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Hebrew word · Strong H5930

What is a burnt offering?

A burnt offering is an offering burned whole on the altar: the entire animal went up in smoke to God, with nothing kept by the one who brought it. It is the Hebrew olah, “that which goes up”, one of the central offerings of the Old Testament — the word in “offer him there for a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:2).

עֹלָה

ʻôlâh · transliteration · o-law' · pronunciation

In Strong’s lexicon
a step or (collectively, stairs, as ascending); usually a holocaust (as going up in smoke)
In the King James
  • burnt offering169
  • burnt offerings77
  • burnt sacrifice17
Appears in
262 verses

See the full H5930 entry →Also in the lexicon: G3646 ὁλοκαύτωμα

What the burnt offering meant

Olah comes from the verb alah, to go up: the burnt offering is the offering that ascends. Unlike other sacrifices, in which part of the meat was eaten, in the burnt offering everything went to the fire — it was total surrender. That is why it appears at decisive moments: Noah after the flood (Genesis 8:20), Abraham on Mount Moriah (Genesis 22), and the altar of the tabernacle, where one lamb was offered in the morning and another in the evening (Exodus 29:38-42).

The psalms and the prophets already warned that God does not want ritual without the heart: “thou delightest not in burnt offering” (Psalm 51:16), and loving God and neighbor “is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:33). Hebrews shows the end of the series: repeated sacrifices gave way to one, “the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).

The burnt offering in the Bible

Genesis 8:20

And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
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Genesis 22:2

And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
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Leviticus 1:3

If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.
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Psalms 51:16

For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
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Mark 12:33

And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
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Hebrews 10:6

In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
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Frequently asked questions

Did God want Abraham to sacrifice Isaac?
God tested Abraham (Genesis 22:1) and stopped his hand before the sacrifice, providing a ram in Isaac's place (Genesis 22:13). The story shows that God does not want human sacrifice — which the law later condemns (Deuteronomy 12:31) — and points to the lamb God himself would provide (Genesis 22:8).
What is the difference between a burnt offering and a peace offering?
In the burnt offering everything was burned; in the peace offering, most of the meat was eaten by the one who brought it, as a meal before God (Leviticus 7:15). The burnt offering spoke of total surrender; the peace offering, of fellowship.

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