Leviticus 5:8

5:8 He must bring them to the priest and present first the one that is for a sin offering. The priest ¹  must pinch ²  its head at the nape of its neck, but must not sever the head from the body. ³ 

Leviticus 8:9

8:9 Finally, he set the turban ⁴  on his head and attached the gold plate, the holy diadem, ⁵  to the front of the turban just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

[5:8]  ¹ tn Heb “he.” The subject (“he”) refers to the priest here, not the offerer who presented the birds to the priest (cf. v. 8a).

[5:8]  ² sn The action seems to involve both a twisting action, breaking the neck of the bird and severing its vertebrae, as well as pinching or nipping the skin, but in this case not severing the head from the main body (note the rest of this verse).

[5:8]  ³ tn Heb “he shall not divide [it]” (see J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:305).

[8:9]  ⁴ tn Although usually thought to be a “turban” (and so translated by the majority of English versions) this object might be only a “turban-like headband” wound around the forehead area (HALOT 624 s.v. מִצְנֶפֶת).

[8:9]  ⁵ sn The gold plate was attached as a holy diadem to the front of the turban by means of a blue cord, and had written on it “Holy to the Lord” (Exod 28:36-37; 39:30-31). This was a particularly important article of high priestly clothing in that it served as the main emblem indicating Aaron’s acceptable representation of Israel before the Lord (Exod 28:38).