Imamat 2:11-12

Additional Grain Offering Regulations

2:11 “‘No grain offering which you present to the Lord can be made with yeast, ¹  for you must not offer up in smoke any yeast or honey as a gift to the Lord. ²  2:12 You can present them to the Lord as an offering of first fruit, ³  but they must not go up to the altar for a soothing aroma.

[2:11]  ¹ tn Heb “Every grain offering which you offer to the Lord must not be made leavened.” The noun “leaven” is traditional in English versions (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV), but “yeast” is more commonly used today.

[2:11]  ² tc A few Hebrew mss, Smr, LXX, and Tg. Ps.-J. have the verb “present” rather than “offer up in smoke,” but the MT is clearly correct. One could indeed present leavened and honey sweetened offerings as first fruit offerings, which were not burned on the altar (see v. 12 and the note there), but they could not be offered up in fire on the altar. Cf. the TEV’s ambiguous “you must never use yeast or honey in food offered to the Lord.”

[2:11]  tn Heb “for all leaven and all honey you must not offer up in smoke from it a gift to the Lord.”

[2:12]  ³ sn The “first fruit” referred to here was given to the priests as a prebend for their service to the Lord, not offered on the altar (Num 18:12).