Properly, a burnt-offering ; but occasionally of any sacrifice
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אִשֶּׁה (isheh) is the Hebrew term for the fire-offering: any sacrifice that ascends to YHWH on the altar through fire. It is the broadest sacrificial category in Leviticus — the burnt offering, the grain offering, the peace offering, and the sin offering can all be described as isheh.
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Full entry for אִשָּׁה (H801) · Open the biblical lexicon
אִשֶּׁה (isheh) is the Hebrew term for the fire-offering: any sacrifice that ascends to YHWH on the altar through fire. It is the broadest sacrificial category in Leviticus — the burnt offering, the grain offering, the peace offering, and the sin offering can all be described as isheh.
The BSB source-word alignment has 65 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include a food offering (33), as a food offering (9), the food offerings (8), of the food offerings (5), from the food offerings (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 29:18. Its strongest book concentrations include Leviticus (42), Numbers (16), Exodus (4), 1 Samuel (1).
אִשֶּׁה (isheh) is the Hebrew term for the fire-offering: any sacrifice that ascends to YHWH on the altar through fire. It is the broadest sacrificial category in Leviticus — the burnt offering, the grain offering, the peace offering, and the sin offering can all be described as isheh. The defining feature is the fire: the offering goes up (olah, from the same root as ascension) to YHWH through the medium of flame, and the result is the reach nichoach (pleasing/soothing aroma) that YHWH accepts.
Leviticus 1:9 gives isheh its paradigmatic form: 'and the priest shall wash its entrails and its legs with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar as a burnt offering (olah), a fire-offering (isheh), a pleasing aroma (reach nichoach) to YHWH.' The three-term description — olah + isheh + reach nichoach — is the Levitical grammar of accepted sacrifice: the upward-going (olah), the fire-medium (isheh), and the divine reception (reach nichoach). All three together describe the complete act of sacrificial communion with YHWH.
Leviticus 9:24 gives isheh its YHWH-kindled form: 'And fire came out from before YHWH and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.' The fire for the first offering at the Tabernacle comes from YHWH himself: he lights the altar. Thereafter the priests are commanded to keep this fire burning continually (Lev 6:13: 'fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out'). The isheh at the altar is YHWH's own fire, maintained by the priests — the fire does not belong to the worshiper; it belongs to YHWH.
Numbers 28:3-4 gives isheh its daily-tamid form: 'This is the fire-offering (isheh) that you shall offer to YHWH: two male lambs a year old without blemish, day by day, as a continual burnt offering (olat tamid). One lamb you shall offer in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight.' The tamid-isheh is the daily covenant-maintenance sacrifice: two lambs, every day, morning and evening, on YHWH's altar. The tamid-isheh is Israel's acknowledgment that the covenant requires daily renewal — the fire never goes out, the offering never ceases, the reach nichoach rises to YHWH continuously.
Leviticus 10:1-2 gives isheh its judgment form: 'Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire (esh zarah, strange fire) before YHWH, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before YHWH and consumed them, and they died before YHWH.' The esh-zarah (H784+H2114) of Nadab and Abihu is the counter-isheh: fire offered to YHWH that YHWH did not authorize. The same fire that lit the altar in Leviticus 9:24 (divine acceptance) consumes the sons in Leviticus 10:2 (divine judgment). The isheh-fire is holy — approach it rightly, and it becomes reach nichoach; approach it wrongly, and it consumes.
For the preacher, אִשֶּׁה (isheh) gives the congregation the grammar of approach to a holy God: every isheh declares that access to YHWH comes through substitution, fire, and the mediation of the priestly system — pointing forward to the one offering that ends all offerings.
אִשֶּׁה (isheh) has about 65 occurrences in the local index, concentrated in Leviticus-Numbers. It is the broadest sacrificial category: the burnt offering, grain offering, peace offering, and sin offering can all be described as isheh. The defining feature is the fire of the altar. Key theological poles: Lev 9:24 (YHWH-kindled fire accepts the first offering), Lev 10:1-2 (unauthorized fire is judged), Lev 1:9 (the three-term grammar: olah + isheh + reach nichoach), Num 28:3 (daily tamid-isheh, the continual covenant-maintenance sacrifice).
The entrails and legs must be washed with water, and the priest shall burn all of it on the altar as a burnt offering, a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
The paradigmatic isheh: 'it is an olah (burnt offering), an isheh (fire-offering), a reach nichoach (pleasing aroma) to YHWH.' The three-term formula captures the Levitical grammar of accepted sacrifice: the offering goes up (olah), it goes through fire (isheh), and it arrives before YHWH as a pleasing aroma (reach nichoach). The reach nichoach (soothing aroma, H7381+H5207) is YHWH's reception of the sacrifice — not because YHWH has a physical nose, but because the sacrificial action meets his covenant requirements and he is satisfied.
This three-term formula repeats throughout Leviticus 1-3 for the various voluntary offerings.
Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.
YHWH lights the altar: 'fire came out from before YHWH and consumed the olah and the fat portions (chalavim) on the altar.' The dedication of the Tabernacle is consummated by YHWH lighting the altar himself — the fire that starts the isheh-system is divine, not human. The people's response is shouting and prostration (naphlu al peneihem, fell on their faces) — the sight of YHWH accepting the isheh is overwhelming.
This is the standard against which all subsequent sacrificial worship is measured: the fire came from YHWH; the priests maintain it (Lev 6:13); the people bring the isheh; YHWH receives it.
Now Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense, and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to His command.
Esh zarah (strange/unauthorized fire): 'they offered esh zarah before YHWH which he had not commanded them.' The contrast with Leviticus 9:24 is immediate and devastating: YHWH sends fire from before himself to consume the olah in acceptance (9:24); then fire comes out from before YHWH to consume Nadab and Abihu in judgment (10:2). The difference is authorization: the accepted isheh is what YHWH commanded; the consumed priests offered what he had not commanded.
The lesson for Israel's priesthood is absolute: the isheh-approach to YHWH is on YHWH's terms, not the worshiper's.
And tell them that this is the food offering you are to present to the Lord as a regular burnt offering each day: two unblemished year-old male lambs.
The tamid-isheh: 'this is the isheh that you shall offer to YHWH: two male lambs a year old without blemish, day by day, as a continual burnt offering (olat tamid).' The tamid (H8548, continuous/regular) offering is the covenant-maintenance sacrifice: two lambs every day, one at dawn and one at dusk (v. 4), without exception. The tamid-isheh signals that Israel's covenant relationship with YHWH requires daily renewal — the altar fire never goes out (Lev 6:13) and the offering never ceases.
The tamid is the heartbeat of the Tabernacle-Temple system.
Then Aaron’s sons are to burn it on the altar atop the burnt offering that is on the burning wood, as a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
The peace-offering as isheh: 'the priest shall burn it on the altar on top of the olah as an isheh, a reach nichoach to YHWH.' The shelamim (peace offering) is the offering of fellowship and thanksgiving — it goes on top of the olah (burnt offering) as an isheh. The reach nichoach of the shelamim signals that YHWH receives the fellowship-sacrifice: the isheh-fire mediates not just atonement but covenant fellowship.
The fat portions (chalavim, the best of the animal) go to YHWH on the altar; the rest is eaten by the worshiper in YHWH's presence (Lev 7:11-15). The peace-offering meal is the covenant-fellowship meal around YHWH's fire.
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Hebrew word. Fire-offering that establishes covenant relationship; primary sense: complete burnt offering consumed entirely to God
Fire-offering that establishes covenant relationship; primary sense: complete burnt offering consumed entirely to God
properly, a burnt-offering; but occasionally of any sacrifice BDB: an offering made by fire Usage: (offering, sacrifice), (made) by fire.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
אִשָּׁה is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
אִשֶּׁה (isheh) gives the congregation the grammar of approach to a holy God: access to YHWH comes through fire, through substitution, and through the priestly mediation that YHWH himself established. The isheh is not Israel's creative religious expression — it is YHWH's designed system. He lit the fire (Lev 9:24). He specified the animals (Lev 1:3 — without blemish).
He set the terms (Lev 10:1-2 — unauthorized fire is refused and the offerer is consumed). The reach nichoach (pleasing aroma) that rises from the isheh is YHWH's way of saying: this approach I accept. For the preacher, the weight of the isheh-system is that it makes visible the cost of approach to a holy God. Every isheh is a substitution: the animal dies so the worshiper lives; the fat and the blood go to YHWH on his terms so that the worshiper is received in covenant fellowship.
Hebrews 10:1 calls this a shadow: 'the law, having a shadow of the good things to come.' The substance is Christ. Ephesians 5:2 is the NT's isheh-statement: 'Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering (prosphoran) and sacrifice (thysian) to God' — the reach nichoach of every isheh across Israel's history finds its fulfillment in the one offering that needed no repetition (Heb 10:14: 'by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified').
Lev.1.9
אִשֶּׁה (isheh) is derived from אֵשׁ (esh, fire, H784) — the fire-offering is literally 'the fire-thing,' the object-of-fire or the offering-by-fire. The reach nichoach (H7381+H5207, soothing/pleasing aroma) that accompanies isheh appears ~42 times in Leviticus-Numbers as the sign of divine acceptance. The key sacrificial types that can be isheh: olah (H5930, burnt offering — entirely consumed on the altar), minchah (H4503, grain offering — partially burned, partially eaten by priests), shelamim (H8002, peace/fellowship offering — fat burned on altar, rest eaten by worshiper), chattat (H2403, sin/purification offering), asham (H817, guilt/reparation offering).
The isheh is the genus; olah, minchah, shelamim, chattat, asham are the species. In NT Greek, the primary heir is prosphora (G4376, offering/gift — used in Eph 5:2, Heb 10:10, 14) and thysia (G2378, sacrifice — used in Heb 10:1, 5, 8, 10, 12, 14). The NT's most concentrated use of isheh-theology is Hebrews 9-10, which treats the entire OT sacrificial system as a shadow (skia, G4639) of the one sacrifice of Christ.
The NT's most comprehensive engagement with the isheh-system is Hebrews 9-10. Hebrews 10:1 — 'the law having a shadow of the good things to come and not the very image of those things, can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near' — is the NT's evaluation of the tamid-isheh (Num 28:3): the daily offering was real but not final.
Hebrews 10:10-14 is the NT's isheh-conclusion: 'by that will we have been sanctified through the offering (prosphora) of the body of Jesus Christ once for all... by a single offering (prosphora) he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.' The isheh-system of Leviticus pointed to the one isheh that did not need to be repeated. Ephesians 5:2 gives the isheh its personal-Christological form: 'Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering (prosphoran) and sacrifice (thysian) to God' — the reach nichoach of every animal burnt on Israel's altar across a millennium of sacrifice was a fragrance that pointed to this one.
Romans 12:1 gives the isheh its ecclesiological application: 'present your bodies as a living sacrifice (thysian), holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship' — the congregation is now the offering; the altar is the whole of the Christian life.
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