Leviticus 3:9

Summary

The verse specifies which parts of the peace offering (zevach shelamim, H2077+H8002) are to be burned as a fire offering to Yehovah: the fat, the entire fat tail removed at the backbone, and the fat covering and surrounding the entrails. The verse details the anatomical precision required in separating these fatty portions from the animal.

Key words

• hikRiv ("he will present", H7126H) — hiphil causative, sequential perfect; the offerer causes the offering to draw near, continuing the ritual sequence begun in the surrounding verses.
• isheh ("a fire offering", H0801) — masculine singular noun naming the category of offering: something consumed by fire, here directed la-Yehovah ("to Yehovah", H3068G).
• alyah temimah ("fat tail" + "complete", H0451+H8549I) — feminine singular noun with feminine adjective; temimah specifies that the entire tail, without partial cutting, is meant.
• yesirenNah ("he will remove it", H5493G) — hiphil imperfect with 3rd feminine singular suffix (-nah, H9034), referring back to alyah; the imperfect indicates a required future/ongoing action of removal.
• mekhasSeh ("covers", H3680) — piel participle, masculine singular, describing the fat as "the one covering" the entrails — a participle used substantively to identify a specific portion of fat by its location.

What the text says

The sentence opens with the sequential verb hikRiv ("he will present"), governed by the vav (H9001) that links this instruction to the preceding verses on the peace offering procedure. The object of presentation is drawn mi-zevach ha-shelamim ("from the sacrifice of the peace offerings", H2077 construct + H8002), specified as an isheh la-Yehovah ("fire offering to Yehovah"). The core content of the offering is then listed in apposition: chelbo ("its fat", H2459 construct + suffix H9023) followed by ha-alyah temimah ("the fat tail, complete/whole", H0451+H8549I) — the wholeness of the tail is grammatically marked by the feminine adjective agreeing with the feminine noun.

The clause le-'ummat he-'atzeh yesirennah ("close to the backbone he shall remove it") uses the construct noun 'ummat ("close to", H5980) to specify the exact anatomical point of removal, and the imperfect verb yesirennah carries the 3fs suffix referring back to the tail, making explicit that "it" (the tail) is what gets separated at that location.

The remainder of the verse repeats the object marker 'et (H0853) three times, each introducing a further fatty component: ha-chelev ha-mekhasseh 'et ha-kerev ("the fat that covers the entrails") and kol ha-chelev 'asher 'al ha-kerev ("all the fat that is on the entrails"). The piel participle mekhasseh functions as a substantive modifier, identifying the fat by its covering action rather than by a separate name, while the relative 'asher (H0834A) with the preposition 'al ("on", H5921A) locates the second portion of fat positionally rather than functionally.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) reads adipem et caudam totam ("the fat and the entire tail"), joining the two items with "and," where the Hebrew presents chelbo ("its fat") and ha-alyah temimah ("the complete fat tail") as two items in apposition without an explicit conjunction between them, both governed by the same offering clause. The LXX (LXXSWETE) text, as given, is fragmentary and includes ἄμωμον ("unblemished/without defect"), which corresponds semantically to temimah ("complete", H8549I) but shifts the sense from "whole/entire" to "unblemished," a nuance not present in the Hebrew term itself.