The sons of Aaron the priest: or “the sons of the priest named Aaron.” Some Hebrew manuscripts and several ancient versions have the plural “sons of Aaron, the priests,” but the singular “priest” is recommended by the committee for the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project (HOTTP). Nevertheless the meaning of the expression is not essentially different. Throughout this chapter there is an unusual alternation between the expression “the sons of Aaron, the priests” (found in verses 5, 8, and 11) and “the sons of Aaron, the priest” with the final word in the singular instead of the plural (here and in verses 9, 12, 13, and 15). But it is unnecessary to maintain this singular/plural distinction in translation. In most cases it is also pointless to repeat the expression Aaron’s sons every time priests are mentioned.

Put fire on the altar, and lay wood in order upon the fire: the Good News Translation has seen fit to reorder these two verbs (“arrange … and light…”), probably because it seems more logical (and less dangerous!) to arrange the wood before lighting the fire. But it is possible that the priest(s) placed hot coals on the altar of sacrifice and then put wood on top of them.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .