New International Version
Leviticus 1:4
4You are to lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on your behalf to make atonement for you.
Leviticus 1:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.
- English Standard Version (ESV)He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him.
- New Living Translation (NLT)Lay your hand on the animal’s head, and the Lord will accept its death in your place to purify you, making you right with him.
Context of Leviticus 1:4
2“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When anyone among you brings an offering to the Lord, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock. 3“ ‘If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you are to offer a male without defect. You must present it at the entrance to the tent of meeting so that it will be acceptable to the Lord. You are to lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on your behalf to make atonement for you. 5You are to slaughter the young bull before the Lord, and then Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and splash it against the sides of the altar at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 6You are to skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces.
Read all of Leviticus 1Leviticus 1:4 word by word
וְסָמַ֣ךְ יָד֔וֹ עַ֖ל רֹ֣אשׁ הָעֹלָ֑ה וְנִרְצָ֥ה ל֖וֹ לְכַפֵּ֥ר עָלָֽיו׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Leviticus 1:4
- Leviticus 3:2You are to lay your hand on the head of your offering and slaughter it at the entrance to the tent of meeting. Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall splash the blood against the sides of the altar.
- Leviticus 4:4He is to present the bull at the entrance to the tent of meeting before the Lord. He is to lay his hand on its head and slaughter it there before the Lord.
- Leviticus 8:14He then presented the bull for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head.
- Leviticus 16:21He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task.
- Exodus 29:10“Bring the bull to the front of the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on its head.
- Numbers 8:12“Then the Levites are to lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, using one for a sin offering to the Lord and the other for a burnt offering, to make atonement for the Levites.
- Isaiah 53:4Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.
- 2 Corinthians 5:20We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
- Leviticus 22:21When anyone brings from the herd or flock a fellowship offering to the Lord to fulfill a special vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without defect or blemish to be acceptable.
- Isaiah 56:7these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
- Romans 12:1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
- Philippians 4:18I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.
- Leviticus 4:20and do with this bull just as he did with the bull for the sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for the community, and they will be forgiven.
- Leviticus 5:6As a penalty for the sin they have committed, they must bring to the Lord a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for them for their sin.
- Leviticus 6:7In this way the priest will make atonement for them before the Lord, and they will be forgiven for any of the things they did that made them guilty.”
- Leviticus 9:7Moses said to Aaron, “Come to the altar and sacrifice your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and the people; sacrifice the offering that is for the people and make atonement for them, as the Lord has commanded.”
Commentaries on Leviticus 1:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4He shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering - By the imposition of hands the person bringing the victim acknowledged, The sacrifice as his own. That he offered it as an atonement for his sins. That he was worthy of death because he had sinned, having forfeited his life by breaking the law. That he entreated God to accept the life of the innocent animal in place of his own. And all this, to be done profitably, must have respect to Him whose…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering - The usual ceremony. By it the sacrificer identified himself with his victim Leviticus 3:2, Leviticus 3:8; Leviticus 4:15; Leviticus 8:14; Romans 12:1. To make atonement for him - This phrase belongs more especially to the sin-offerings and the trespass-offerings (compare Leviticus 4:20, Leviticus 4:26, Leviticus 4:31, Leviticus 4:35; Leviticus 5:16, Leviticus 5:18; Leviticus 6:7, etc.) It is…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 3-9Verses 3-9 In the due performance of the Levitical ordinances, the mysteries of the spiritual world are represented by corresponding natural objects; and future events are exhibited in these rites. Without this, the whole will seem unmeaning ceremonies. There is in these things a type of the sufferings of the Son of God, who was to be a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world? The burning body of an animal was but a faint representation of that…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering: The sacrificial animal represented the worshiper in the ceremony (Leviticus 4:4, 15, 24, 29, 33; 16:21). This act showed that the animal's death represented the owner's death. During the Day of Atonement ceremony, it showed that God transferred the owner's sins to the animal (16:20–22). In the peace offering (3:2, 8, 13), the act probably showed ownership of the sacrificed animal. The phrase on his…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. shall put his hand upon the head--This was a significant act which implied not only that the offerer devoted the animal to God, but that he confessed his consciousness of sin and prayed that his guilt and its punishment might be transferred to the victim. and it shall be--rather, "that it may be an acceptable atonement."Read the comment
Topics related to Leviticus 1:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Leviticus 1
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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