Verses 1-3 bring together general information with regard to this type of offering.

When …: see the discussion of “when” and “if” at 1.2.

Any one: literally “a soul.” The word is probably best translated “a person” in this context.

Cereal offering: the term used here is a general one for any offering of grain, but the remainder of the verse and the following paragraph describes one of the ways the grain was to be treated in order to make it acceptable as an offering to the LORD. Verses 4-10 describe another kind of offering using the same materials prepared differently, and verses 11-13 give still another possibility. In those languages which have no generic word for “grain,” a serious translation problem may arise. The general term refers to the seed of cultivated cereal grasses including wheat, barley, millet, and sorghum. In some cases translators are forced to resort to something like “small seeds” with an explanation in a footnote or glossary entry.

To the LORD: if direct discourse is being used as in Revised Standard Version, New International Version, and many other versions, this should probably be translated “to me” in most languages.

Fine flour: in Hebrew there are two words that refer to ground grain. The first, which is used here, represents a kind of semolina or coarser wheat flour. It is a product that is less finely ground than the material referred to by the second word (found in Num 5.15, for example). However, the first type was considered a more sumptuous kind of flour (made from wheat), used primarily in ritual offerings. The second type, on the other hand, was just ordinary flour (made from barley or wheat) and was rarely used in offerings to God. In translation the primary focus should not be on the fineness of the grinding, but on the high quality of this particular kind of flour as opposed to the commonness of the other type. If the translator has trouble finding corresponding terminology, it is possible to use an ordinary word for the common flour or meal (“coarse meal” or “flour”) and the same word qualified by “best” or “finest” for the more luxurious product (compare New Jerusalem Bible “choice flour”).

Oil: the term used here is a very general one which, in other contexts, may mean “fat.” But here it refers to oil, and for all practical purposes the people of Israel knew only olive oil. This is made explicit in Good News Translation. In those languages where olive trees are unknown, it is possible to use a more general term referring to vegetable oil, but excluding animal fat in this context.

Frankincense: a resin, or gummy substance which comes from a tree or shrub. It was dried and in some cases reduced to a powder. This substance was often used in rituals of antiquity, because it produces a pleasant odor when burned. It was a very expensive product because it was usually imported from the southeastern coast of the Arabian peninsula, through the intermediary of Arabia. Normally it was used only in ritual ceremonies. To give a meaningful rendering of this term, some translators have had to resort to expressions like “something that smells sweet when it is burned” or “tree sap that smells like perfume when burned.”

Pour … and put: Good News Translation uses a single verb for what is done with the oil and the incense, but the Hebrew has two. In the receptor language it may be better to separate the two actions as in Revised Standard Version: pour for the oil and put or “apply” with regard to the incense, since one is liquid and the other is in the form of a solid or a powder. Translators should be careful not to give the impression that the incense is mixed in with the flour. Rather it is given alongside or on top of it.

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 .