What Does Leviticus 8:16 Mean?
And he took all the fat that was upon the inward parts, and the lobe above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and Moses burned it 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 took all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and Moses burned it upon the altar.THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “inwards” shares its root with “draw near”: the offering begins at the hidden center.
THE MEANING
Moses (Moshe, מֹשֶׁה, “drawn out”) takes the fat, the covering above the liver, and the kidneys, then burns them on the altar. The verse names the body’s interior as part of what is brought near.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that only the visible surface belongs in the offering: the inwards, liver covering, and kidneys are explicitly brought to the altar.
THE ROOT
הַקֶּרֶב
ha-qereb
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
Come near; approach.
“inwards” in this verse is ha-qereb. The same consonants appear in qereb, the body’s interior, and qarab, to approach, as well as qorban, an offering brought near. The verse places the inner portion at the center of approach: what is within is carried to the altar.
ALSO GROWS
qarov: near
קָרֹוב
The inward parts and nearness share the same consonant root, joining the body’s center to the language of approach.
qarab: approach; come near
קָרַב
This verb names the movement toward the altar that the offering enacts.
qorban: offering; something brought near
קָרְבָּן
The offering is named through the same root as the inwards, linking what is carried to the altar with the body’s interior.
וַיַּקְטֵר
vayyaqṭēr
GROWS FROM
קטר
q-t-r
Make smoke; cause smoke to rise.
The verb translated “burned” belongs to the family of smoke and incense. It holds together the physical burning and the rising smoke of the offering.
ALSO GROWS
qetoret: incense
קְטֹרֶת
Incense shares this smoke-making root, showing the word family includes material sent up as smoke.
qittēr: burn incense; make sacrificial smoke
קִטֵּר
This related verb makes explicit the smoke-producing action in Moses’s altar rite.
THE PATTERN
What lies in the inward parts is brought into the offering before God.
And he brings near from the wholeness offering a gift of fire to the LORD; the fat that covers the entrails, and all the fat upon the entrails.Behold, you delight in truth in the inward parts; and in the sealed place you make me perceive wisdom.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
Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, If anyone of you brings near a drawing near to the LORD, you shall bring near your drawing near from the cattle, from the herd and from the flock.Leviticus 1:2 uses the q-r-b family in “bring” (qarab, קרב, “approach”) and “offering” (qorban, קָרְבָּן, “something brought near”). That same root makes the “inwards” of 8:16 qereb (קֶרֶב, “inner parts”), so the altar’s nearness begins with the body’s interior.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us