Leviticus 3:11

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

The priest shall burn it on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to Yahweh.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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אִשֶּׁ֖ה

ʼishshâh

H801

“burnt offering”

Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 65× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 29:18

Full BDB Definition

Origin: the same as H800 , but used in a liturgical sense

TWOT: 172a

burnt-offering, offering made by fire, fire offering

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

6: words
6: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Grammatical profile

1 verb
5 nouns

Verb forms

וְהִקְטִיר֥וֹ Hiphil · Sequential Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 20 words from the Hebrew and 21 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 6 Hebrew tokens and 10 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Leviticus 3:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Leviticus 21:6 They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God; for they offer the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy.
Leviticus 21:17 "Say to Aaron, 'None of your seed throughout their generations who has a blemish, may approach to offer the bread of his God.
Leviticus 3:5 Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar on the burnt offering, which is on the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh.
Leviticus 3:16 The priest shall burn them on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire, for a sweet savor; all the fat is Yahweh's.
Leviticus 21:8 You shall sanctify him therefore; for he offers the bread of your God: he shall be holy to you: for I Yahweh, who sanctify you, am holy.
Leviticus 21:21–22 no man of the seed of Aaron the priest, who has a blemish, shall come near to offer the offerings of Yahweh made by fire. Since has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.
Leviticus 22:25 Neither from the hand of a foreigner shall you offer the bread of your God of any of these; because their corruption is in them. There is a blemish in them. They shall not be accepted for you.'"
Numbers 28:2 Command the children of Israel, and tell them, My offering, my food for my offerings made by fire, of a sweet savor to me, shall you observe to offer to me in their due season.

Ezekiel 44:7 in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, [to add] to all your abominations.
Malachi 1:7 You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, 'How have we polluted you?' In that you say, 'Yahweh's table contemptible.'
Psalms 22:14 I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; It is melted within me.
Isaiah 53:4–10 Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.
Malachi 1:12 "But you profane it, in that you say, 'Yahweh's table is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible.'
Romans 8:32 He who didn't spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?
1 Corinthians 10:21 You can't both drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can't both partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons.
Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Leviticus 3:11 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְהִקְטִיר֥וֹ הַכֹּהֵ֖ן הַמִּזְבֵּ֑חָה לֶ֥חֶם אִשֶּׁ֖ה לַיהוָֽה

The priest shall burn it on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to Yahweh.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Leviticus 3:11 Septuagint · lemma form

ἀναφέρω ὁ ἱερεύς ἐπί ὁ θυσιαστήριον ὀσμή εὐωδία κάρπωμα κύριος

the priest shall offer these on the altar: it is a sacrifice of sweet savor, a burnt offering to the Lord.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְיַסְקִנֵהּ כַּהֲנָא לְמַדְבְּחָא לְחֵם קֻרְבָּנָא קֳדָם יְיָ

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְיַסְקִינֵיהּ כַּהֲנָא לְמַדְבְּחָא לְחֵם קוּרְבָּנָא קֳדָם יְיָ

And the priest shall sacrifice it at the altar, the meat of an oblation before the Lord.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Leviticus 3:11 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Commentary source

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Lev 3:11 And the priest shall burn it upon the altar: [it is] the food of the offering made by fire unto the LORD.

Ver. 11. It is the food.] That whereupon God himself seemeth to feed. {Psa 50:13}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

3:11 special gift: See study note on 1:9. • Offerings of food were called “God’s food” (21:6, 8, 17, 21, 22; Num 28:2). However, Scripture is clear that the Lord did not eat the offerings, as pagans believed their deities did (Ps 50:9-13). Instead, these offerings belonged to God, and the priest ate a portion of this food as God’s representative (Lev 21:21-22). These offerings sustained the priest and his family.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 11. It is the food of the offering] We have already remarked that God is frequently represented as feasting with his people on the sacrifices they offered; and because these sacrifices were consumed by that fire which was kindled from heaven, therefore they were considered as the food of that fire, or rather of the Divine Being who was represented by it. "In the same idiom of speech," says Dodd, "the gods of the heathens are said, De 32:38, to eat the fat and drink,,the wine which were consumed on their altars.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) The food, or bread, that is, which the fire upon the altar was to consume for God, or the sacrifice. Hence that which was burnt unto God was called His bread (Num_28:2; Eze_44:7), and the priests who burnt it are described as offering “ the bread of their God” (Lev_21:6; Lev_21:8; Lev_21:17).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

11. the food of the offering made by fire] bread, R.V. mg. So in Lev_3:16.

It is to be noted that in chs. 1–3 how the sacrifices are to be offered is prescribed but not when. Further regulations are found in ch. 7 and Numbers 15 about the minḥah and Drink-Offering.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And if his offering be a goat,.... As it might be, and which also was of the flock:

then he shall offer it before the Lord; in the same place and manner as the bullock and the lamb,

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Burn it - See Lev 1:9 note.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Food, destined for the honour of God, and to be consumed by fire. In other places, God calls these sacrifices his food, and the altar his table. (Chap. xxi. 21.; Malachias i. 7, 12.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

The priest shall burn it, i.e. the parts now mentioned, and for the rest, they fell to the priest, Lev 7:31.

The food of the offering, i.e. the fuel of the fire, or the matter of the offering. It is called food, bread, to note God’s acceptance of it, and delight in it, as men delight in their food.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

11. The food of the offering — Literally, this means the bread or sustenance of the altar-flame.

Unto the Lord — Jehovah’s altar may be said to be the table which he spreads on the earth. Devout and willing souls bring provision to that table, and are graciously invited to sit down and share the gifts which their loyal hearts have brought, hallowed by his presence and sweetened by his blessing. Num_28:2. The flesh of the peace offering, of which no mention is made in this chapter, was to be eaten by the offerer and his friends on the same day or the day following. Lev_7:15-16.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

It is the food of the offering made by fire unto the Lord; literally, It is the bread of the offering by fire to the Lord. The idea of the peace offering being that of a meal at God"s board, the part of the animal presented to God upon the altar is regarded as his share of the feast, and is called his food or bread. Cf. Rev_3:20, "I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Burnt it - The parts now mentioned; the rest fell to the priest, chap. vii, 31. The food - That is, the fuel of the fire, or the matter of the offering. It is called food, Hebrew. bread, to note God's acceptance of it, and delight in it; as men delight in their food.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

'לחם אשה לה‎ means: it is the food of the fire in honour of the Lord. (The translation is not: it is food, a fire offering unto the Lord; לחם is construct, and the words must be translated as Rashi does).

לחם is a general expression for food. Similar is, (Jeremiah 11:19) “let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof (בלחמו)”; (Daniel 5:1) “[Belshazzar] made a great banquet (לחם)”; (Ecclesiastes 10:19) “It is for laughter that a banquet (לחם) is made”.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Leviticus, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 6 words (6 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʼishshâh (“burnt offering”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “burnt offering” (ʼishshâh) shape what this verse is saying?
How does Leviticus 21:6, which shares this passage’s theme, read alongside this verse?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
«וְהִקְטִיר֥וֹ» is a Hiphil Sequential Perfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Tyndale Open Study Notes read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 6 Hebrew ↔ 10 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 11 words in this verse.
6 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 6 words in this verse.