What Does Leviticus 9:10 Mean?
But the fat, and the kidneys, and the lobe above the liver of the offering for falling short, he sent up in smoke upon the altar, as the LORD commanded Moses.
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
But the fat, and the kidneys, and the caul above the liver of the sin offering, he burnt upon the altar; as the LORD commanded Moses.THE KEY
The altar’s smoke-making verb belongs to the same Hebrew word family as incense, so the named inner portions rise within the language of fragrance.
THE MEANING
The verse gives the offering for the missing a precise form: its fat, kidneys, and the covering above the liver enter the altar’s smoke. The smoke-making verb gathers these inward, prized portions into one act before the LORD.
THE ROOT
הִקְטִיר
hiqṭîr
GROWS FROM
קטר
Make smoke; offer something as smoke.
“sent up in smoke” in this verse is hiqṭîr. The verb here belongs to the same word family as the word for incense. English “burnt” can sound like fire alone, while the Hebrew names the making of smoke from an offering.
ALSO GROWS
qāṭar: To make smoke from an offering; to burn incense.
קָטַר
This is the root verb behind הִקְטִיר, the action performed on the listed portions.
qəṭōret: Incense.
קְטֹרֶת
The incense word shares this root, linking the altar’s offering with the language of rising fragrance.
חַטָּאת
ḥaṭṭāʾt
GROWS FROM
חטא
Miss; go wrong or fail to reach.
“offering for falling short” in this verse is ḥaṭṭāʾt. The word family holds together the missing and the offering associated with it. Here the Hebrew name lets the reader hear the offering through the language of missing that English “sin offering” can conceal.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāṭāʾ: To miss or go wrong; to sin.
חָטָא
This verb names the missing connected with the offering in the verse.
ḥēṭʾ: A missing or offense.
חֵטְא
This related noun shows the same root naming the missing itself.
חֵלֶב
ḥēleb
GROWS FROM
חלב
Fat; richness or a choice portion.
The word for fat can also describe richness and the choicest yield. The verse’s fat is therefore more than a physical detail: it is a prized portion named alongside the inward organs and set apart for the altar.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēleb: Animal fat, including the fat reserved for an offering.
חֵלֶב
This is the portion named first among those made into smoke on the altar.
ḥēleb hāʾāreṣ: The richness or best of the land (Genesis 45:18).
חֵלֶב הָאָרֶץ
The same word can name the land’s abundance, revealing the value carried by “fat” in this verse.
THE PATTERN
What is set apart as an offering is rendered on the altar as smoke and a sweet savour before God.
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.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.And walk in love, as the Anointed One also loved us and handed himself over for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, a fragrance that settles sweetly.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 smoke-making word family for burning incense. This makes the verb in Leviticus resonate with incense as well as with the altar offering.
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