Leviticus 3
Big idea: The peace offering is the only sacrifice the worshipper eats. The procedure looks like the burnt offering — brought without defect, hand laid on the head, killed at the door, blood sprinkled around the altar — but only the fat and the organs go up in smoke. The rest becomes a meal. The chapter runs through three animals (herd, lamb, goat) with near-identical wording, and closes with a statute that will be repeated and enforced throughout the book: you shall eat neither fat nor blood. Fellowship with God is real and it is shared, but it is never on the worshipper's own terms.
Chapters 1–3 assume an offerer who wants to draw near. Chapter 4 turns to the offerer who has a problem — someone who has sinned, and did not even mean to.
3:1–5 — Peace offering from the herd
For a sacrifice of peace offerings from the herd, male or female, without defect. The offerer lays his hand on its head and kills it at the door of the tent; the priests sprinkle the blood around the altar. What is burned is specific: the fat that covers the innards, the two kidneys with their fat, and the cover on the liver — laid on the burnt offering already on the fire.
1 “‘If his offering is a sacrifice of peace offerings, if he offers it from the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without defect before Yahweh. 2 He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall sprinkle the blood around on the altar. 3 He shall offer of the sacrifice of peace offerings an offering made by fire to Yahweh. The fat that covers the innards, and all the fat that is on the innards, 4 and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the cover on the liver, with the kidneys, he shall take away. 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 pleasant aroma to Yahweh.
3:6–11 — From the flock: a lamb
The same offering from the flock, male or female, without defect. If a lamb, one detail is added that a bull does not have: the entire fat tail is taken away close to the backbone, along with the fat of the entrails, the kidneys and the cover on the liver. The priest burns it, and the paragraph ends with a striking phrase — it is the food of the offering made by fire to Yahweh.
6 “‘If his offering for a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yahweh is from the flock, either male or female, he shall offer it without defect. 7 If he offers a lamb for his offering, then he shall offer it before Yahweh; 8 and he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it before the Tent of Meeting. Aaron’s sons shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar. 9 He shall offer from the sacrifice of peace offerings an offering made by fire to Yahweh; its fat, the entire tail fat, he shall take away close to the backbone; and the fat that covers the entrails, and all the fat that is on the entrails, 10 and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the cover on the liver, with the kidneys, he shall take away. 11 The priest shall burn it on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire to Yahweh.
3:12–16 — A goat
The third animal, treated in the same words: laid hands on, killed before the tent, blood sprinkled around the altar, the fat of the innards, the kidneys and the cover on the liver taken away and burned for a pleasant aroma. The paragraph ends with a line that gives the whole chapter its point: all the fat is Yahweh's.
12 “‘If his offering is a goat, then he shall offer it before Yahweh. 13 He shall lay his hand on its head, and kill it before the Tent of Meeting; and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar. 14 He shall offer from it as his offering, an offering made by fire to Yahweh; the fat that covers the innards, and all the fat that is on the innards, 15 and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the cover on the liver, with the kidneys, he shall take away. 16 The priest shall burn them on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma; all the fat is Yahweh’s.
3:17 — Neither fat nor blood
One verse makes the chapter's practice permanent and portable: a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, that you shall eat neither fat nor blood. It reaches beyond the sanctuary into every Israelite home, and it will be argued again at length in chapter 17.
17 “‘It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, that you shall eat neither fat nor blood.’”
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).