And burn the whole ram upon the altar uses the same words as verse 13, with the literal meaning “and you shall cause to go up in smoke all of the ram [on] the altar.” It is a burnt offering to the LORD is literally “an ʿolah that for Yahweh.” The word ʿolah is usually translated as burnt offering, or “whole-offering” (Revised English Bible), but it literally means “what is caused to go up,” like smoke. It refers to any offering that is completely burned on the altar, except for the skin. (See Lev 7.8.) It is described in Leviticus 1.
It is a pleasing odor, literally “an odor of soothing,” reflects the ancient idea of the gods smelling the sacrifice and being satisfied with it. Since Yahweh is speaking, Good News Translation has “The odor of this offering pleases me,” connecting this with the final words, to the LORD. Contemporary English Version has “goes up in smoke with a smell that pleases me.” One may also say “I will smell these offerings in the smoke that ascends to me and be pleased.”
An offering by fire to the LORD is literally “a fire-gift to Yahweh that.” The word for “fire-gift” is believed by some scholars to refer to the ancient practice of offering food to the gods. So Good News Translation has “a food offering,” as do New Jerusalem Bible and Revised English Bible. But this idea is confusing, in that it introduces an additional kind of offering that has no other textual basis. Most scholars believe the term is derived from the word for fire, so it is better to interpret it as a synonym for burnt offering, such as “an offering made by fire” (American Standard Version, New International Version), “a gift by fire” (Durham), or simply an “oblation” (New American Bible).
An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• Burn the whole male sheep on the altar as an offering made by fire. The smell will please me.
Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .