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Leviticus 7

1

Likewise this is the law of the trespass offering: it is most holy.

2

In the place where they kill the burnt offering shall they kill the trespass offering: and the blood thereof shall he sprinkle round about upon the altar.

3

And he shall offer of it all the fat thereof; the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards,

4

And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul that is above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away:

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And the priest shall burn them upon the altar for an offering made by fire unto the Lord: it is a trespass offering.

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Every male among the priests shall eat thereof: it shall be eaten in the holy place: it is most holy.

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7

As the sin offering is, so is the trespass offering: there is one law for them: the priest that maketh atonement therewith shall have it.

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And the priest that offereth any man’s burnt offering, even the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering which he hath offered.

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And all the meat offering that is baken in the oven, and all that is dressed in the fryingpan, and in the pan, shall be the priest’s that offereth it.

10

And every meat offering, mingled with oil, and dry, shall all the sons of Aaron have, one as much as another.

11

And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer unto the Lord.

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If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried.

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Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offerings.

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And of it he shall offer one out of the whole oblation for an heave offering unto the Lord, and it shall be the priest’s that sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings.

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And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered; he shall not leave any of it until the morning.

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But if the sacrifice of his offering be a vow, or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offereth his sacrifice: and on the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten:

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But the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burnt with fire.

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And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings be eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be imputed unto him that offereth it: it shall be an abomination, and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity.

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And the flesh that toucheth any unclean thing shall not be eaten; it shall be burnt with fire: and as for the flesh, all that be clean shall eat thereof.

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20

But the soul that eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, that pertain unto the Lord, having his uncleanness upon him, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.

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Moreover the soul that shall touch any unclean thing, as the uncleanness of man, or any unclean beast, or any abominable unclean thing, and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which pertain unto the Lord, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.

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And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

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Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat.

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And the fat of the beast that dieth of itself, and the fat of that which is torn with beasts, may be used in any other use: but ye shall in no wise eat of it.

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For whosoever eateth the fat of the beast, of which men offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, even the soul that eateth it shall be cut off from his people.

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Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings.

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Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.

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And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

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Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, He that offereth the sacrifice of his peace offerings unto the Lord shall bring his oblation unto the Lord of the sacrifice of his peace offerings.

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His own hands shall bring the offerings of the Lord made by fire, the fat with the breast, it shall he bring, that the breast may be waved for a wave offering before the Lord.

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And the priest shall burn the fat upon the altar: but the breast shall be Aaron’s and his sons’.

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And the right shoulder shall ye give unto the priest for an heave offering of the sacrifices of your peace offerings.

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He among the sons of Aaron, that offereth the blood of the peace offerings, and the fat, shall have the right shoulder for his part.

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For the wave breast and the heave shoulder have I taken of the children of Israel from off the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them unto Aaron the priest and unto his sons by a statute for ever from among the children of Israel.

35

This is the portion of the anointing of Aaron, and of the anointing of his sons, out of the offerings of the Lord made by fire, in the day when he presented them to minister unto the Lord in the priest’s office;

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Which the Lord commanded to be given them of the children of Israel, in the day that he anointed them, by a statute for ever throughout their generations.

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This is the law of the burnt offering, of the meat offering, and of the sin offering, and of the trespass offering, and of the consecrations, and of the sacrifice of the peace offerings;

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Which the Lord commanded Moses in mount Sinai, in the day that he commanded the children of Israel to offer their oblations unto the Lord, in the wilderness of Sinai.

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Leviticus 7

Chapter seven completes the priestly regulations for the guilt offering, burn offering, grain offering, and fellowship offering. The guilt offering and sin offering share the same most holy status and the same requirement for eating within the sanctuary area by the officiating male priests. Priestly compensation is systematically established: the officiating priest keeps the hide of the burnt offering; cooked grain offerings belong to the officiating priest; uncooked grain offerings are shared equally among all the sons of Aaron. The fellowship offering section addresses the three sub-types — thank offering (eaten same day), vow offering, and freewill offering (both may be eaten over two days) — with strict rules against eating on the third day (piggul) or while ritually impure, both carrying the cut-off penalty. The chapter closes with the declaration that God took the wave breast and presented thigh from the fellowship offering and gave them to the priests as their perpetual share — the priestly provision is God's redistribution, not human charity.

Leviticus 7:1

These are the regulations for the guilt offering, which is most holy. The guilt offering — asham — shares the most holy designation with the sin offering. The priestly regulations for the guilt offering follow the pattern established for the sin offering: slaughter in the designated location, blood applied by the priests, fat burned on the altar, priestly portions eaten in the courtyard. The most holy status of the guilt offering communicates that the offering which addresses the reparation of sacred and interpersonal violations is as weighty before God as the offering that addresses direct personal sin.

Leviticus 7:2

The guilt offering is to be slaughtered in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, and its blood is to be splashed against the sides of the altar. The guilt offering shares the slaughter location and blood application of the burnt offering — at the north side of the altar, with blood splashed against the altar's sides. The consistent blood application across the burnt offering and the guilt offering communicates the consistent principle: whatever the specific occasion of the offering, the blood that represents the life given is applied to the altar that represents the presence of God. The blood is always brought to God; the specific purpose of the bringing varies.

Leviticus 7:3

All its fat shall be offered: the fat tail and the fat that covers the internal organs. The fat portions of the guilt offering include the fat tail — distinctive to the broad-tailed sheep that was the standard guilt offering animal — and the fat covering the internal organs. The same fat-to-God principle applies to the guilt offering as to the fellowship offering and the sin offering: the richest, most vital portions of the animal belong to God and are burned on the altar. The guilt offering's fat portions communicate that even when an offering is made in the context of reparation and restitution, the acknowledgment of God's claim on the richest portions remains.

Leviticus 7:4

Both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the long lobe of the liver, which is to be removed with the kidneys. The kidneys and liver lobe — the organs of the inner life with their surrounding fat — are God's portion in the guilt offering as in every major offering. The consistent specification of the kidneys and liver lobe across the fellowship, sin, and guilt offerings establishes these organs as the fixed portion belonging to God in every animal offering. Whatever the occasion, whatever the specific purpose of the sacrifice, the inner organs given to God represent the inner life surrendered to God.

Leviticus 7:5

The priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering presented to the Lord. It is a guilt offering. The burning of the fat portions on the altar as a food offering presented to the Lord is the altar-side completion of the guilt offering. The offering that began with the offerer's hand-laying and slaughter is completed by the priest's burning of the fat portions. The collaboration between the offerer and the priest in completing the offering communicates the covenant's collaborative character: the offerer brings what God requires; the priest handles it in the way God specifies; God receives what the offerer and priest together present.

Leviticus 7:6

Any male in a priest's family may eat it, but it must be eaten in the sanctuary area; it is most holy. The guilt offering portions eaten by the priests — like the sin offering portions — are restricted to males of the priestly family and must be eaten within the sanctuary area. The consistency of the most holy regulations across the sin and guilt offerings communicates the consistent standard: what is most holy must be handled by the most holy personnel in the most holy location. The sanctuary area that is the site of the worship is also the dining room of the priests who administer it.

Leviticus 7:7

The same law applies to both the sin offering and the guilt offering: they belong to the priest who makes atonement with them. The explicit equivalence of the sin offering and the guilt offering regulations — the same law applies to both — establishes the principle of priestly provision from both. The priest who makes atonement is the priest who receives the offering: the one who performs the service is the one who benefits from the service's provision. The principle that the serving priest benefits from what he serves communicates the justice of the covenant's support system: the community's worship supports the community's servants.

Leviticus 7:8

The priest who offers a burnt offering for anyone may keep the hide of the burnt offering he has offered. The hide of the burnt offering — the animal's skin — belongs to the officiating priest as his compensation for offering the burnt offering. The hide is not burned on the altar; it is not given to the offerer; it goes to the priest. The commercial value of a hide in the ancient world was significant: leather had many practical uses, and the priest's accumulated hides from the burnt offerings would be a meaningful provision. The burnt offering that is entirely consumed on the altar for God still provides for the priest through the one portion that the fire does not consume.

Leviticus 7:31

The priest is to burn the fat on the altar, but the breast belongs to Aaron and his sons. The division of the fellowship offering after the wave: the fat goes to the altar; the breast goes to Aaron and his sons — the entire priestly family, not just the officiating priest. The breast that was waved before the Lord becomes the priestly community's food. The wave before the Lord and the eating by the priests are inseparable: the presentation to God and the distribution to God's servants are one continuous act of the fellowship offering.

Leviticus 7:9

Every grain offering baked in an oven or cooked in a pan or on a griddle belongs to the priest who offers it. The cooked grain offerings — all three preparation methods from Leviticus 2 — belong to the officiating priest. The priest who presents the grain offering on the altar keeps the remainder after the memorial portion is burned. The priestly provision from the grain offerings is the foundation for the priestly community's food supply: the daily grain offerings brought by the congregation sustain the priestly families who serve at the altar. 1 Corinthians 9:14 says the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel — Leviticus 7:9 is the foundational legislation behind that principle.

Leviticus 7:10

Every grain offering, whether mixed with oil or dry, belongs equally to all the sons of Aaron. The grain offerings that are not specifically assigned to the officiating priest — the uncooked flour offerings — belong equally to all the sons of Aaron, not to the one who happens to officiate. The equal distribution of uncooked grain offerings among all the Aaronic priests communicates a principle of equity within the priestly community: the offerings that have no specific officiating priest assigned to them are shared equally rather than accumulated by whoever happens to be present. The priestly community's provision is both individually earned (from specifically officiated offerings) and collectively distributed.

Leviticus 7:11

These are the regulations for the fellowship offering anyone may present to the Lord. The priestly regulations for the fellowship offering address the most complex of the major offerings because the fellowship offering has multiple sub-types — the thank offering, the vow offering, and the freewill offering — with different regulations for each. The fellowship offering is also the only major offering in which the offerer participates in the eating: unlike the sin and guilt offerings (priests only) or the burnt offering (entirely consumed), the fellowship offering creates a shared meal among God, the priests, and the worshipping community.

Leviticus 7:12

If they offer it as an expression of thankfulness, then along with this thank offering they are to offer thick loaves made without yeast and with olive oil mixed in, thin loaves made without yeast and brushed with olive oil, and thick loaves of the finest flour well-kneaded and with oil mixed in. The thank offering — todah — is the fellowship offering brought in response to God's specific act of deliverance or blessing. The thank offering requires an elaborate grain accompaniment: three types of unleavened bread made with oil in different ways. Psalm 50:14 says offer God a sacrifice of thanksgiving — the todah of Leviticus 7:12 is the liturgical institution behind the psalms of thanksgiving that fill the Psalter.

Leviticus 7:13

Along with their fellowship offering of thanksgiving they are to present an offering with thick loaves of bread made with yeast. The thank offering includes a fourth type of bread made with yeast — the only offering that incorporates leavened bread as part of its presentation. The leavened bread of the thank offering is not burned on the altar (the prohibition of Leviticus 2:11 remains in force) but is brought as part of the overall presentation. The presence of leavened bread in the thank offering acknowledges the reality of ordinary life: the thanksgiving that celebrates God's deliverance is expressed in the ordinary bread of the household, leaven and all.

Leviticus 7:14

They are to bring one of each kind as an offering, a contribution to the Lord; it belongs to the priest who splashes the blood of the fellowship offering. One loaf from each type — one from the unleavened kinds and one from the leavened — is presented as a contribution to the Lord and then given to the officiating priest. The selection of one representative loaf from each type is the grain offering equivalent of the memorial portion: the representative sample is given first to God through the priest, and the remainder becomes part of the shared meal. The thank offering's bread, like the fat portions of its animal, is distributed: a portion to God's representative and the rest to the community.

Leviticus 7:15

The meat of their fellowship offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day it is offered; they must leave none of it till morning. The thank offering meat must be eaten on the day it is offered — no leftovers until morning. The urgency of the same-day consumption communicates the urgent gratitude that the thank offering expresses: the thanksgiving that prompts the thank offering is not a measured, calculated response but an immediate, all-consuming celebration. The left-overnight prohibition is the opposite of hoarding: what was given in thanksgiving cannot become provision for tomorrow. The thank offering celebrates what God has done today; tomorrow's provision is tomorrow's gratitude.

Leviticus 7:16

If, however, their offering is the result of a vow or is a freewill offering, the sacrifice shall be eaten on the day they offer it, but anything left over may be eaten on the next day. The vow offering and the freewill offering — the two other types of fellowship offering — have a two-day eating window rather than the thank offering's one-day restriction. The longer window reflects the different character of these offerings: the vow offering fulfills a commitment made, and the freewill offering is a spontaneous expression of generosity, both less urgent than the specific response of thanksgiving. The graduated eating windows communicate the graduated urgency of the different types of fellowship offerings.

Leviticus 7:17

Any meat of the sacrifice left over till the third day must be burned up. The three-day limit is absolute: what remains on the third day must be burned, not eaten. The burning of leftover offerings after the prescribed eating window communicates the principle that what is consecrated to God retains its sacred character — it cannot transition from sacred food to ordinary provisions. The meat of the fellowship offering that is not eaten within the prescribed window does not become ordinary meat that can be taken home and used for other purposes. The sacred character of the offering persists even when the eating window closes.

Leviticus 7:18

If any meat of the fellowship offering is eaten on the third day, the one who offered it will not be accepted. It will not be credited to them; it will be impure, and the person who eats any of it will be responsible for the outcome. The technical term for the third-day meat is piggul — a word that appears only here and in Leviticus 19:7 and Ezekiel 4:14. Piggul means something offensive or disqualified — the meat that has exceeded its sacred window has become not merely stale but ritually invalid. The offering that was presented with the intention of eating the leftovers on the third day is rejected — the disqualifying intention voids the offering at the moment of presentation. The intention to violate the offering's rules disqualifies the offering itself.

Leviticus 7:19

Meat that touches anything ceremonially unclean must not be eaten; it must be burned up. As for other meat, anyone who is ceremonially clean may eat it. The interaction between the fellowship offering meat and ritual impurity: meat that comes into contact with anything ritually impure becomes impure and must be burned. Clean meat that has not been contaminated may be eaten by any ritually clean person. The regulation communicates the fellowship offering's character as sacred food that must be protected from contamination: the shared meal of the covenant community maintains the standards of cleanness that the entire covenant worship system requires.

Leviticus 7:20

But if anyone who is ceremonially unclean eats any meat of the fellowship offering belonging to the Lord, they must be cut off from their people. The most severe consequence in the fellowship offering regulations: a ritually impure person who eats the fellowship offering meat is cut off from the covenant community. The fellowship offering that creates communion between God, the priests, and the community cannot be eaten by those who are in a state of ritual impurity — the exclusion from the community meal for the impure communicates that covenant fellowship requires the preparation of cleanliness. The person who participates in the covenant meal while ritually impure has violated the fellowship they are pretending to celebrate.

Leviticus 7:21

Anyone who touches something unclean — whether human uncleanness or an unclean animal or any unclean creature — and then eats any of the meat of the fellowship offering belonging to the Lord must be cut off from their people. The cutting off penalty for eating the fellowship offering while impure is extended to cover all categories of ritual impurity: human uncleanness, unclean animals, or any unclean creature. The comprehensiveness of the categories communicates the comprehensiveness of the requirement: any state of ritual impurity, from any source, disqualifies a person from eating the fellowship offering. The community meal of the covenant is a meal for the prepared community, not for anyone who happens to be present.

Leviticus 7:22

The Lord said to Moses. A brief transitional divine speech introduces the summary regulations for fat and blood — the two substances prohibited from eating throughout the offering system.

Leviticus 7:23

Say to the Israelites: do not eat any of the fat of cattle, sheep or goats. The prohibition on eating the fat of the three major domesticated animals — the animals used for the major offerings — is the congregation-facing statement of what the priestly regulations have communicated throughout: the fat of these animals belongs to God and is burned on the altar. The Israelite who does not offer to the altar still observes the same prohibition in their ordinary eating: the fat of cattle, sheep, and goats is not food for human consumption. The altar's regulation and the household's diet share the same underlying principle.

Leviticus 7:24

The fat of an animal found dead or torn by wild animals may be used for any other purpose, but you must not eat it. The fat of animals that died naturally or were killed by predators — animals that were not slaughtered in the covenant's proper manner — is available for practical uses such as greasing equipment or leather-working, but it may not be eaten. The distinction between eating and using communicates the specific nature of the prohibition: the fat is not prohibited from all human interaction but from the specific act of eating. The covenant's dietary law addresses what enters the body; other uses of the prohibited fat do not violate the prohibition.

Leviticus 7:25

Anyone who eats the fat of an animal from which a food offering may be presented to the Lord must be cut off from their people. The cutting off penalty applies to eating the fat of the altar animals — cattle, sheep, and goats. The severity of the penalty communicates the severity of the violation: eating the fat is not merely breaking a dietary rule but appropriating what belongs to God. The fat that the offering system designates as God's portion belongs to God even in the context of ordinary meals: the Israelite who eats the fat of a beef steak or a lamb chop has eaten God's portion, not their own. The consistent divine claim on the fat extends beyond the altar into the household.

Leviticus 7:26

And wherever you live, you must not eat the blood of any bird or animal. The blood prohibition extends beyond the three major offering animals to every bird and animal — the absolute prohibition on eating blood is universal. Leviticus 17:14 will ground this in the principle that the life of every creature is its blood: the blood that represents the life given to atonement cannot be eaten as food. Acts 15:20 includes abstaining from blood in the minimum requirements for Gentile believers — the universal blood prohibition of Leviticus 7:26 is among the most enduring of the Levitical regulations in the New Testament era.

Leviticus 7:27

Anyone who eats blood must be cut off from their people. The cutting off penalty for eating blood is as severe as for eating fat. The two substances that are prohibited from eating — fat and blood — are the two substances that belong exclusively to God in the offering system. Both are life-associated: fat is the body's energy reserve, blood is the body's life-carrier. The God who is the source of all life claims both substances: the fat that represents richness and the blood that represents life belong to the One who gives both richness and life.

Leviticus 7:28

The Lord said to Moses. A final divine speech in the chapter introduces the regulations for the worshipper's participation in the fellowship offering — specifically, what the person who brings the offering must personally do as part of the offering ritual.

Leviticus 7:29

Say to the Israelites: anyone who brings a fellowship offering to the Lord is to bring part of it as their sacrifice to the Lord. The worshipper who brings the fellowship offering participates in the offering by bringing specific portions as a personal sacrifice. The fellowship offering is not simply handed off to the priest for handling; the offerer has an active role in the presentation of the wave portions. The active participation of the worshipper in the fellowship offering communicates the fellowship offering's character: this is a shared meal and a shared act of worship, not a deputed service.

Leviticus 7:30

With their own hands they are to present the food offerings to the Lord; they are to bring the fat, together with the breast, and wave the breast before the Lord as a wave offering. The worshipper's own hands carry the fat and the breast to be waved before the Lord. The wave offering — tenufah — involves the worshipper holding the portions and moving them in a presentation gesture before the altar, after which the priest takes them. The worshipper's hands under the fat and breast, the priest's hands under the worshipper's hands, both moving together in the wave — the wave offering is the most intimate collaborative act in the offering system. The fellowship offering is an offering of genuine, physical participation.

Leviticus 7:32

You are to give the right thigh of your fellowship offerings to the priest as a contribution. The right thigh — the choicest cut of the animal's leg — is given as a contribution (terumah, a lifted portion) to the officiating priest specifically, rather than to the entire priestly community. Where the wave breast belongs to all the sons of Aaron, the right thigh belongs to the specific priest who officiates at that fellowship offering. The distinction communicates the two-level priestly provision: the communal provision (wave breast shared among all) and the individual provision (thigh to the officiating priest).

Leviticus 7:33

The son of Aaron who offers the blood and the fat of the fellowship offering shall have the right thigh as his share. The officiating priest's claim on the right thigh is specific: the son of Aaron who offers the blood and the fat — the one who splashes the blood on the altar and burns the fat — receives the thigh. The thigh is compensation for the specific acts of the official service. The priest who performs the critical ritual acts of blood application and fat-burning is the priest who benefits from the right thigh. The covenant's justice is precise: those who serve receive in proportion to what they have done in the service.

Leviticus 7:34

From the fellowship offerings of the Israelites, I have taken the breast that is waved and the thigh that is presented and have given them to Aaron the priest and his sons as their perpetual share from the Israelites. The divine declaration of the priestly provisions is stated in the first person: I have taken the breast and the thigh and given them to the priests. The priestly portions of the fellowship offering are not the community's gift to the priests but God's redistribution of what the community brought to Him. God receives the wave breast and the presented thigh from the Israelites and gives them to His servants. The priestly provision is divine provision, not human charity.

Leviticus 7:35

This is the portion of the food offerings presented to the Lord that were allotted to Aaron and his sons on the day they were presented to the Lord to serve him as priests. The priestly portions were established on the day of the priests' ordination — the first day of their service is the day God established their perpetual provision. The ordination of the priesthood and the establishment of the priestly provisions are simultaneous: the calling and the sustaining are both divine acts. The priests who were called to serve were also provided for at the moment of their calling. Matthew 10:10 says the worker deserves their wages — the priestly provisions established at ordination are the God-ordained wages of the God-ordained service.

Leviticus 7:36

On the day they were anointed, the Lord commanded that the Israelites give this to them as their perpetual share for the generations to come. The anointing day command and the perpetual-share designation connect the priestly provisions to the covenant's permanent institutions: the Sabbath, the Passover, and the priesthood are all lasting ordinances established by divine command. The generations to come who will benefit from the priestly community's service will also support that community through the fellowship offering portions. The generations who receive atonement from the priestly ministry will also provide for the priestly ministry's sustenance.

Leviticus 7:37

These, then, are the regulations for the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering and the fellowship offering. The comprehensive summary lists all six offering types covered in Leviticus 1–7: burnt, grain, sin, guilt, ordination, and fellowship. The ordination offering — mentioned here but not separately regulated in these chapters — is the offering that will be described in Leviticus 8 during the installation of the priests. The summary signals the completion of the first major section of Leviticus. Hebrews 10:1 says the law is only a shadow of the good things to come — the six offerings of Leviticus 1–7 are the Old Testament's most comprehensive institutional shadow of the one offering that fulfills them all.

Leviticus 7:38

Which the Lord gave Moses on Mount Sinai on the day he commanded the Israelites to bring their offerings to the Lord, in the Desert of Sinai. The closing verse grounds all the offering regulations in the Sinai revelation. The offerings are not human religious inventions but divine commands given on Mount Sinai. The Desert of Sinai setting is the reminder that these regulations were given to a community on the move, living between liberation and the promised land — the same community for which the tabernacle was built and the priesthood was established. The offering system is the liturgical structure of the wilderness community, the God-given means by which a people between Egypt and Canaan could maintain covenant relationship with their God.