Leviticus 7:16

16 " 'But if his sacrifice [is] [for] a vow or [as] a freewill offering, it must be eaten on the day of his presenting his sacrifice, and on the next day the remainder from it may be eaten,

Leviticus 7:16 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 7:16

But if the sacrifice of his offering be a vow
Be on account of a vow made, as, that if he was favoured with such and such benefits, or delivered out of such and such troubles and distresses, then he would offer such a sacrifice:

or a voluntary offering;
without any condition or obligation; what from the mere motion of his mind he freely offered, not being directed to it by any command of God, or under any necessity from a vow of his own, and without any view to; any future good to be enjoyed: Aben Ezra describes both the one and the other thus; a "vow" which he uttered with his lips in his distresses, a "voluntary offering", which his spirit made him willing to bring, a sacrifice to God neither for a vow nor for thanksgiving:

it shall be eaten the same day that he offereth his sacrifice;
that is, it shall be begun to be eaten then, and if all is eaten up it is very well, but they were not obliged in either of these cases, as in the preceding, to eat up all, and leave none to the morning, for it follows:

and on the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten;
some of it, if thought fit, and could not be conveniently eaten, might be kept till the day after the sacrifice, but no longer.

Leviticus 7:16 In-Context

14 And he shall present one of each kind of [grain] offering [as] a contribution for Yahweh; {it belongs to} the priest who sprinkles the fellowship offerings' blood.

15 And the meat of the sacrifice of his thanksgiving fellowship offerings must be eaten on the day of his offering; he must not leave it until morning.

16 " 'But if his sacrifice [is] [for] a vow or [as] a freewill offering, it must be eaten on the day of his presenting his sacrifice, and on the next day the remainder from it may be eaten,

17 but the remainder from the sacrifice's meat must be burned up in the fire on the third day.

18 And if indeed some of the meat of his fellowship offerings' sacrifice is eaten on the third day, it will not be accepted; it will not be considered [of benefit] for the one who presented it--it shall be unclean [meat], and the person who eats it shall bear his guilt.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "And"
• [b]. Or "and the remainder"