4:8 “‘Then he must take up all the fat from the sin offering bull: 2 the fat covering the entrails 3 and all the fat surrounding the entrails, 4
16:25 “Then he is to offer up the fat of the sin offering 8 in smoke on the altar,
1 tn The plural “they” refers to the sons of Aaron (cf. v. 18). The LXX, Smr, and Syriac have singular “he,” referring to Aaron alone as in the latter half of the verse (the singular is followed here by NLT). Cf. NCV “Aaron’s sons put them.”
2 tn Heb “all the fat of the bull of the sin offering he shall take up from it.”
3 tc The MT has here the preposition עַל (’al, “on, upon” [i.e., “which covers on the entrails,” as awkward in Hebrew as it is in English]), but Smr, LXX, Syriac, and Targums read אֶת (’et), which is what would be expected (i.e., “which covers the entrails”; cf. Lev 3:3, 9, 14). It may have been mistakenly inserted here under the influence of “on (עַל) the entrails” at the end of the verse.
4 tn Heb “and all the fat on the entrails.” The fat layer that covers the entrails as a whole (i.e., “that covers the entrails”) is different from the fat that surrounds and adheres to the various organs (“on the entrails,” i.e., surrounding them; J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:205-7).
3 tn Heb “then he.” This pronoun refers to the offerer, who was responsible for slaughtering the animal. Contrast v. 2 above and v. 5 below.
4 tn Heb “carcass,” referring to the carcass of an animal that has died on its own, not the carcass of an animal slaughtered for sacrifice or killed by wild beasts. This has been clarified in the translation by supplying the phrase “of natural causes”; cf. NAB, TEV “that has died a natural death.”
5 tn Heb “shall be used for any work”; cf. NIV, NLT “may be used for any other purpose.”
5 tn Heb “And the fat of the sin offering he is to offer up.”