Define

• Hebrew: olah (עֹלָה) means "that which goes up"
• A type of offering
  • Burnt offerings are a type of offering. They are a specific category of sacrifice distinct from other offerings, such as sin offerings, peace offerings, grain offerings, or trespass offerings. The term "burnt offering" (Hebrew: ʿōlâ, meaning "that which goes up") refers to a sacrifice where the entire animal (except for the skin in some cases) is consumed by fire on the altar, symbolizing complete dedication to God. And were offered voluntarily or as part of prescribed rituals to maintain a right relationship with God.

Related words

• Offerings
• Guilt Offering or Repartition Offering
• Fellowship Offering or Peace Offering
• Sin Offering or Repartition Offering

Additional Info

• most important - no part of it was consumed by any man - the whole offering belonged to God

• First occurs in Genesis 8:20
• This was the type of offering Isaac was representing
• Moses demanded the animals from Pharoah for these offerings
• It’s a sweet aroma to Yah
• Burnt offerings were offered to the golden calf
• God rejects insincere and vain burnt offerings
• The Bible consistently portrays burnt offerings to other gods as sinful and offensive to the Lord. Deuteronomy 12:31 warns Israel not to worship God in the way pagans worship their gods, specifically mentioning that they “burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods,” a reference to sacrificial practices including burnt offerings.

Were made even when there was no tabernacle or temple.

• Non-Priests made burnt offerings.
• Gideon was instructed by Yah to make one.
• Samuel, acting under prophetic authority performed one and God accepted it.
• The Mosaic Law allowed non-priests to bring and slaughter animals for burnt offerings (Lev. 1:3-5), but priests were required for sprinkling the blood, arranging the animal on the altar, and burning it (Lev. 1:5-9). This division of labor meant non-priests “made” burnt offerings in the sense of providing and initiating them, but priests completed the sacred rites.

Connections

• Leviticus 1
  • From the herd
    • male without blemish
    • offfer at entrance of the Tent of Meeting
    • lay hand on the head so it will be accepted to make atonement
    • the offerer will slaughter the bull
    • Aaron’s sons/kohanim present the blood and splash it around the alter at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting
    • the offerer skins the burn offering and cut it into pieces
    • sons of Aaron place fire on the altar and arrage wood on the fire
    • Aaron’s sons arrange the pieces, the head and the fat on the wood which is atop the altar
    • the innards and legs the offer washes with water
    • Aaron’s sons burn it all up as smoke on the altar - a soothing aroma to Adonai
  • From the flock
    • sheep or goats
    • male without blemish
    • offerer slaugters it on the north side of the altar
    • Aaron’s sons splash its blood around the altar
    • offerer cuts it into pieces, with its head and its fat
    • Aaron’s sons arrange them upon the wood on the fire atop the altar
    • the innards and the legs the offer washes with water
    • Aaron’s sons offer it all and burnt it on the altar - a soothing aroma to Adonai
  • From birds
    • turtle doves or young pigeons
    • bring it to the altar - wring off it’s head - and burn it on the altar
    • its blood is drained out on the side of the altar
    • the offerer cuts off its digestive tract with its filth and cast it beside the altar on the east side, into the place of the fat ashes
    • the offerer tears off its wings but not divide it up
    • Aaron’s sons burn it upon the altar on the wood on the fire - a soothing aroma to Adonai

Reasons for offering burnt offerings

• Worship and Devotion to God
• Atonement for Sin
• Fulfillment of Vows or Thanksgiving
• Covenant and Consecration
• Daily and Regular Worship
• Appeasement and Seeking God’s Favor

Burnt offering in scripture:

• Genesis 8:20

  • Verse: "Then Noah built an altar to Adonai, took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar."
  • Context: Noah offers burnt offerings after the flood.

• Genesis 22:2–3, 6–8, 13

  • Verses:

    • 22:2: "Then He said, ‘Take now your son, your only son whom you love—Isaac —and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will tell you.’"
    • 22:3: "So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split wood for the burnt offering, and got up and went to the place God had told him about."
    • 22:6: "Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on Isaac his son. He took the fire and the knife in his hand, and the two of them walked on together."
    • 22:7: "Then Isaac said to Abraham his father, ‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ He said, ‘Look, here’s the fire and the wood, but where’s the lamb for a burnt offering?’"
    • 22:8: "Abraham said, ‘God will provide for Himself a lamb for a burnt offering, my son.’ The two of them walked on together."
    • 22:13: "Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and behold, there was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son."

  • Context: God tests Abraham, commanding him to offer Isaac as a burnt offering; a ram is ultimately offered.

• Exodus 10:25

  • Verse: "But Moses said, ‘You must also give us sacrifices and burnt offerings, so that we may sacrifice to Adonai our God.’"
  • Context: Moses demands livestock for burnt offerings from Pharaoh.

• Exodus 18:12

  • Verse: "Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God. Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law before God."
  • Context: Jethro offers a burnt offering to God.

• Exodus 20:24

  • Verse: "You are to make an altar of earth for Me, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings, your sheep, your cattle. In every place where I cause My Name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you."
  • Context: God instructs Israel on altars for burnt offerings.

• Exodus 24:5

  • Verse: "He sent out young men of Bnei-Yisrael, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings of oxen to Adonai."
  • Context: Burnt offerings are offered during the Sinai covenant ceremony.

• Exodus 29:18, 25, 42

  • Verses:
    • 29:18: "Then you are to burn the whole ram up in smoke on the altar. It is a burnt offering to Adonai, a sweet aroma, an offering by fire to Adonai."
    • 29:25: "Then you are to take them from their hands and offer them up in smoke on the altar on top of the burnt offering, as a sweet aroma before Adonai, an offering by fire to Adonai."
    • 29:42: "It is to be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting before Adonai. There I will meet with you, to speak with you there."
  • Context: Burnt offerings are part of priestly consecration and the daily ritual.

• Exodus 30:9, 28

  • Verses:

    • 30:9: "You must not offer unauthorized incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor grain offering, nor pour a drink offering on it."
    • 30:28: "the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its stand."

  • Context: The incense altar is distinguished from the altar of burnt offering, which is consecrated.

• Exodus 31:9

  • Verse: "the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, the basin with its stand,"
  • Context: The altar of burnt offering is listed among Tabernacle furnishings.

• Exodus 32:6

  • Verse: "So they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought fellowship offerings. Then the people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to make merry."
  • Context: Burnt offerings are offered to the golden calf.

• Exodus 35:16

  • Verse: "the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grating, its poles, and all its utensils, the basin and its stand;"
  • Context: Materials for the altar of burnt offering are contributed.

• Exodus 38:1

  • Verse: "Then he made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide, square, and three cubits high."
  • Context: Bezalel constructs the altar of burnt offering.

• Exodus 40:6, 10, 29

  • Verses:

    • 40:6: "Then you are to set the altar of burnt offering before the entrance of the Tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting."
    • 40:10: "You must also anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and consecrate the altar. The altar will be most holy."
    • 40:29: "He set the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the Tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as Adonai had commanded Moses."

  • Context: The altar of burnt offering is set up, consecrated, and used.

• Leviticus 1:3–4, 6, 9–10, 13–14, 17

  • Verses:

    • 1:3: "If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he is to offer a male without blemish. He is to present it at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, so that it may be accepted before Adonai."
    • 1:4: "He must lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, so that it will be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf."
    • 1:6: "He is to skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces."
    • 1:9: "But its innards and its legs he is to wash with water. The kohen must burn it all up in smoke on the altar, a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to Adonai."
    • 1:10: "If his gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or from the goats, he is to offer a male without blemish."
    • 1:13: "But the innards and the legs he is to wash with water. The kohen is to offer it all, and burn it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to Adonai."
    • 1:14: "If his offering to Adonai is a burnt offering of birds, then he is to offer his sacrifice from turtledoves or young pigeons."
    • 1:17: "He is to tear it by its wings, but not divide it completely. The kohen is to burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to Adonai."

  • Context: Procedures for burnt offerings from herds, flocks, or birds.

• Leviticus 3:5

  • Verse: "Then Aaron’s sons are to burn it on the altar on top of the burnt offering, which is on the wood that is on the fire. It is an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to Adonai."
  • Context: Peace offerings are burned atop the burnt offering.

• Leviticus 4:7, 10, 18, 24–25, 29–30, 33–34

  • Verses:

    • 4:7: "The kohen is to put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before Adonai, which is in the Tent of Meeting. Then he is to pour out all the rest of the blood of the bull at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting."
    • 4:10: "just as it is removed from the bull of the sacrifice of peace offerings. The kohen is to burn them up in smoke on the altar of burnt offering."
    • 4:18: "He is to put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before Adonai, in the Tent of Meeting. The rest of the blood he is to pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting."
    • 4:24: "He is to lay his hand on the head of the goat and slaughter it in the place where they slaughter the burnt offering before Adonai. It is a sin offering."
    • 4:25: "The kohen is to take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering. He is to pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering."
    • 4:29: "He is to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering."
    • 4:30: "The kohen is to take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering. He is to pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering."
    • 4:33: "He is to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it as a sin offering in the place where they slaughter the burnt offering."
    • 4:34: "The kohen is to take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering. He is to pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering."

  • Context: Sin offerings are processed at the altar of burnt offering or where burnt offerings are slaughtered.

• Leviticus 5:7, 10

  • Verses:

    • 5:7: "But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he is to bring to Adonai two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering."
    • 5:10: "The second he is to prepare as a burnt offering, according to the regulation. So the kohen is to make atonement for him for his sin that he committed, and he will be forgiven."

  • Context: A poor person offers a bird as a burnt offering.

• Leviticus 6:9–10, 12

  • Verses:

    • 6:9: "Command Aaron and his sons, saying: This is the Torah of the burnt offering. The burnt offering is to remain on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, while the fire of the altar is kept burning on it."
    • 6:10: "The kohen is to put on his linen garment, and is to put his linen undergarments on his body. He is to remove the ashes from where the fire has consumed the burnt offering on the altar and place them beside the altar."
    • 6:12: "The fire on the altar is to be kept burning on it—it must not go out. Each morning the kohen is to burn wood on it, lay the burnt offering in order upon it, and offer up in smoke the fat of the peace offerings on it."

  • Context: Rules for maintaining the burnt offering fire and ashes.

• Leviticus 6:25

  • Verse: "Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying: This is the Torah of the sin offering. In the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, the sin offering is to be slaughtered before Adonai. It is most holy."
  • Context: Sin offerings are killed where burnt offerings are slaughtered.

• Leviticus 7:2, 8

  • Verses:

    • 7:2: "In the place where they slaughter the burnt offering, they are to slaughter the guilt offering. Its blood is to be splashed around on the altar."
    • 7:8: "The kohen who offers anyone’s burnt offering will have the hide of the burnt offering which he has offered."

  • Context: Guilt offerings are slaughtered at the burnt offering site; priests keep the hide.

• Leviticus 7:37

  • Verse: "This is the Torah of the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering, and the sacrifice of peace offerings,"
  • Context: Burnt offering is listed among regulated offerings.

• Leviticus 8:18, 21, 28

  • Verses:

    • 8:18: "He then presented the ram of the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram."
    • 8:21: "He washed the innards and the legs with water. Then Moses burned the whole ram up in smoke on the altar. It was a burnt offering for a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to Adonai, as Adonai had commanded Moses."
    • 8:28: "Then Moses took them from their hands and burned them up in smoke on the altar with the burnt offering. They were a consecration offering for a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to Adonai."

  • Context: Burnt offerings during Aaron’s consecration.

• Leviticus 9:2–3, 7, 12, 14, 16–17, 20, 24

  • Verses:

    • 9:2: "He said to Aaron, ‘Take for yourself a calf from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and offer them before Adonai.’"
    • 9:3: "Then to Bnei-Yisrael you are to say, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, a calf and a lamb, both yearlings without blemish, for a burnt offering,’"
    • 9:7: "Moses said to Aaron, ‘Draw near to the altar, and offer your sin offering, and your burnt offering, and make atonement for yourself and for the people. Then present the offering of the people, and make atonement for them, as Adonai commanded.’"
    • 9:12: "Then he slaughtered the burnt offering. Aaron’s sons brought the blood to him and he splashed it around on the altar."
    • 9:14: "He washed the innards and the legs and burned them on the burnt offering on the altar."
    • 9:16: "He presented the burnt offering and offered it according to the regulation."
    • 9:17: "Next he presented the grain offering, took a handful of it and burned it on the altar, besides the burnt offering of the morning."
    • 9:20: "they placed the fat on the breasts, and he burned the fat on the altar."
    • 9:24: "Fire came out from the presence of Adonai and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces."

  • Context: Burnt offerings during the first priestly sacrifices.

• Leviticus 10:19

  • Verse: "But Aaron said to Moses, ‘Behold, today they presented their sin offering and their burnt offering before Adonai, and such things as these have happened to me. If I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been good in the sight of Adonai?’"
  • Context: Aaron references burnt offerings after his sons’ death.

• Leviticus 12:6, 8

  • Verses:

    • 12:6: "When the days of her purification are complete, for a son or for a daughter, she is to bring to the kohen, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, a year-old lamb for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering."
    • 12:8: "If she cannot afford a lamb, then she is to take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. The kohen will make atonement for her, and she will be clean."

  • Context: Burnt offerings for a woman’s purification after childbirth.

• Leviticus 14:13, 19–20, 22, 31

  • Verses:

    • 14:13: "He is to slaughter the male lamb in the place where they slaughter the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the holy place, because as the sin offering, the guilt offering belongs to the kohen. It is most holy."
    • 14:19: "The kohen is to offer the sin offering, and make atonement for the one being cleansed from his uncleanness. Afterward, he is to slaughter the burnt offering."
    • 14:20: "The kohen is to offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. So the kohen will make atonement for him, and he will be clean."
    • 14:22: "and two turtledoves or two young pigeons, such as he is able to afford. The one will be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering."
    • 14:31: "what he is able to afford, the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, together with the grain offering. So the kohen is to make atonement for the one being cleansed before Adonai."

  • Context: Burnt offerings in the leper’s cleansing ritual.

• Leviticus 15:15

  • Verse: "The kohen is to offer them, one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering. So the kohen will make atonement for him before Adonai for his discharge."
  • Context: Burnt offering for a man’s purification from a discharge.

• Leviticus 15:30

  • Verse: "The kohen is to offer one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering. So the kohen will make atonement for her before Adonai for the uncleanness of her discharge."
  • Context: Burnt offering for a woman’s purification from a discharge.

• Leviticus 16:3, 5, 24

  • Verses:

    • 16:3: "Thus Aaron is to come into the Sanctuary: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering."
    • 16:5: "He is to take from the congregation of Bnei-Yisrael two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering."
    • 16:24: "He is to wash his body with water in a holy place, put on his garments, and come out to offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people."

  • Context: Burnt offerings on the Day of Atonement.

• Leviticus 17:8

  • Verse: "You are to say to them: Any man from the house of Israel, or from the outsiders who dwell among them, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice,"
  • Context: Burnt offerings must be offered at the Tabernacle.

• Leviticus 22:18

  • Verse: "Speak to Aaron and to his sons, and to all Bnei-Yisrael, and say to them: Whoever is from the house of Israel, or from the outsiders in Israel, who presents his offering, whether it is any of their vows or any of their freewill offerings, which they present to Adonai for a burnt offering—"
  • Context: Rules for voluntary burnt offerings.

• Leviticus 23:12, 18, 37

  • Verses:

    • 23:12: "On the day when you wave the omer, you are to offer a male lamb a year old, without blemish, as a burnt offering to Adonai."
    • 23:18: "Along with the bread, you are to present seven male lambs a year old, without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to Adonai, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to Adonai."
    • 23:37: "These are the moadim of Adonai, which you are to proclaim to be holy convocations, to present an offering by fire to Adonai—burnt offering and grain offering, sacrifice and drink offerings, each on its own day—"

  • Context: Burnt offerings for Passover, Shavuot, and festivals.

• Numbers 6:11, 14, 16

  • Verses:

    • 6:11: "The kohen is to offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead body. He is to consecrate his head that same day."
    • 6:14: "He is to present his offering to Adonai: one male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering, one ewe-lamb a year old without blemish as a sin offering, one ram without blemish as a peace offering,"
    • 6:16: "The kohen is to present them before Adonai, and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering."

  • Context: Burnt offerings for a Nazirite’s purification or vow completion.

• Numbers 7:15, 21, 27, 33, 39, 45, 51, 57, 63, 69, 75, 81, 87

  • Verses:

    • 7:15: "one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;"
    • 7:21: "one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;"
    • 7:27: "one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;"
    • 7:33: "one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;"
    • 7:39: "one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;"
    • 7:45: "one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;"
    • 7:51: "one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;"
    • 7:57: "one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;"
    • 7:63: "one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;"
    • 7:69: "one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;"
    • 7:75: "one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;"
    • 7:81: "one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;"
    • 7:87: "All the animals for the burnt offering were twelve young bulls, twelve rams, twelve male lambs a year old, with their grain offering; and twelve male goats for a sin offering."

  • Context: Each tribe offers identical burnt offerings for the Tabernacle dedication.

• Numbers 8:12

  • Verse: "The Levites are to lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you are to offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to Adonai, to make atonement for the Levites."
  • Context: Burnt offering for Levite consecration.

• Numbers 15:3, 5, 8, 24

  • Verses:

    • 15:3: "and you make an offering by fire to Adonai, a burnt offering or a sacrifice to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or during your moadim, to make a soothing aroma to Adonai, from the herd or from the flock,"
    • 15:5: "With the burnt offering or for the sacrifice, you are to prepare a fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering, with each lamb."
    • 15:8: "When you prepare a bull as a burnt offering or as a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow or as a peace offering to Adonai,"
    • 15:24: "then it shall be, if it was committed by mistake, out of the sight of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bull for a burnt offering, as a soothing aroma to Adonai, with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat for a sin offering."

  • Context: Burnt offerings for vows, freewill offerings, festivals, and unintentional sins.

• Numbers 23:3, 6, 15, 17

  • Verses:

    • 23:3: "Then Balaam said to Balak, ‘Stay here beside your burnt offering, while I go and see if perhaps Adonai will meet me. Whatever He shows me I will tell you.’ Then he went to a bare hill."
    • 23:6: "So he returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab."
    • 23:15: "Then he said to Balak, ‘Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet over there.’"
    • 23:17: "So he returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he and the princes of Moab. Balak said to him, ‘What did Adonai say?’"

  • Context: Balak offers burnt offerings to seek God’s word through Balaam.

• Numbers 28:3, 6, 10–11, 13–15, 19, 23–24, 27, 31

  • Verses:

    • 28:3: "You are to say to them: This is the offering made by fire which you are to offer to Adonai: two male lambs a year old, without blemish, as a daily burnt offering."
    • 28:6: "It is a continual burnt offering, which was ordained at Mount Sinai for a soothing aroma, an offering made by fire to Adonai."
    • 28:10: "This is the burnt offering for every Shabbat, besides the continual burnt offering and its drink offering."
    • 28:11: "At the beginning of your months, you are to present a burnt offering to Adonai: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old, without blemish,"
    • 28:13: "and three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, as a grain offering for each bull, and two tenths of fine flour mixed with oil, as a grain offering for the one ram,"
    • 28:14: "Their drink offerings are to be half a hin of wine for a bull, a third of a hin for the ram, and a fourth of a hin for a lamb. This is the burnt offering for each month throughout the months of the year."
    • 28:15: "Also one male goat for a sin offering to Adonai is to be offered, besides the continual burnt offering and its drink offering."
    • 28:19: "You are to present an offering made by fire, a burnt offering to Adonai: two young bulls, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old. They are to be without blemish."
    • 28:23: "You are to prepare these in addition to the burnt offering of the morning, which is for a continual burnt offering."
    • 28:24: "Like these you are to offer daily, for seven days, the food of the offering made by fire, a soothing aroma to Adonai. It is to be offered in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering."
    • 28:27: "You are to present a burnt offering for a soothing aroma to Adonai: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old,"
    • 28:31: "You are to prepare them in addition to the continual burnt offering, its grain offering and their drink offerings. They are to be without blemish."

  • Context: Burnt offerings for daily, Sabbath, monthly, and Passover/Shavuot rituals.

• Numbers 29:2, 6, 8, 11, 13, 16–17, 19–20, 22–23, 25–26, 28–29, 31–32, 34–36, 39

  • Verses:

    • 29:2: "On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a sacred assembly, and do no laborious work. It is to be a day for you to blow the shofar. You are to offer a burnt offering for a soothing aroma to Adonai: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old, without blemish."
    • 29:6: "besides the burnt offering of the New Moon and its grain offering, the continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and their drink offerings, according to their ordinance, for a soothing aroma, an offering made by fire to Adonai."
    • 29:8: "You are to present a burnt offering to Adonai for a soothing aroma: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old, without blemish,"
    • 29:11: "plus one male goat as a sin offering, besides the sin offering for atonement, the continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and their drink offerings."
    • 29:13: "You are to present a burnt offering by fire, a soothing aroma to Adonai: thirteen young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old, without blemish."
    • 29:16: "plus one male goat as a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering."
    • 29:17: "On the second day: twelve young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old, without blemish,"
    • 29:19: "plus one male goat as a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, its grain offering and their drink offerings."
    • 29:20: "On the third day: eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old, without blemish,"
    • 29:22: "plus one male goat as a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering."
    • 29:23: "On the fourth day: ten bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old, without blemish,"
    • 29:25: "plus one male goat as a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering."
    • 29:26: "On the fifth day: nine bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old, without blemish,"
    • 29:28: "plus one male goat as a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering."
    • 29:29: "On the sixth day: eight bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old, without blemish,"
    • 29:31: "plus one male goat as a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering."
    • 29:32: "On the seventh day: seven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old, without blemish,"
    • 29:34: "plus one male goat as a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering."
    • 29:35: "On the eighth day there shall be for you an assembly. You are to do no laborious work. You are to present a burnt offering by fire, a soothing aroma to Adonai: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old, without blemish,"
    • 29:36: "You are to present a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, a soothing aroma to Adonai: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old, without blemish,"
    • 29:39: "These you are to prepare for Adonai at your moadim, besides your vow and freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings, and fellowship offerings."

  • Context: Burnt offerings for Sukkot and other festivals.

• Deuteronomy 12:6, 11, 13–14, 27

  • Verses:

    • 12:6: "There you will bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the offering of your hand, your vow and freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock."
    • 12:11: "Then there will be a place Adonai your God chooses to make His Name dwell. There you will bring all that I command you—your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes, the offering of your hand, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to Adonai."
    • 12:13: "Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in any place you see."
    • 12:14: "Rather, you are to offer your burnt offerings in the place Adonai will choose in one of your tribes, and there you are to do all that I command you."
    • 12:27: "You are to offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of Adonai your God. The blood of your sacrifices is to be poured out on the altar of Adonai your God, but the meat you are to eat."

  • Context: Instructions for offering burnt offerings at the chosen place.

• Deuteronomy 27:6

  • Verse: "You are to build the altar of Adonai your God of whole stones, and you are to offer burnt offerings on it to Adonai your God."
  • Context: Burnt offerings on an altar of whole stones upon entering the land.

• Joshua 8:31

  • Verse: "just as Moses the servant of Adonai had commanded Bnei-Yisrael, as written in the Book of the Torah of Moses, an altar of uncut stones on which no man had wielded an iron tool. They offered on it burnt offerings to Adonai and sacrificed fellowship offerings."
  • Context: Burnt offerings on an altar after conquering Ai.

• Joshua 22:23, 26–29

  • Verses:

    • 22:23: "If we built ourselves an altar to turn away from following Adonai, or to offer on it burnt offering or grain offering, or to offer on it fellowship offerings, may Adonai Himself require it."
    • 22:26: "So we said, ‘Let’s now build an altar, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice,"
    • 22:27: "but as a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we may perform the service of Adonai before Him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices and with our fellowship offerings, so that your children may not say to our children in times to come, “You have no portion in Adonai.”’"
    • 22:28: "So we said, ‘If they say this to us or to our generations in times to come, we will say, “Look at the replica of the altar of Adonai that our fathers made, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice, but as a witness between us and you.”’"
    • 22:29: "Far be it from us that we should rebel against Adonai and turn away from following Adonai this day, by building an altar for burnt offering, for grain offering, or for sacrifice, besides the altar of Adonai our God that stands before His Tabernacle."

  • Context: The Transjordan tribes build an altar, clarifying it’s not for burnt offerings but as a witness.

• Judges 6:26

  • Verse: "Then build an altar to Adonai your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take the second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole that you will cut down."
  • Context: Gideon is instructed to offer a burnt offering.

• Judges 11:31

  • Verse: "then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, it will be Adonai’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering."
  • Context: Jephthah vows to offer a burnt offering if victorious.

• Judges 13:16, 23

  • Verses:

    • 13:16: "The angel of Adonai said to Manoah, ‘If you detain me, I will not eat your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to Adonai.’ For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of Adonai."
    • 13:23: "But his wife said to him, ‘If Adonai had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hand, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear such things at this time.’"

  • Context: Manoah offers a burnt offering to the angel of Adonai.

• 1 Samuel 6:14–15

  • Verses:

    • 6:14: "The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there, where there was a large stone. So they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to Adonai."
    • 6:15: "The Levites took down the ark of Adonai and the box that was with it, in which were the golden objects, and put them on the large stone. The men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices that day to Adonai."

  • Context: Burnt offerings after the ark’s return.

• 1 Samuel 7:9–10

  • Verses:

    • 7:9: "So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to Adonai. Then Samuel cried out to Adonai for Israel, and Adonai answered him."
    • 7:10: "As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But Adonai thundered with a great voice that day against the Philistines and confused them, so that they were defeated before Israel."

  • Context: Samuel offers a burnt offering during a Philistine threat.

• 1 Samuel 10:8

  • Verse: "Then you are to go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to you, to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings. You are to wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you should do."
  • Context: Samuel instructs Saul to wait for burnt offerings at Gilgal.

• 1 Samuel 13:9–10, 12

  • Verses:

    • 13:9: "So Saul said, ‘Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings.’ Then he offered the burnt offering."
    • 13:10: "No sooner had he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. Saul went out to meet him and to bless him."
    • 13:12: "so I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of Adonai.’ So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering."

  • Context: Saul offers a burnt offering impatiently, leading to rebuke.

• 1 Samuel 15:22

  • Verse: "Samuel said, ‘Does Adonai delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Adonai? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay heed than the fat of rams.’"
  • Context: Samuel emphasizes obedience over burnt offerings.

• 2 Samuel 6:17–18

  • Verses:

    • 6:17: "They brought in the ark of Adonai and set it in its place in the middle of the tent that David had pitched for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before Adonai."
    • 6:18: "When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the fellowship offering, he blessed the people in the Name of Adonai-Tzva’ot."

  • Context: David offers burnt offerings after bringing the ark to Jerusalem.

• 2 Samuel 24:24–25

  • Verses:

    • 24:24: "But the king said to Araunah, ‘No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to Adonai my God that cost me nothing.’ So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver."
    • 24:25: "Then David built there an altar to Adonai, and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. So Adonai was moved by prayer for the land, and the plague was held back from Israel."

  • Context: David offers burnt offerings to stop a plague.

• 1 Kings 3:4, 15

  • Verses:

    • 3:4: "So the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for it was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar."
    • 3:15: "Then Solomon awoke and behold, it was a dream. So he came to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the covenant of Adonai, and offered burnt offerings and made fellowship offerings. Then he made a feast for all his servants."

  • Context: Solomon offers burnt offerings at Gibeon and Jerusalem.

• 1 Kings 8:64

  • Verse: "On that same day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was before the House of Adonai, for there he offered the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar that was before Adonai was too small to receive the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings."
  • Context: Solomon offers burnt offerings during the Temple dedication.

• 1 Kings 9:25

  • Verse: "Now three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar that he built for Adonai, burning incense with them on the altar that was before Adonai. So he finished the House."
  • Context: Solomon regularly offers burnt offerings.

• 2 Kings 3:27

  • Verse: "So he took his firstborn son who was to become king in his place and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. Then there was great wrath against Israel, so they departed from him and returned to their own land."
  • Context: The Moabite king offers his son as a burnt offering.

• 2 Kings 5:17

  • Verse: "So Naaman said, ‘If not, then please, let your servant be given two mule loads of soil, for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any other god, except Adonai.’"
  • Context: Naaman vows to offer burnt offerings only to Adonai.

• 2 Kings 10:24–25

  • Verses:

    • 10:24: "Then they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed 80 men outside and said, ‘If any of the men whom I brought into your hands escapes, your life will be for his life.’"
    • 10:25: "As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, ‘Go in, strike them down! Let no one get out.’ So they struck them down with the edge of the sword. The guard and the captains threw them out, and went to the inner room of the house of Baal."

  • Context: Jehu uses burnt offerings as a pretext to destroy Baal worshipers.

• 2 Kings 16:13, 15

  • Verses:

    • 16:13: "He offered his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his fellowship offerings on the altar."
    • 16:15: "Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the kohen, saying, ‘On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering and their drink offerings. Then sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice. But the bronze altar will be for me to inquire by.’"

  • Context: Ahaz offers burnt offerings on a new altar.

• 1 Chronicles 6:49

  • Verse: "But Aaron and his sons were the ones who offered sacrifices on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense for all the work of the Holy of Holies, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded."
  • Context: Aaron’s sons offer sacrifices on the altar of burnt offering.

• 1 Chronicles 16:1–2, 40

  • Verses:

    • 16:1: "They brought the ark of God and set it in the middle of the tent that David had pitched for it. Then they offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before God."
    • 16:2: "When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the Name of Adonai."
    • 16:40: "to offer burnt offerings to Adonai on the altar of burnt offering continually, morning and evening, according to all that is written in the Torah of Adonai, which He commanded Israel."

  • Context: Burnt offerings during the ark’s placement and regular worship.

• 1 Chronicles 21:23–24, 26, 29

  • Verses:

    • 21:23: "Ornan said to David, ‘Take it for yourself, and let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes. Look, I will give the oxen for burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for wood, and the wheat for the grain offering. I will give all of it.’"
    • 21:24: "But King David said to Ornan, ‘No, I will surely buy it for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for Adonai, nor offer a burnt offering that costs me nothing.’"
    • 21:26: "David built there an altar to Adonai and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He called on Adonai and He answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering."
    • 21:29: "For the Tabernacle of Adonai, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time in the high place at Gibeon."

  • Context: David offers burnt offerings to stop a plague.

• 1 Chronicles 22:1

  • Verse: "Then David said, ‘This is the House of Adonai Elohim, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.’"
  • Context: David designates the site for the altar of burnt offering.

• 1 Chronicles 29:21

  • Verse: "On the following day they offered sacrifices to Adonai and offered burnt offerings to Adonai: 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams and 1,000 lambs, with their drink offerings and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel."
  • Context: Burnt offerings during David’s preparations for the Temple.

• 2 Chronicles 1:6

  • Verse: "Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before Adonai, which was at the Tent of Meeting, and offered 1,000 burnt offerings on it."
  • Context: Solomon offers burnt offerings at Gibeon.

• 2 Chronicles 2:4

  • Verse: "Behold, I am about to build a House for the Name of Adonai my God, to dedicate it to Him for burning fragrant incense before Him, for regular showbread, and for burnt offerings every morning and evening, on Shabbatot, New Moons and moadim of Adonai Eloheinu. This is an ordinance for Israel forever."
  • Context: Solomon plans the Temple for burnt offerings.

• 2 Chronicles 4:6

  • Verse: "He also made ten basins for washing and placed five on the right side and five on the left. In them they were to rinse things for the burnt offering; but the sea was for the kohanim to wash in."
  • Context: Basins for rinsing burnt offering materials.

• 2 Chronicles 7:1, 7

  • Verses:

    • 7:1: "Now when Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of Adonai filled the House."
    • 7:7: "Moreover Solomon consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was before the House of Adonai, because there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, since the bronze altar which Solomon had made was not able to contain the burnt offering, the grain offering and the fat."

  • Context: Burnt offerings during the Temple dedication.

• 2 Chronicles 8:12

  • Verse: "Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to Adonai on the altar of Adonai which he had built before the porch,"
  • Context: Solomon offers burnt offerings at the Temple.

• 2 Chronicles 13:11

  • Verse: "They burn to Adonai every morning and every evening burnt offerings and sweet incense. The showbread is set on the clean table, and the menorah of gold with its lamps is lit every evening—for we keep the charge of Adonai Eloheinu, but you have abandoned Him."
  • Context: Abijah describes Judah’s burnt offerings.

• 2 Chronicles 23:18

  • Verse: "Jehoiada placed the offices of the House of Adonai under the authority of the Levitical kohanim, whom David had assigned over the House of Adonai to offer the burnt offerings of Adonai, as it is written in the Torah of Moses, with rejoicing and singing as ordered by David."
  • Context: Jehoiada restores burnt offerings per David’s order.

• 2 Chronicles 24:14

  • Verse: "When they had finished, they brought the remainder of the money before the king and Jehoiada, who made with it vessels for the House of Adonai—vessels for the ministry and for burnt offering, pans and vessels of gold and silver. So they offered burnt offerings in the House of Adonai continually all the days of Jehoiada."
  • Context: Burnt offerings during Jehoiada’s reforms.

• 2 Chronicles 29:7, 18, 24, 27–28, 31–32, 34–35

  • Verses:

    • 29:7: "They also shut the doors of the porch and put out the lamps, and did not burn incense or offer burnt offerings in the Holy Place to the God of Israel."
    • 29:18: "Then they went in to King Hezekiah and said, ‘We have cleansed the entire House of Adonai, the altar of burnt offering with all its vessels, and the table of the showbread with all its vessels.’"
    • 29:24: "The kohanim slaughtered them and purified the altar with their blood to make atonement for all Israel, for the king said that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be for all Israel."
    • 29:27: "Hezekiah gave the order to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. When the burnt offering began, the song to Adonai also began with the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David, king of Israel."
    • 29:28: "The entire congregation prostrated themselves, the singers sang and the trumpeters played the trumpets—continuing until the burnt offering was finished."
    • 29:31: "Then Hezekiah responded and said, ‘Now that you have consecrated yourselves to Adonai, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the House of Adonai.’ So the congregation brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all whose hearts were willing brought burnt offerings."
    • 29:32: "The number of the burnt offerings that the congregation brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs—all of these as a burnt offering to Adonai."
    • 29:34: "The kohanim were too few to flay all the burnt offerings, so their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was completed and until other kohanim had consecrated themselves—for the Levites were more conscientious than the kohanim to consecrate themselves."
    • 29:35: "Furthermore, there were so many burnt offerings, along with the fat of the fellowship offerings and the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the House of Adonai was reestablished."

  • Context: Hezekiah restores burnt offerings during Temple reforms.

• 2 Chronicles 30:15

  • Verse: "Then they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The kohanim and the Levites were ashamed and consecrated themselves, and brought burnt offerings into the House of Adonai."
  • Context: Burnt offerings during Hezekiah’s Passover.

• 2 Chronicles 31:2–3

  • Verses:

    • 31:2: "Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the kohanim and the Levites, according to their divisions, each kohen and Levite according to his service, for burnt offerings and for fellowship offerings, to minister and to give thanks and to praise in the gates of the camp of Adonai."
    • 31:3: "He also provided the king’s portion of his possessions for the burnt offerings: for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the SabbathS, the New Moons and the moadim (Appointed Time), as it is written in the Torah of Adonai."

  • Context: Hezekiah organizes burnt offerings.

• 2 Chronicles 35:12, 14, 16

  • Verses:

    • 35:12: "They set aside the burnt offerings to give them to the divisions of the ancestral houses of the common people to offer to Adonai, as it is written in the Book of Moses. They did the same with the bulls."
    • 35:14: "Afterward, they made preparations for themselves and for the kohanim, because the kohanim, the sons of Aaron, were occupied with offering the burnt offerings and the fat until nightfall; so the Levites made preparations for themselves and for the kohanim, the sons of Aaron."
    • 35:16: "So all the service of Adonai was prepared that day to keep the Passover, and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of Adonai, according to the command of King Josiah."

  • Context: Burnt offerings during Josiah’s Passover.

• Ezra 3:2–6

  • Verses:

    • 3:2: "Then Jeshua son of Jozadak, his fellow kohanim, and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel with his brothers rose up and built the altar of the God of Israel, in order to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Torah of Moses, the man of God."
    • 3:3: "They set up the altar on its fixed place, despite their fear of the peoples of the surrounding lands, and they offered burnt offerings on it to Adonai, both the morning and the evening burnt offerings."
    • 3:4: "They also observed the Feast of Sukkot, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the ordinance, as each day required,"
    • 3:5: "and afterward the regular burnt offering, the offerings at the New Moon, all the designated feasts of Adonai that were consecrated, and those of everyone who willingly offered a freewill offering to Adonai."
    • 3:6: "From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to Adonai, even though the foundation of the Temple of Adonai had not been laid."

  • Context: Burnt offerings resumed after the exile.

• Ezra 8:35

  • Verse: "Also the exiles who had returned from captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, and as a sin offering 12 male goats. All this was a burnt offering to Adonai."
  • Context: Exiles offer burnt offerings upon return.

• Nehemiah 10:33

  • Verse: "for the showbread, for the continual grain offering, for the continual burnt offering, the Shabbatot, the New Moons, for the moadim, for the holy things, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the House of our God."
  • Context: Commitment to support burnt offerings.

• Job 1:5

  • Verse: "When the days of feasting had run their course, Job would send for them and consecrate them. He would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, ‘Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.’ Job did so continually."
  • Context: Job offers burnt offerings for his children.

• Job 42:8

  • Verse: "Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams and go to My servant Job, and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept him, so that I may not deal with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has."
  • Context: God instructs Job’s friends to offer burnt offerings.

• Psalm 20:3

  • Verse: "May He remember all your meal offerings and accept your burnt offering. Selah."
  • Context: Prayer for God to accept burnt offerings.

• Psalm 40:6

  • Verse: "Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired. My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required."
  • Context: God desires obedience over burnt offerings.

• Psalm 50:8

  • Verse: "I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices. Your burnt offerings are continually before Me."
  • Context: God acknowledges continual burnt offerings.

• Psalm 51:16, 19

  • Verses:

    • 51:16: "For You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it, nor do You take pleasure in burnt offering."
    • 51:19: "Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, in burnt offering and whole burnt offering. Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar."

  • Context: Contrasts God’s desire for a contrite heart with future burnt offerings.

• Psalm 66:13, 15

  • Verses:

    • 66:13: "I will come into Your House with burnt offerings. I will fulfill my vows to You,"
    • 66:15: "I will offer You burnt offerings of fat animals, with the smoke of rams. I will offer bulls with goats. Selah."

  • Context: Vows fulfilled with burnt offerings.

• Isaiah 1:11

  • Verse: "‘What is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?’ says Adonai. ‘I am full of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed animals. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats.’"
  • Context: God rejects insincere burnt offerings.

• Isaiah 40:16

  • Verse: "Lebanon is not enough for fuel, or its animals enough for a burnt offering."
  • Context: Even Lebanon’s resources are insufficient for a worthy burnt offering.

• Isaiah 43:23

  • Verse: "You have not brought Me the small cattle of your burnt offerings, nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, nor wearied you with incense."
  • Context: God notes Israel’s failure to offer burnt offerings.

• Isaiah 56:7

  • Verse: "these I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My House of Prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar, for My House will be called a House of Prayer for all nations."
  • Context: God accepts foreigners’ burnt offerings.

• Isaiah 61:8

  • Verse: "For I, Adonai, love justice, I hate robbery in the burnt offering. I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them."
  • Context: God hates deceit in burnt offerings.

• Jeremiah 6:20

  • Verse: "Of what use to Me is frankincense coming from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me."
  • Context: God rejects insincere burnt offerings.

• Jeremiah 7:21–22

  • Verses:

    • 7:21: "Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: ‘Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the meat.’"
    • 7:22: "For on the day I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices."

  • Context: God prioritizes obedience over burnt offerings.

• Jeremiah 14:12

  • Verse: "When they fast, I will not hear their cry. When they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. Instead I will consume them with the sword, with famine, and with plague."
  • Context: God rejects burnt offerings due to disobedience.

• Jeremiah 17:26

  • Verse: "People will come from the towns of Judah and from all around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowland, from the hill country, and from the South, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings, incense, and thank offerings to the House of Adonai."
  • Context: Future restoration includes burnt offerings.

• Jeremiah 19:5

  • Verse: "They have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I never commanded, nor mentioned, nor did it come into My mind."
  • Context: Condemnation of child sacrifice as burnt offerings to Baal.

• Jeremiah 33:18

  • Verse: "nor will the Levitical kohanim ever lack a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices continually."
  • Context: Promise of continual burnt offerings.

• Ezekiel 40:38–39, 42

  • Verses:

    • 40:38: "There was a chamber with its door by the posts at the gates, where they washed the burnt offering."
    • 40:39: "In the porch of the gate were two tables on either side, on which to slaughter the burnt offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering."
    • 40:42: "There were four tables of hewn stone for the burnt offering, a cubit and a half long, a cubit and a half wide, and one cubit high. On them were laid the instruments with which they slaughtered the burnt offering and the sacrifice."

  • Context: Vision of the Temple’s facilities for burnt offerings.

• Ezekiel 43:18, 21, 24, 27

  • Verses:

    • 43:18: "Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, thus says Adonai Elohim: These are the statutes for the altar on the day it is made, to offer burnt offerings on it and to sprinkle blood on it.’"
    • 43:21: "You are to take the bull for the sin offering, and it is to be burnt in the appointed place of the House, outside the Sanctuary."
    • 43:24: "You are to present them before Adonai, and the kohanim are to throw salt on them, and they will offer them up as a burnt offering to Adonai."
    • 43:27: "When they have completed these days, from the eighth day onward, the kohanim will make your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings on the altar, and I will accept you,’ declares Adonai Elohim."

  • Context: Instructions for burnt offerings in the future Temple.

• Ezekiel 44:11

  • Verse: "They will be ministers in My Sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the House and ministering in the House. They will slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they will stand before them to minister to them."
  • Context: Levites’ role in burnt offerings.

• Ezekiel 45:15, 17, 23, 25

  • Verses:

    • 45:15: "Also one sheep is to be taken from every flock of two hundred from the well-watered pastures of Israel. These will be used for the grain offerings, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to make atonement for them,’ declares Adonai Elohim."
    • 45:17: "It will be the prince’s part to provide the burnt offerings, grain offerings and drink offerings at the feasts, New Moons and Shabbatot, at all the moadim of the house of Israel. He will provide the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the fellowship offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.’"
    • 45:23: "During the seven days of the Feast he is to provide seven bulls and seven rams without blemish daily as a burnt offering to Adonai, and a male goat daily for a sin offering."
    • 45:25: "In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, during the Feast, he is to do the same for seven days—for the sin offering as well as the burnt offering, for the grain offering as well as the oil."

  • Context: Burnt offerings in the restored Temple’s festivals.

• Ezekiel 46:2, 4, 12–13, 15

  • Verses:

    • 46:2: "The prince will enter by way of the porch of the gate from outside, and stand by the post of the gate. Then the kohanim will prepare his burnt offering and his fellowship offerings, and he will worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he will go out, but the gate will not be shut until the evening."
    • 46:4: "The burnt offering that the prince offers to Adonai on the Shabbat day is to be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish."
    • 46:12: "When the prince prepares a freewill offering, a burnt offering or fellowship offerings as a freewill offering to Adonai, the gate facing east is to be opened for him. He will prepare his burnt offering and his fellowship offerings as he does on the Shabbat day. Then he will go out, and the gate is to be shut after he goes out."
    • 46:13: "You are to prepare a lamb a year old without blemish, for a burnt offering to Adonai daily; morning by morning you are to prepare it."
    • 46:15: "Thus they will prepare the lamb, the grain offering and the oil, morning by morning, for a continual burnt offering.’"

  • Context: Burnt offerings by the prince in the future Temple.

• Hosea 6:6

  • Verse: "For I delight in loyalty and not sacrifice, knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."
  • Context: God prioritizes loyalty over burnt offerings.

• Amos 5:22

  • Verse: "Even if you offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I look at the fellowship offerings of your fattened animals."
  • Context: God rejects insincere burnt offerings.

• Micah 6:6

  • Verse: "With what shall I come before Adonai? With what shall I bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?"
  • Context: Rhetorical question about burnt offerings.

• Malachi 1:10

  • Verse: "‘If only there was someone among you who would shut the doors, so that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain! I have no delight in you,’ says Adonai-Tzva’ot, ‘nor will I accept an offering from your hand.’"
  • Context: God rejects vain burnt offerings.

New Testament

• Mark 12:33

  • Verse: "To love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as himself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
  • Context: Love surpasses burnt offerings.

• Hebrews 10:6, 8

  • Verses:
    • 10:6: "In whole burnt offerings and sin offerings You have taken no delight."
    • 10:8: "After saying above, ‘Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor did You delight in them’ (which are offered according to the Torah),"
  • Context: Christ’s sacrifice surpasses burnt offerings, quoting Psalm 40.

The Last

Details from Josephus: Josephus describes the temple’s destruction in 70 CE, noting that sacrifices continued until the temple was overrun. He records that during the siege, priests maintained daily sacrifices despite shortages of animals and resources (The Jewish War, VI.2.1). The last burnt offerings likely occurred shortly before the temple’s destruction in August 70 CE, as priests struggled to uphold the daily offerings (two lambs, morning and evening) amidst the chaos. Josephus does not pinpoint an exact final sacrifice but implies that sacrifices ceased when the temple was burned and razed.

Samaritan Practices: The Samaritans, a distinct religious group, maintained their own sacrificial practices on Mount Gerizim, including burnt offerings, into late antiquity. Samaritan chronicles, such as the Kitab al-Tarikh of Abu’l Fath (14th century, recounting earlier traditions), suggest that Samaritan sacrifices, including burnt offerings for Passover, continued sporadically. However, these were not considered valid by mainstream Judaism, and their frequency diminished under Roman and Byzantine persecution. Exact dates for the cessation of Samaritan burnt offerings are unclear, but they likely persisted into the 4th or 5th century CE in limited form.

There were brief attempts to revive temple sacrifices, notably under Emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363 CE), who sought to rebuild the Jerusalem temple and restore Jewish sacrifices to undermine Christianity. Historical accounts, such as those by Ammianus Marcellinus (Res Gestae 23.1), indicate that preparations began, but the project was abandoned after an earthquake or fire, and no burnt offerings were performed.

Christian sources, such as early Church Fathers (e.g., Tertullian, Against Marcion, circa 208 CE), argue that burnt offerings ended with Christ’s sacrifice, symbolically fulfilled on the cross. However, this is a theological claim, not a historical record of the last physical burnt offering, which continued in the temple until 70 CE.

Outside Judaism, burnt offerings were common in other ancient Near Eastern religions (e.g., Canaanite, Greek, Roman). These continued beyond 70 CE but are distinct from the biblical burnt offerings, which were specific to Israelite worship. For example, Roman animal sacrifices persisted until the Christianization of the Roman Empire in the 4th century CE, but these are not relevant to the Mosaic system.

Key Early Church Fathers and Their References to Burnt Offerings

1. Justin Martyr (c. 100–165 CE):

   • Work: Dialogue with Trypho (a debate with a Jewish interlocutor).

   • References to Burnt Offerings:

     • In Dialogue with Trypho (Chapters 22, 40), Justin argues that Old Testament sacrifices, including burnt offerings, were temporary and prophetic of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice. He cites Malachi 1:10-11, which predicts that God will reject Jewish sacrifices and accept offerings from the Gentiles, interpreting this as fulfilled in the Eucharist and spiritual worship of Christians.
     • He asserts that burnt offerings were instituted not because God needed them but to restrain Israel’s idolatry and point to Christ. For example, in Chapter 22, he writes: “God, knowing that it would be difficult to wean you from sacrificing to idols, gave you a temporary institution in sacrifices, which were to cease when the true sacrifice, Jesus Christ, appeared.”
     • Justin connects the cessation of burnt offerings to the destruction of the temple in 70 CE, seeing it as divine confirmation that Christ’s sacrifice replaced the old system.

   • Significance: Justin emphasizes typology, viewing burnt offerings as shadows of Christ’s complete self-offering on the cross, and he uses their cessation to argue for Christianity’s superiority over Judaism.
     

2. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130–202 CE):

   • Work: Against Heresies (especially Book IV).

   • References to Burnt Offerings:

     • In Against Heresies (Book IV, Chapter 17), Irenaeus discusses the Old Testament sacrifices, including burnt offerings, as preparatory for Christ’s coming. He argues that God accepted these sacrifices from the Jews temporarily but intended them to be fulfilled in the “pure oblation” of the Eucharist.
     • He cites Psalm 40:6-8 (quoted in Hebrews 10:5-7), which states that God did not desire burnt offerings but a body prepared for Christ, to show that the Mosaic sacrifices were inferior and pointed to Jesus’ sacrifice.
     • Irenaeus explains that burnt offerings were given to teach Israel dependence on God and to prevent them from adopting pagan practices, but they became obsolete after Christ’s death, which offered true atonement.

   • Significance: Irenaeus frames burnt offerings as part of God’s pedagogical plan, fulfilled in Christ and replaced by spiritual sacrifices like prayer and the Eucharist.
     

3. Tertullian (c. 155–240 CE):

   • Work: Against Marcion and Against the Jews.

   • References to Burnt Offerings:

     • In Against Marcion (Book II, Chapter 22), Tertullian defends the Old Testament Law, including burnt offerings, as divinely instituted but temporary. He argues that they were “types” of Christ’s sacrifice, which offered complete atonement, unlike the repeated burnt offerings that could not remove sin, The Gospel of Marcion (Chapter 2, Section 2) also references burnt offerings, interpreting them as prophetic of Christ’s self-offering.
     • In Against the Jews (Chapter 5), Tertullian links the cessation of burnt offerings to the temple’s destruction in 70 CE, viewing it as God’s judgment and proof that the Mosaic Law was fulfilled in Christ. He writes: “The sacrifices of the Jews, such as burnt offerings, have ceased, because the true sacrifice has been offered in Christ.”

   • Significance: Tertullian uses burnt offerings to contrast the temporary nature of the Law with the eternal efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice, emphasizing their obsolescence post-70 CE.
     

4. Origen (c. 184–253 CE):

   • Work: Homilies on Leviticus and Against Celsus.

   • References to Burnt Offerings:

     • In his Homilies on Leviticus (Homily 1), **Origen provides allegorical interpretations of burnt offerings, seeing them as symbols of the soul’s complete dedication to God. He connects the total consumption of the offering by fire to Christ’s self-emptying on the cross and believers’ call to offer themselves as “living sacrifices” (**Romans 12:1).
     • Origen explains that burnt offerings were necessary under the Old Covenant to teach spiritual truths but were no longer needed after Christ’s perfect offering. He writes: “The burnt offering, wholly consumed, prefigured Christ, who gave Himself entirely for our sins.”
     • In Against Celsus (Book VIII, Chapter 26), he responds to pagan critiques by arguing that Christian worship, without physical sacrifices like burnt offerings, is superior because it offers spiritual sacrifices of prayer and righteousness.

   • Significance: Origen’s allegorical approach transforms burnt offerings into a spiritual metaphor, emphasizing their fulfillment in Christ and the Christian life.
     

5. Cyprian of Carthage (c. 200–258 CE):

   • Work: Letters and Treatise on the Lord’s Prayer.

   • References to Burnt Offerings:

     • Cyprian rarely mentions burnt offerings explicitly but refers to Old Testament sacrifices in general as preparatory for the Eucharist. In Letter 63, he compares the Eucharist to the “pure offering” of Malachi 1:11, which replaced burnt offerings.
     • He implies that burnt offerings ended with the temple’s destruction, as God now accepts the spiritual sacrifices of Christians, such as martyrdom and charity (Treatise on Works and Alms, Chapter 16).

   • Significance: Cyprian focuses on the Eucharist and Christian virtues as the new form of sacrifice, implicitly viewing burnt offerings as obsolete.
     

6. Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260–339 CE):

   • Work: Church History and Demonstration of the Gospel.

   • References to Burnt Offerings:

     • In Demonstration of the Gospel (Book I, Chapter 10), Eusebius argues that burnt offerings were a concession to Israel’s weakness, designed to curb idolatry and prefigure Christ. He cites the temple’s destruction as evidence that God no longer desires such sacrifices, pointing to the spread of Christianity as the new universal worship.
     • He references Isaiah 1:11 (“I delight not in the blood of bullocks”) to show that burnt offerings were never God’s ultimate desire, fulfilled instead by Christ’s sacrifice.

   • Significance: Eusebius uses burnt offerings to highlight the historical shift from Judaism to Christianity, tying their end to both Christ’s work and the temple’s destruction.
     

7. Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 296–373 CE):

   • Work: On the Incarnation.

   • References to Burnt Offerings:

     • In On the Incarnation (Chapter 20), Athanasius briefly mentions Old Testament sacrifices, including burnt offerings, as insufficient for salvation. He argues that only Christ’s death could achieve what burnt offerings symbolized: complete atonement and dedication to God.
     • He does not discuss their cessation explicitly but implies their obsolescence by emphasizing Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice, echoing Hebrews 10:10.

   • Significance: Athanasius focuses on Christ’s incarnation and sacrifice as the fulfillment of all sacrifices, rendering burnt offerings unnecessary.

Burnt Offerings and Jesus

Pleasing Offering to God:

Burnt Offering: The burnt offering was described as a “sweet savour unto the Lord” (Lev. 1:9, 13, 17), indicating God’s acceptance of the sacrifice when offered in faith and obedience.

Jesus: Jesus’ sacrifice is portrayed as pleasing and acceptable to God, fully satisfying divine justice.
Ephesians 5:2: Christ “hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour,” directly paralleling the burnt offering’s pleasing aroma.

Unblemished Sacrifice:

Burnt Offering: The animal for a burnt offering had to be “without blemish” (Lev. 1:3, 10), symbolizing purity and suitability for God’s altar.

Jesus: Jesus is depicted as sinless and perfect, making Him the ideal sacrifice.
1 Peter 1:19: Believers are redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

Hebrews 7:26-27: Jesus is described as “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,” offering Himself once, unlike the daily burnt offerings that required repeated unblemished animals.

Substitutionary Role:

Burnt Offering: The offerer laid hands on the animal (Lev. 1:4), symbolizing the transfer of guilt or the identification of the offerer with the sacrifice, which bore the penalty in their place.

Jesus: Jesus took on humanity’s sins, acting as a substitute for sinners.
Isaiah 53:5-6 (quoted in the New Testament context, e.g., 1 Pet. 2:24): “The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all,” paralleling the laying of hands in the burnt offering.

2 Corinthians 521: God “hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,” reflecting the substitutionary nature of Jesus’ death, akin to the burnt offering’s role in atonement.

Connections

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