Leviticus 3:2

Summary

The verse describes the ritual procedure for a peace offering: the offerer places his hand on the head of the offering, slaughters it at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and then Aaron's sons the priests sprinkle its blood around the altar.

Key words

• sa.Makh ("he will lean", H5564) — qal sequential perfect; describes the physical act of pressing the hand onto the animal, continuing the ritual sequence begun in verse 1.
• ya.D ("hand", H3027G) — construct form with pronominal suffix o ("his"), producing "his hand," directly linking the offerer's body to the offering.
• she.cha.T ("he will cut throat", H7819A) — qal sequential perfect; a specific verb for slaughtering by cutting the throat, distinct from general killing terms.
• za.re.Ku ("they will sprinkle", H2236) — qal sequential perfect, third person plural; the subject is be.Nei 'a.ha.Ron ha.ko.ha.Nim ("the sons of Aaron, the priests"), specifying that this act belongs to the priestly class, not the offerer.
• sa.Viv ("all around", H5439H) — a common-gender noun functioning adverbially, indicating the blood is applied to the entire perimeter of the altar, not just one point.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain of sequential perfect verbs joined by the narrative vav (H9001): sa.Makh ("he will lean"), she.cha.T ("he will cut throat"), and za.re.Ku ("they will sprinkle"). This chain structure marks a continuous ritual sequence, with each verb form indicating the next required action rather than an independent event. The subject shifts partway through: the singular verbs (sa.Makh, she.cha.T) refer to the individual bringing the offering, while the plural za.re.Ku shifts responsibility to be.Nei 'a.ha.Ron ha.ko.ha.Nim ("the sons of Aaron, the priests"), marking a clear division of ritual labor between the offerer and the priesthood.

The construct chains — rosh qorbano ("head of his offering"), petach 'ohel mo'ed ("entrance of the tent of meeting") — link each noun tightly to what follows, producing compact phrases that in translation require additional prepositions ("of," "the ... of").

Differences between versions

The LXX adds ἐναντίον κυρίου ("before the Lord"), a phrase with no corresponding element in the Hebrew text at this point. The LXX also specifies the altar as τὸ θυσιαστήριον τῶν ὁλοκαυτωμάτων ("the altar of the whole burnt offerings"), whereas the Hebrew simply reads ha.miz.Be.ach ("the altar") without further qualification. The Vulgate renders the slaughtering clause with a relative construction, quae immolabitur ("which shall be slaughtered"), differing from the Hebrew's direct sequential verb she.cha.T ("he will cut throat").