Verses 4-8a concern three (or perhaps four) ways of preparing and presenting the grain offering: two kinds of bread baked in an oven (verse 4); bread cooked on a griddle (verses 5-6); and bread cooked in a pan (verse 7). The unity of these verses is marked in Hebrew by the fact that the second person singular pronoun is used throughout the section, whereas the second person plural appears in verses 11-12. This is not evident in English translations, since the singular and plural pronouns are identical. If the use of the second person singular pronoun in the receptor language is taken as referring to one individual, then it is probably better to use the plural or some kind of impersonal construction, such as “someone,” throughout.

Baked in the oven: the oven was either a kind of hole dug in the earth or a hollow round object made of baked clay and placed on the ground. A fire is made under this object, and when it is well heated, the dough is inserted through the top opening and placed against the inner walls in order to cook it. Some languages may have to say something like “cooked in a hot enclosure” or “made into bread by a hot box.” Note that the use of a loanword may imply a modern electric or gas oven and should be avoided.

Cakes … wafers: scholars are not certain as to the exact makeup and means of preparation of these kinds of bread. The first was probably a circular loaf placed on a stick (compare 26.26). In most languages the use of the term for cakes will be quite misleading if used for either term. The second term indicates something more like a kind of flat biscuit which is still eaten in the Near East today. The translator should use two rather general terms, but it is important that they designate kinds of bread that are made without yeast. In most cultures there is a way to distinguish between thicker, loaf-type bread and a flatter bread like a biscuit. Possible models are “thick bread and flat bread” or “soft bread and hard bread.”

Mixed with oil: more accurately “kneaded in oil.” If the translator wants to keep the verb “knead,” it is better to make the direct object “flour” (compare verse 5) rather than cakes.

Unleavened: in translating the idea unleavened or “without yeast,” some languages have had to say something like “lacking that which causes it [bread] to rise.”

Spread with oil: or “brushed,” “smeared,” “coated” with oil.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .