Leviticus 7

Living Bible

7 “Here are the instructions concerning the most holy offering for guilt:

² “The sacrificial animal shall be killed at the place where the burnt offering sacrifices are slain, and its blood shall be sprinkled back and forth upon the altar. ³ The priest will offer upon the altar all its fat, including the tail, the fat that covers the insides, ⁴ the two kidneys and the loin fat, and the gall bladder—all shall be set aside for sacrificing. ⁵ The priests will burn them upon the altar as a guilt offering to the Lord. ⁶ Only males among the priests may then eat the carcass, and it must be eaten in a holy place, for this is a most holy sacrifice.

⁷ “The same instructions apply to both the sin offering and the guilt offering—the carcass shall be given to the priest who is in charge of the atonement ceremony, for his food. ⁸ (When the offering is a burnt sacrifice, the priest who is in charge shall also be given the animal’s hide.) ⁹ The priests who present the people’s grain offerings to the Lord shall be given whatever remains of the sacrifice after the ceremony is completed. This rule applies whether the sacrifice is baked, fried, or grilled. ¹⁰ All other grain offerings, whether mixed with olive oil or dry, are the common property of all sons of Aaron.

¹¹ “Here are the instructions concerning the sacrifices given to the Lord as special peace offerings:

¹² “If it is an offering of thanksgiving, unleavened short bread^[a] shall be included with the sacrifice, along with unleavened wafers spread with olive oil and loaves from a batter of flour mixed with olive oil. ¹³ This thanksgiving peace offering shall be accompanied with loaves of leavened bread. ¹⁴ Part of this sacrifice shall be presented to the Lord by a gesture of waving it before the altar, then it shall be given to the assisting priest, the one who sprinkles the blood of the animal presented for the sacrifice. ¹⁵ After the animal has been sacrificed and presented to the Lord as a peace offering to show special appreciation and thanksgiving to him, its meat is to be eaten that same day, and none left to be eaten the next day.

¹⁶ “However, if someone brings a sacrifice that is not for thanksgiving, but is because of a vow or is simply a voluntary offering to the Lord, any portion of the sacrifice that is not eaten the day it is sacrificed may be eaten the next day. ^17-18 But anything left over until the third day shall be burned. For if any of it is eaten on the third day, the Lord will not accept it; it will have no value as a sacrifice, and there will be no credit to the one who brought it to be offered; and the priest who eats it shall be guilty, for it is detestable to the Lord, and the person who eats it must answer for his sin.

¹⁹ “Any meat that comes into contact with anything that is ceremonially unclean shall not be eaten, but burned; and as for the meat that may be eaten, it may be eaten only by a person who is ceremonially clean. ²⁰ Any priest who is ceremonially unclean but eats the thanksgiving offering anyway, shall be cut off from his people, for he has defiled what is sacred.^{[b] 21} Anyone who touches anything that is ceremonially unclean, whether it is uncleanness from man or beast, and then eats the peace offering, shall be cut off from his people, for he has defiled what is holy.”

²² Then the Lord said to Moses, ²³ “Tell the people of Israel never to eat fat, whether from oxen, sheep, or goats. ²⁴ The fat of an animal that dies of disease, or is attacked and killed by wild animals, may be used for other purposes, but never eaten. ²⁵ Anyone who eats fat from an offering sacrificed by fire to the Lord shall be outlawed from his people.

^26-27 “Never eat blood, whether of birds or animals. Anyone who does shall be excommunicated from his people.”

²⁸ And the Lord said to Moses, ²⁹ “Tell the people of Israel that anyone bringing a thanksgiving offering to the Lord must bring it personally with his own hands. ³⁰ He shall bring the offering of the fat and breast, which is to be presented to the Lord by waving it before the altar. ³¹ Then the priest shall burn the fat upon the altar, but the breast shall belong to Aaron and his sons, ^32-33 while the right thigh shall be given to the officiating priest. ³⁴ For I have designated the breast and thigh as donations from the people of Israel to the sons of Aaron. Aaron and his sons must always be given this portion of the sacrifice. ³⁵ This is their pay! It is to be set apart from the burnt offerings, and given to all who have been appointed to minister to the Lord as priests—to Aaron and to his sons. ³⁶ For on the day the Lord anointed them, he commanded that the people of Israel give these portions to them; it is their right forever throughout all their generations.”

³⁷ These were the instructions concerning the burnt offering, grain offering, sin offering, and guilt offering, and concerning the consecration offering and the peace offering; ³⁸ these instructions were given to Moses by the Lord on Mount Sinai, to be passed on to the people of Israel so that they would know how to offer their sacrifices to God in the Sinai Desert.