Leviticus 9:10

Summary

Leviticus 9:10 describes Aaron burning specific internal organs — the fat, kidneys, and liver lobe — taken from the sin offering, sending them up in smoke on the altar. The verse closes by anchoring this action to a prior divine command given to Moses.

Key words

• Chelev ("fat", H2459) — masculine singular noun, the first of three sacrificial parts marked by the object marker 'et (H0853), specifying fatty tissue set apart for burning.
• Yoteret ("lobe", H3508) — feminine singular noun, connected by two successive uses of min ("from", H4480A): first "from the liver" (ha-kaved), then "from the sin offering" (ha-chatat), creating a nested chain of origin.
• Chatat ("sin offering", H2403H) — feminine singular noun naming the sacrificial category from which all three organs are drawn.
• Hiqtir ("he made smoke", H6999A) — hiphil (causative) perfect verb, denoting the specific ritual act of causing something to go up in smoke, distinct from ordinary burning.
• Tzivah ("he had commanded", H6680) — piel (intensive) perfect verb, describing Yehovah's prior instruction that grounds and authorizes the action just performed.

What the text says

The verse opens with three parallel objects — chelev ("fat", H2459), kelayot ("kidneys", H3629), and yoteret ("lobe", H3508) — each introduced by the untranslatable object marker 'et (H0853), a Hebrew syntactic device marking definite direct objects with no equivalent in English or Latin. The third object, yoteret, is further specified through two chained prepositional phrases using min (H4480A): "from the liver" (min-ha-kaved) and "from the sin offering" (min-ha-chatat), so the syntax traces the lobe's origin in two steps — first anatomical (from the liver), then ritual (from the offering category).

The main verb hiqtir (H6999A) is a hiphil perfect of the root qtr, a causative form meaning literally "he caused to go up in smoke" — a technical term reserved for sacrificial burning rather than general combustion. It governs a noun with a directional-he suffix, mizbecha(h) ("toward the altar", H4196 + H9011), grammatically marking motion toward a destination rather than static location "on" the altar.

The closing clause uses ka'asher ("as", H0834D) to introduce a comparison with Yehovah's earlier instruction, expressed by tzivah (H6680), a piel perfect verb carrying an intensive nuance of formal command, directed 'et-Mosheh ("to Moses", H4872).

Differences between versions

The Hebrew yoteret (H3508), rendered "lobe," appears in the LXX as λοβὸν ("lobe"), matching closely, but the Vulgate gives reticulum jecoris ("the little net of the liver"), using different imagery for the same organ. The Hebrew directional-he on mizbecha ("toward the altar") is rendered in the LXX with ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον ("upon the altar") and in the Vulgate with super altare ("upon the altar"), both using static prepositions rather than reflecting the Hebrew's directional force. The LXX translates hiqtir (H6999A) as ἀνήνεγκεν ("he brought up/offered"), a verb of offering rather than burning, differing from the causative-burning sense of the Hebrew root.