Leviticus 7:5

Summary

The verse describes a priestly action: the priest burns "them" (parts previously mentioned) on the altar as a fire offering to Yehovah. The closing nominal clause identifies this rite as belonging to the asham ("guilt offering", H0817) category.

Key words

• hikTir ("he will make smoke", H6999A) — hiphil (causative) sequential perfect; the priest causes the smoke to rise, continuing the narrative chain from the preceding verses.
• mizbecha ("altar", H4196) — bears the directional he (H9011) suffix instead of a preposition, meaning "toward/onto the altar" is expressed by a suffixed vowel rather than a separate word.
• ishsheh ("a fire offering", H0801) — masculine singular noun standing in apposition to the burning action just described.
• asham ("guilt offering", H0817) — masculine singular noun, here functioning as the predicate of a verbless clause.
• hu ("it/he", H1931) — independent personal pronoun serving as the copula-equivalent in the nominal sentence "it is a guilt offering."

What the text says

The clause opens with the narrative vav (H9001) attached to hikTir, marking continuity with prior verses describing the same ritual sequence. The word order — verb, direct object marker with suffix ('oTam, "them", H0853+H9038), then subject ha-kohen ("the priest", H3548) — is typical of Biblical Hebrew narrative syntax, where the finite verb precedes its subject. The object "them" refers back to items specified earlier in the chapter (not repeated here), so the sentence depends grammatically on its context for full sense.

The destination of the burning, ha-mizbecha ("the altar", H4196), is marked not by a preposition but by the directional he suffix, a construction common in Hebrew for indicating motion toward a place ("altar-ward" rather than "to the altar"). Following this, ishsheh la-YHWH ("a fire offering to Yehovah", H0801 + H9005 + H3068G) restates the nature of the offering in apposition, without a verb connecting it to what precedes — a typical Hebrew appositional style.

The final phrase, asham hu ("guilt offering, it", H0817 + H1931), is a verbless (nominal) clause: noun followed by pronoun, functioning as "it is a guilt offering." This construction uses no copular verb, relying on juxtaposition and the pronoun H1931 to link subject and predicate.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew, LXX, and Vulgate texts diverge substantially here. The Hebrew text focuses on the priest burning portions on the altar as a fire offering identified as asham ("guilt offering"). The Vulgate follows this content closely: "incensum est Domini pro delicto" ("it is a burnt offering of the Lord, for the fault"), rendering asham with "pro delicto." The LXX text supplied, however, speaks of "the flesh of the sacrifice of praise of the peace offering" belonging to someone and being eaten on the day it is offered — content that does not correspond to the Hebrew verse's subject matter of burning a guilt offering on the altar.