Text -- Leviticus 1:16-17 (NET)

1:16 Then the priest must remove its entrails by cutting off its tail feathers, and throw them to the east side of the altar into the place of fatty ashes, 1:17 and tear it open by its wings without dividing it into two parts. Finally, the priest must offer it up in smoke on the altar on the wood which is in the fire– it is a burnt offering, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Lev 1:16

¹ tn Heb “Then he”; the referent (apparently still the priest) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn This translation (“remove its entrails by [cutting off] its tail feathers”) is based on the discussion in J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:169-71, although he translates, “remove its crissum by its feathers.” Others possibilities include “its crop with its contents” (Tg. Onq., cf. NIV, NRSV; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 23) or “its crop with its feathers” (LXX, NASB, RSV; “crop” refers to the enlarged part of a bird’s gullet that serves a pouch for the preliminary maceration of food).

³ tn The pronoun “them” here is feminine singular in Hebrew and refers collectively to the entrails and tail wing which have been removed.

NET Notes: Lev 1:17

¹ tn Heb “he shall not divide it.” Several Hebrew mss, Smr, LXX, and Syriac have a vav on the negative, yielding the translation, “but he shall not divide it into two parts.” Cf. NIV “not severing it completely” (NRSV similar).