Leviticus 1:8

Summary

Leviticus 1:8 instructs that Aaron's sons, the priests, are to arrange the cut pieces of the sacrificial animal — specifically the head and the suet — on top of the wood that is burning on the altar's fire. The verse describes the physical placement of specific body parts within the burnt offering ritual.

Key words

• 'a.re.Khu ("they will arrange", H6186A) — qal sequential perfect; continues the narrative sequence begun in earlier verses, indicating this action follows previous steps in the ritual.
• ne.ta.Chim ("pieces", H5409) — masculine plural noun marked by the direct object marker 'et (H0853); refers to the cut portions of the sacrificial animal collectively.
• Rosh ("head", H7218A) — masculine singular noun, one of the two specific parts singled out by name after the general term "pieces."
• Pa.der ("suet", H6309) — masculine singular noun, the second specific part named; connected to Rosh by the conjunction ve (H9002).
• 'al ("on", H5921A) — preposition repeated three times (wood/fire/altar), each time governed by a relative particle 'a.sher (H0834A), creating a chain of spatial specification.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence structure moves from the general to the specific: it first names ha.nne.ta.chim ("the pieces", H5409) as the object of the verb 'a.re.Khu, then singles out ha.Rosh ("the head", H7218A) and ha.Pa.der ("the suet", H6309) as particular items within that category, each preceded by its own direct object marker ('et, H0853). This suggests the "pieces" is a broad term encompassing multiple cuts, of which the head and suet receive individual mention.

The final clause builds a layered spatial description using three prepositional phrases linked by relative particles: the pieces go 'al ha.'Etzim ("on the wood", H6086G), which itself is 'al ha.'Esh ("on the fire", H0784), which is 'al ha.miz.Be.ach ("on the altar", H4196). This nesting construction — wood on fire on altar — specifies the exact physical location for the placement, moving from the object placed down through the medium (wood), the state (fire), to the fixed structure (altar).

Differences between versions

The Vulgate diverges most significantly: instead of pairing "head" with "suet" (Hebrew Pa.der, H6309), it reads "caput" ("head") together with "cuncta quae adhærent jecori" ("all that clings to the liver"), introducing a reference to the liver not present in the Hebrew text's Pa.der. The LXX renders ne.ta.chim as διχοτομήματα ("dismembered pieces") and keeps head and fat (στέαρ) as separate items joined by καὶ, structurally similar to the Hebrew's paired nouns but without the repeated object markers found in the Hebrew syntax. The Vulgate also omits explicit mention of the altar in this clause, folding the spatial description differently than the Hebrew's three-tiered prepositional chain.