Knox Bible

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And this is the rule which governs the offering of a victim for wrong done.✻ Such a victim is set apart for holy uses,

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and must be immolated where burnt-sacrifices are immolated; its blood must be poured round the altar.

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The parts which must be offered are the tail, and the fat which covers the entrails,

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the two kidneys and the fat that is close to them, and with the kidneys the caul of the liver.

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All these the priest will burn on the altar, as a burnt-sacrifice to the Lord in amends for the wrong done;

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the flesh of the victim is set apart for holy uses, but it may be eaten by any male person belonging to the priestly family.

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Victims are to be offered for a wrong done just as they are for a fault; the rule is the same for either, and either victim belongs to the priest who offers it.

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The priest who offers a victim in burnt-sacrifice, may keep the skin for himself;

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and every offering of flour cooked in the oven, or prepared with gridiron or pan, is made over to the priest who offers it;

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kneaded with oil or dry, such gifts must be divided equally between all the men of Aaron’s race.

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And this is the rule which governs the welcome-offerings that are brought to the Lord.

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If it is a thank-offering, there must be loaves of unleavened bread kneaded with oil, unleavened cakes with oil poured over them, pastry kneaded with oil,

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and loaves, too with leaven in them. All these must go with the victim which is immolated as a welcome-offering in thanksgiving;

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and one of each must be offered to the Lord as first-fruits, so that it will belong to the priest who sheds the victim’s blood.

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The flesh of the victim must be eaten the same day, none of it left till the morrow.

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If the offering is made in performance of a vow, or simply from devotion, it should be eaten on the same day; but if any is left till the morrow, it may still be eaten;

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whatever the third day finds still unfinished must be destroyed by fire.

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If any such flesh is eaten on the third day, the offering will be null and void, and the giver will have no advantage from it; indeed, whoever contaminates himself by eating such food is guilty of an offence.

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If it has touched anything unclean, it must be destroyed by fire, not eaten. Only one who is free from defilement may partake of it;

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the man who eats any of the victim for a welcome-offering, when he is himself defiled, is lost to his people;

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and he, too, who eats such flesh after touching any defilement left by man or beast, or anything that makes him unclean.

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And the Lord spoke to Moses,

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giving him this message for the sons of Israel: You are not to eat the fat of sheep or ox or goat;

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but you may keep the fat of anything that falls dead or is killed by a wild beast, for various uses.

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Anyone who eats the fat which ought to be offered, as part of the Lord’s burnt-sacrifice, is lost to his people.

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Nor must you use the blood of any living thing, bird or beast, as food;

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whoever consumes the blood, is lost to his people.

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And the Lord spoke to Moses

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giving him this message, too, for the sons of Israel: The man who brings the Lord a welcome-offering must surrender, in doing so, his sacrificial due, the choice portions of the victim.

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He will carry with him the fat and the breast of the victim, and both these, when they have been held up in sign of consecration to the Lord, he will hand over to the priest,

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who will burn the fat on the altar, while the breast belongs, as their due, to Aaron and his sons.

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The right shoulder of the victim slain in welcome-offering is also the priest’s prerogative;

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whichever of Aaron’s sons offers the blood and the fat, is to have the right shoulder for his portion.

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The breast that is held up in sign of consecration, the shoulder that is separated from the rest, are the portions of the welcome-offering which I demand of the Israelites; making them over to Aaron, my priest, and to his descendants, as a right due to them at all times from the sons of Israel.

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Such are the privileges✻ Aaron and his sons enjoy in the worship offered to the Lord, ever since the day when Moses presented them to him to be his priests;

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such gifts the Lord bade the Israelites bestow upon them by a right unalterable, age after age.

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Thus far the rules which govern burnt-sacrifice,✻ and sacrifices for a fault or a wrong done, for the hallowing of priests, and for the victims used in welcome-offering,

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as the Lord prescribed them to Moses on mount Sinai, when he commanded the sons of Israel, there in the desert of Sinai, to bring him their offerings.