In the Bible, offering is all about showing gratitude to God. Back in Moses' time, God taught the Israelites about different kinds of offerings. They were to offer a portion of their wealth as thanks for the land God had given them. These offerings were usually things like wheat, barley, oil, and animals – basically a tenth of their income, or what we call a tithe.
Leviticus talks about offerings required when someone was dishonest, maybe about something they were supposed to be looking after, or if they stole, cheated, lied about lost property, or broke an oath. There were five main types of offerings: burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings.
Throughout the Bible, we see different ways to give offerings. Sometimes it's to make things right with someone you've wronged, and sometimes it's simply to say "thank you" to God and seek His blessing. The reasons and situations are all over the map, but what really matters to God is the heart behind the offering – a genuine desire to connect with Him.
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
"When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted.
"Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days;
So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.He called the name of that place Bethel,[4] but the name of the city was Luz at the first.Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God,and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you."
then to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the LORD.
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse[1] the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.
An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.
"Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me.
"Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed.Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you.
and brought their offerings before the LORD, six wagons and twelve oxen, a wagon for every two of the chiefs, and for each one an ox. They brought them before the tabernacle.
"Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the LORD alone, shall be devoted to destruction.[6]
"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock.
The LORD called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying,"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock."If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD.He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.Then he shall kill the bull before the LORD, and Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.Then he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces,and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire.And Aaron's sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, the head, and the fat, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar;but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering[1] with a pleasing aroma to the LORD."If his gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, he shall bring a male without blemish,and he shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the LORD, and Aaron's sons the priests shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar.And he shall cut it into pieces, with its head and its fat, and the priest shall arrange them on the wood that is on the fire on the altar,but the entrails and the legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall offer all of it and burn it on the altar; it is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD."If his offering to the LORD is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves or pigeons.And the priest shall bring it to the altar and wring off its head and burn it on the altar. Its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar.He shall remove its crop with its contents[2] and cast it beside the altar on the east side, in the place for ashes.He shall tear it open by its wings, but shall not sever it completely. And the priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
and burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the LORD. It is a pleasing aroma, a food offering[2] to the LORD.
"If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the LORD's commandments ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt,or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed.And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the sin offering in the place of burnt offering.And the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar.And all its fat he shall remove, as the fat is removed from the peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a pleasing aroma to the LORD. And the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.
and every day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. Also you shall purify the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall anoint it to consecrate it.Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall become holy.
"If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD.He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.
when he realizes his guilt in any of these and confesses the sin he has committed,he shall bring to the LORD as his compensation[1] for the sin that he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin.
"What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.
but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering[1] with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
Consequently, when Christ[1] came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;
The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings.Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.
"Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering. The burnt offering shall be on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it.And the priest shall put on his linen garment and put his linen undergarment on his body, and he shall take up the ashes to which the fire has reduced the burnt offering on the altar and put them beside the altar.
"And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves[1] and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you.For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins.
And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments and come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people.
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.
I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.This will please the LORD more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.
and he shall bring his gift to the LORD, one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish as a sin offering, and one ram without blemish as a peace offering,
For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sin?But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin every year.For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
and you offer to the LORD from the herd or from the flock a food offering[1] or a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or at your appointed feasts, to make a pleasing aroma to the LORD,
For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be[2] great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.
and offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God, but the flesh you may eat.
And Samuel said, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
"If his offering is a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offers an animal from the herd, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the LORD.And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and kill it at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and Aaron's sons the priests shall throw the blood against the sides of the altar.And from the sacrifice of the peace offering, as a food offering to the LORD, he shall offer the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails,and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys.Then Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar on top of the burnt offering, which is on the wood on the fire; it is a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD."If his offering for a sacrifice of peace offering to the LORD is an animal from the flock, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish.If he offers a lamb for his offering, then he shall offer it before the LORD,lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it in front of the tent of meeting; and Aaron's sons shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar.Then from the sacrifice of the peace offering he shall offer as a food offering to the LORD its fat; he shall remove the whole fat tail, cut off close to the backbone, and the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrailsand the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys.And the priest shall burn it on the altar as a food offering to the LORD."If his offering is a goat, then he shall offer it before the LORDand lay his hand on its head and kill it in front of the tent of meeting, and the sons of Aaron shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar.Then he shall offer from it, as his offering for a food offering to the LORD, the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrailsand the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys.And the priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering with a pleasing aroma. All fat is the LORD's.It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood."
And you shall say to them, This is the food offering that you shall offer to the LORD: two male lambs a year old without blemish, day by day, as a regular offering.The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight;
The same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the LORD, for there he offered the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too small to receive the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the peace offerings.
As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.
Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but you have given me an open ear.[1] Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.Then I said, "Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."
"What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats."When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts?Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations -- I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
When the prince provides a freewill offering, either a burnt offering or peace offerings as a freewill offering to the LORD, the gate facing east shall be opened for him. And he shall offer his burnt offering or his peace offerings as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he has gone out the gate shall be shut.
Sacrifice and offering you have not desired, but you have given me an open ear.[1] Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will perform my vows to you,that which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah
The LORD is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief;[7] when his soul makes[8] an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.But this command I gave them: 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.'
For I desire steadfast love[1] and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons."
"With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?Will the LORD be pleased with[1] thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness,[2] and to walk humbly with your God?
Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.
Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."
And if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
I appeal to you therefore, brothers,[1] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.[2]
And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.
So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our[7] conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.Consequently, when Christ[1] came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.' "When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law),then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
But when Christ[2] had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,
And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne,and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.