Leviticus 8:27-29

8:27 He then put all of them on the palms ¹  of Aaron and his sons, who waved ²  them as a wave offering before the Lord. ³  8:28 Moses then took them from their palms and offered them up in smoke on the altar ⁴  on top of the burnt offering – they were an ordination offering for a soothing aroma; it was a gift to the Lord. 8:29 Finally, Moses took the breast and waved it as a wave offering before the Lord from the ram of ordination. It was Moses’ share just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Exodus 29:24

29:24 You are to put all these ⁵  in Aaron’s hands ⁶  and in his sons’ hands, and you are to wave them as a wave offering ⁷  before the Lord.

¹ sn The “palms” refer to the up-turned hands, positioned in such a way that the articles of the offering could be placed on them.

² tn Heb “and he waved.” The subject of the verb “he waved” is Aaron, but Aaron’s sons also performed the action (see “Aaron and his sons” just previously). See the similar shifts from Moses to Aaron as the subject of the action above (vv. 15, 16, 19, 20, 23), and esp. the note on Lev 8:15. In the present translation this is rendered as an adjectival clause (“who waved”) to indicate that the referent is not Moses but Aaron and his sons. Cf. CEV “who lifted it up”; NAB “whom he had wave” (with “he” referring to Moses here).

³ sn See Lev 7:30-31, 34.

⁴ tn Heb “toward the altar” (see the note on Lev 1:9).

⁵ tn Heb “the whole” or “the all.”

⁶ tn Heb “palms.”

⁷ tn The “wave offering” is תְּנוּפָה (tÿnufah); it is, of course, cognate with the verb, but an adverbial accusative rather than the direct object. In Lev 23 this seems to be a sacrificial gesture of things that are for the priests – but they present them first to Yahweh and then receive them back from him. So the waving is not side to side, but forward to Yahweh and then back to the priest. Here it is just an induction into that routine, since this is the ordination of the priests and the gifts are not yet theirs. So this will all be burned on the altar.