²⁰ He explained, “This is where the priests will cook the meat from the guilt offerings and sin offerings and bake the flour from the grain offerings into bread. They will do it here to avoid carrying the sacrifices through the outer courtyard and endangering the people by transmitting holiness to them.”

¹³ Then they roasted the Passover lambs as prescribed; and they boiled the holy offerings in pots, kettles, and pans, and brought them out quickly so the people could eat them.

²⁹ Their food will come from the gifts and sacrifices brought to the Temple by the people—the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings. Whatever anyone sets apart^[a] for the Lord will belong to the priests.

¹⁹ When they return to the outer courtyard where the people are, they must take off the clothes they wear while ministering to me. They must leave them in the sacred rooms and put on other clothes so they do not endanger anyone by transmitting holiness to them through this clothing.

⁴ “If your offering is a grain offering baked in an oven, it must be made of choice flour, but without any yeast. It may be presented in the form of thin cakes mixed with olive oil or wafers spread with olive oil. ⁵ If your grain offering is cooked on a griddle, it must be made of choice flour mixed with olive oil but without any yeast. ⁶ Break it in pieces and pour olive oil on it; it is a grain offering. ⁷ If your grain offering is prepared in a pan, it must be made of choice flour and olive oil.

¹³ or for their duties as priests. Whenever anyone offered a sacrifice, Eli’s sons would send over a servant with a three-pronged fork. While the meat of the sacrificed animal was still boiling, ¹⁴ the servant would stick the fork into the pot and demand that whatever it brought up be given to Eli’s sons. All the Israelites who came to worship at Shiloh were treated this way. ¹⁵ Sometimes the servant would come even before the animal’s fat had been burned on the altar. He would demand raw meat before it had been boiled so that it could be used for roasting.

Further Instructions for the Guilt Offering

7 “These are the instructions for the guilt offering. It is most holy. ² The animal sacrificed as a guilt offering must be slaughtered at the place where the burnt offerings are slaughtered, and its blood must be splattered against all sides of the altar. ³ The priest will then offer all its fat on the altar, including the fat of the broad tail, the fat around the internal organs, ⁴ the two kidneys and the fat around them near the loins, and the long lobe of the liver. These are to be removed with the kidneys, ⁵ and the priests will burn them on the altar as a special gift presented to the Lord. This is the guilt offering. ⁶ Any male from a priest’s family may eat the meat. It must be eaten in a sacred place, for it is most holy.

⁷ “The same instructions apply to both the guilt offering and the sin offering. Both belong to the priest who uses them to purify someone, making that person right with the Lord.^{[a] 8} In the case of the burnt offering, the priest may keep the hide of the sacrificed animal. ⁹ Any grain offering that has been baked in an oven, prepared in a pan, or cooked on a griddle belongs to the priest who presents it. ¹⁰ All other grain offerings, whether made of dry flour or flour moistened with olive oil, are to be shared equally among all the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

Further Instructions for the Peace Offering

¹¹ “These are the instructions regarding the different kinds of peace offerings that may be presented to the Lord. ¹² If you present your peace offering as an expression of thanksgiving, the usual animal sacrifice must be accompanied by various kinds of bread made without yeast—thin cakes mixed with olive oil, wafers spread with oil, and cakes made of choice flour mixed with olive oil. ¹³ This peace offering of thanksgiving must also be accompanied by loaves of bread made with yeast. ¹⁴ One of each kind of bread must be presented as a gift to the Lord. It will then belong to the priest who splatters the blood of the peace offering against the altar. ¹⁵ The meat of the peace offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the same day it is offered. None of it may be saved for the next morning.

¹⁶ “If you bring an offering to fulfill a vow or as a voluntary offering, the meat must be eaten on the same day the sacrifice is offered, but whatever is left over may be eaten on the second day. ¹⁷ Any meat left over until the third day must be completely burned up. ¹⁸ If any of the meat from the peace offering is eaten on the third day, the person who presented it will not be accepted by the Lord. You will receive no credit for offering it. By then the meat will be contaminated; if you eat it, you will be punished for your sin.

¹⁹ “Meat that touches anything ceremonially unclean may not be eaten; it must be completely burned up. The rest of the meat may be eaten, but only by people who are ceremonially clean. ²⁰ If you are ceremonially unclean and you eat meat from a peace offering that was presented to the Lord, you will be cut off from the community. ²¹ If you touch anything that is unclean (whether it is human defilement or an unclean animal or any other unclean, detestable thing) and then eat meat from a peace offering presented to the Lord, you will be cut off from the community.”

The Forbidden Blood and Fat

²² Then the Lord said to Moses, ²³ “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. You must never eat fat, whether from cattle, sheep, or goats. ²⁴ The fat of an animal found dead or torn to pieces by wild animals must never be eaten, though it may be used for any other purpose. ²⁵ Anyone who eats fat from an animal presented as a special gift to the Lord will be cut off from the community. ²⁶ No matter where you live, you must never consume the blood of any bird or animal. ²⁷ Anyone who consumes blood will be cut off from the community.”

A Portion for the Priests

²⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, ²⁹ “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you present a peace offering to the Lord, bring part of it as a gift to the Lord. ³⁰ Present it to the Lord with your own hands as a special gift to the Lord. Bring the fat of the animal, together with the breast, and lift up the breast as a special offering to the Lord. ³¹ Then the priest will burn the fat on the altar, but the breast will belong to Aaron and his descendants. ³² Give the right thigh of your peace offering to the priest as a gift. ³³ The right thigh must always be given to the priest who offers the blood and the fat of the peace offering. ³⁴ For I have reserved the breast of the special offering and the right thigh of the sacred offering for the priests. It is the permanent right of Aaron and his descendants to share in the peace offerings brought by the people of Israel. ³⁵ This is their rightful share. The special gifts presented to the Lord have been reserved for Aaron and his descendants from the time they were set apart to serve the Lord as priests. ³⁶ On the day they were anointed, the Lord commanded the Israelites to give these portions to the priests as their permanent share from generation to generation.”

³⁷ These are the instructions for the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, as well as the ordination offering and the peace offering. ³⁸ The Lord gave these instructions to Moses on Mount Sinai when he commanded the Israelites to present their offerings to the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai.