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Leviticus 4:12

in Leviticus 4

all the rest of the bull—he must take outside the camp to a ceremonially clean place where the ashes are poured out, and there he must burn it on a wood fire on the ash heap.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire: where the ashes are poured out shall it be burnt.

KJV

Even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn him on the wood with fire: where the ashes are poured out shall he be burnt.

This verse in Leviticus 4

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Without the camp - This was intended figuratively to express the sinfulness of this sin, and the availableness of the atonement. The sacrifice, as having the sin of the priest transferred from himself to it by his confession and imposition of hands, was become unclean and abominable, and was carried, as it were, out of the Lord’s sight; from the tabernacle and congregation it must be carried without the camp, and thus its own offensiveness was removed, and the sin of the person in whose behalf it was offered.

This site's exposition

the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh

on Leviticus 4:11-12

Nothing of this animal is eaten. The whole bullock, skin and head and legs and dung, is carried out of the camp and burned on wood, and the ground it is taken to is called a clean place. Hebrews 13:11 describes this verse, that the bodies of beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned without the camp, and Hebrews 13:12 says Jesus suffered without the gate for that reason.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

Even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

This was very significant, (1.) Of the duty of repentance, which is the putting away of sin as a detestable thing, which our soul hates. True penitents say to their idols, "Get you hence; what have we to do any more with idols?" The sin-offering is called sin. What they did to that we must do to our sins; the body of sin must be destroyed, Rom. vi.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A clean place where the ashes are poured out See Lev 1:16 note. It was a place free from impurities, not like those referred to in Lev 14:40, Lev 14:45. The flesh, though it was burned in an ordinary way, and not sent up in the fire of the altar (see Lev 1:9 note), was not to be confounded with carrion, but was associated with the remains of the sacrifices. The priests could not eat the flesh of this victim or of that offered for the sin of the congregation, as they ate that of other sin-offerings Lev 6:26. Compare Lev 10:17-18, because they were in these cases in the position of offerers. Lev 16:27; Heb 13:11. The same rule was observed in regard to the meat-offering of the priests, Lev 6:23. It was only of the peace-offering that the offerer himself could partake.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

עדת ישראל [AND IF THE WHOLE] CONGREGATION OF ISRAEL [ERR] — This is the Great Sanhedrin (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Chovah, Section 4; cf. Horayot 4b).
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Leviticus 4:13:1, via Sefaria, Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

22 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְהוֹצִ֣יאand he will bring out

    vehotzi'H33181067 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H36055413 times

  • הַ֠פָּרthe bull

    haporH6499132 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • מִח֨וּץfrom [the] outside

    michutzH2351164 times

  • לַֽמַּחֲנֶ֜הof the camp

    lamachanehH4264215 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • מָק֤וֹםa place

    makomH4725401 times

  • טָהוֹר֙pure

    tahorH288994 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • שֶׁ֣פֶךְ[the] pouring out of

    shefekhH8211

  • הַדֶּ֔שֶׁןthe fatty ash

    hadeshenH188015 times

  • וְשָׂרַ֥ףand he will burn

    vesarafH8313117 times

  • אֹת֛וֹ<obj.> it

    ʾotoH85310935 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H59215755 times

  • עֵצִ֖יםwood<s>

    ʾetzimH6086328 times

  • בָּאֵ֑שׁwith <the> fire

    baeshH784378 times

  • עַל־at

    ʾal-H59215755 times

  • שֶׁ֥פֶךְ[the] pouring out of

    shefekhH8211

  • הַדֶּ֖שֶׁןthe fatty ash

    hadeshenH188015 times

  • יִשָּׂרֵֽף׃ פit will be burned

    yisarefH8313117 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Leviticus 16:27

    The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought into the Most Holy Place to make atonement, must be taken outside the camp; and their hides,…

    it leads to

    • Leviticus 4:21

      Then he is to take the bull outside the camp and burn it, just as he burned the first bull. It is the sin offering for the assembly.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Leviticus 6:30

      But no sin offering may be eaten if its blood has been brought into the Tent of Meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place; it must be burned.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Exodus 29:14

    But burn the flesh of the bull and its hide and dung outside the camp; it is a sin offering.

    it leads to

    • Leviticus 4:11–12

      But the hide of the bull and all its flesh, with its head and legs and its entrails and dung—

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Hebrews 13:11

    Although the high priest brings the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, the bodies are burned outside the camp.

    it leads to

    • Leviticus 16:27

      The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought into the Most Holy Place to make atonement, must be taken outside the camp; and their hides,…

    • Exodus 29:14

      But burn the flesh of the bull and its hide and dung outside the camp; it is a sin offering.

    • Numbers 19:3

      Give it to Eleazar the priest, and he will have it brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.

  • Through

    Numbers 15:35

    And the LORD said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death. The whole congregation is to stone him outside the camp.”

    it leads to

    • Exodus 31:14–15

      Keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Anyone who profanes it must surely be put to death. Whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from among his people.

    • Acts 7:58

      They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Where this verse is studied

About Leviticus

Moses and Aaron Appear before Pharaoh, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Moses and Aaron Appear before Pharaoh, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Sir Robert Anderson, Types in Hebrews.