Leviticus 7:1-38, NLT

Leviticus 7

Further Instructions for the Guilt Offering

1“These are the instructions for the guilt offering. It is most holy.

2The animal sacrificed as a guilt offering must be slaughtered at the place where the burnt offerings are slaughtered, and its blood must be splattered against all sides of the altar. 3The priest will then offer all its fat on the altar, including the fat of the broad tail, the fat around the internal organs, 4the two kidneys and the fat around them near the loins, and the long lobe of the liver. These are to be removed with the kidneys, 5and the priests will burn them on the altar as a special gift presented to the Lord. This is the guilt offering. 6Any male from a priest’s family may eat the meat. It must be eaten in a sacred place, for it is most holy.

7“The same instructions apply to both the guilt offering and the sin offering. Both belong to the priest who uses them to purify someone, making that person right with the Lord.*7:7 Or to make atonement.

8In the case of the burnt offering, the priest may keep the hide of the sacrificed animal. 9Any grain offering that has been baked in an oven, prepared in a pan, or cooked on a griddle belongs to the priest who presents it. 10All other grain offerings, whether made of dry flour or flour moistened with olive oil, are to be shared equally among all the priests, the descendants of Aaron.

Further Instructions for the Peace Offering

11“These are the instructions regarding the different kinds of peace offerings that may be presented to the Lord.

12If you present your peace offering as an expression of thanksgiving, the usual animal sacrifice must be accompanied by various kinds of bread made without yeast—thin cakes mixed with olive oil, wafers spread with oil, and cakes made of choice flour mixed with olive oil. 13This peace offering of thanksgiving must also be accompanied by loaves of bread made with yeast. 14One of each kind of bread must be presented as a gift to the Lord. It will then belong to the priest who splatters the blood of the peace offering against the altar. 15The meat of the peace offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the same day it is offered. None of it may be saved for the next morning.

16“If you bring an offering to fulfill a vow or as a voluntary offering, the meat must be eaten on the same day the sacrifice is offered, but whatever is left over may be eaten on the second day.

17Any meat left over until the third day must be completely burned up. 18If any of the meat from the peace offering is eaten on the third day, the person who presented it will not be accepted by the Lord. You will receive no credit for offering it. By then the meat will be contaminated; if you eat it, you will be punished for your sin.

19“Meat that touches anything ceremonially unclean may not be eaten; it must be completely burned up. The rest of the meat may be eaten, but only by people who are ceremonially clean.

20If you are ceremonially unclean and you eat meat from a peace offering that was presented to the Lord, you will be cut off from the community. 21If you touch anything that is unclean (whether it is human defilement or an unclean animal or any other unclean, detestable thing) and then eat meat from a peace offering presented to the Lord, you will be cut off from the community.”

The Forbidden Blood and Fat

22Then the Lord said to Moses,

23“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. You must never eat fat, whether from cattle, sheep, or goats. 24The fat of an animal found dead or torn to pieces by wild animals must never be eaten, though it may be used for any other purpose. 25Anyone who eats fat from an animal presented as a special gift to the Lord will be cut off from the community. 26No matter where you live, you must never consume the blood of any bird or animal. 27Anyone who consumes blood will be cut off from the community.”

A Portion for the Priests

28Then the Lord said to Moses,

29“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you present a peace offering to the Lord, bring part of it as a gift to the Lord. 30Present it to the Lord with your own hands as a special gift to the Lord. Bring the fat of the animal, together with the breast, and lift up the breast as a special offering to the Lord. 31Then the priest will burn the fat on the altar, but the breast will belong to Aaron and his descendants. 32Give the right thigh of your peace offering to the priest as a gift. 33The right thigh must always be given to the priest who offers the blood and the fat of the peace offering. 34For I have reserved the breast of the special offering and the right thigh of the sacred offering for the priests. It is the permanent right of Aaron and his descendants to share in the peace offerings brought by the people of Israel. 35This is their rightful share. The special gifts presented to the Lord have been reserved for Aaron and his descendants from the time they were set apart to serve the Lord as priests. 36On the day they were anointed, the Lord commanded the Israelites to give these portions to the priests as their permanent share from generation to generation.”

37These are the instructions for the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, as well as the ordination offering and the peace offering.

38The Lord gave these instructions to Moses on Mount Sinai when he commanded the Israelites to present their offerings to the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai.