What Does Leviticus 8:20 Mean?
And he cut the ram into pieces, and Moses burned the head, and the pieces, and the fat.
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 cut the ram into pieces; and Moses burnt the head, and the pieces, and the fat.THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “burnt” here means “made to smoke,” from the same root that gives Hebrew its word for incense.
THE MEANING
The verse makes the offering concrete: the ram is cut into pieces, and its head, pieces, and fat enter the fire. Each part is named as it is made to smoke on the altar.
THE ROOT
וַיַּקְטֵר
wayyaqṭēr
GROWS FROM
קטר
q-t-r
To make smoke, offer as incense, or make an offering smoke.
The English “burnt” can suggest only destruction; קטר also names the rising smoke of an offering and stands behind the Hebrew word for incense. The verse names the parts that become smoke one by one.
ALSO GROWS
qetoret: Incense
קְטֹרֶת
This related word makes the shared smoke and offering connection visible.
maqteret: Censer or incense pan
מַקְטֶרֶת
This related word names the vessel used for incense, showing how the root extends from making smoke to the object that carries it.
THE PATTERN
An offering becomes concrete in what is placed before God, whether animal, fire, or spoken praise.
And Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean beast and of every clean bird, and sent up rising offerings on the altar.You send the whole ram up in smoke upon the altar. It is a rising offering to the LORD, a scent that settles, an offering made by fire to the LORD.Through him, then, let us always carry up a sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.THE THREAD
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 uses the same root, קטר (qatar), for making the offering smoke on the altar. Here the ram’s head, pieces, and fat are named; there, the offering is gathered under that same smoke-making verb.
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