Imamat 6:15

6:15 and the priest ¹  must take up with his hand some of the choice wheat flour of the grain offering ²  and some of its olive oil, and all of the frankincense that is on the grain offering, and he must offer its memorial portion ³  up in smoke on the altar ⁴  as a soothing aroma to the Lord. ⁵ 

Yesaya 1:13

1:13 Do not bring any more meaningless ⁶  offerings;

I consider your incense detestable! ⁷ 

You observe new moon festivals, Sabbaths, and convocations,

but I cannot tolerate sin-stained celebrations! ⁸ 

[6:15]  ¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity. The “he” refers to the officiating priest. A similar shift between singular and plural occurs in Lev 1:7-9, but see the note on Lev 1:7 and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 89 for the possibility of textual corruption.

[6:15]  ² tn Heb “shall take up from it with his hand some of the choice wheat flour of the grain offering.”

[6:15]  ³ sn See the note on Lev 2:2.

[6:15]  ⁴ tc Smr reading, which includes the locative ה (hey, translated “on” the altar), is preferred here. This is the normal construction with the verb “offer up in smoke” in Lev 1-7 (see the note on Lev 1:9).

[6:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he shall offer up in smoke [on] the altar a soothing aroma, its memorial portion, to the Lord.”

[1:13]  ⁶ tn Or “worthless” (NASB, NCV, CEV); KJV, ASV “vain.”

[1:13]  ⁷ sn Notice some of the other practices that Yahweh regards as “detestable”: homosexuality (Lev 18:22-30; 20:13), idolatry (Deut 7:25; 13:15), human sacrifice (Deut 12:31), eating ritually unclean animals (Deut 14:3-8), sacrificing defective animals (Deut 17:1), engaging in occult activities (Deut 18:9-14), and practicing ritual prostitution (1 Kgs 14:23).

[1:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “sin and assembly” (these two nouns probably represent a hendiadys). The point is that their attempts at worship are unacceptable to God because the people’s everyday actions in the socio-economic realm prove they have no genuine devotion to God (see vv. 16-17).