smoke to its ritual setting.
THE PATTERN
Offerings can honor the altar and provide for the people who serve there.
And the LORD said unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given you the watch of my lifted offerings, of all the set-apart things of the children of Israel. To you I have given them, by reason of the oil smeared upon you, and to your sons, by an engraved statute for the ages.The priests, the Levites, all the tribe of Levi, have no portion nor inheritance with Israel; they eat the LORD's offerings of fire, and his inheritance.Do you not know that those who serve the set-apart things eat from the temple, and those who sit beside the altar share with the altar?THE THREAD
And he shall take from it his fistful of the fine flour of the gift, and of its oil, and all the white resin which is upon the gift, and shall burn it upon the altar for a scent that settles, even its remembrance, to the LORD.The verb translated “burn” comes from the same root as the verb in Leviticus 6:15, where flour, oil, and frankincense are made to smoke on the altar. The shared root ties the fat’s altar portion to a wider language of offerings made to rise as smoke, while this verse also names the portion kept for Aaron’s household.
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