Lévitique 1:2

Speak with the sons of Israel, and say to them: If a man of you,-but not of the rebellious worshippers of idols,-bring an oblation before the Lord, (it must be) from the clean cattle, from the oxen or from the sheep; but not from the wild beasts may you offer your oblations.

from among you: This word appears later in the sentence than is syntactically called for. The sentence is understood as if it read, “any man among you who brings a sacrifice…”. Many Hebrew sentences exhibit similar constructions. or Scripture employs synecdoche and connotes “from your possessions” by the words “from you”. or By altering its location in the sentence, and stressing “from you ”, Scripture alludes to the unacceptability of bringing offerings of stolen animals. Compare, “I hate robbery with burnt offerings” [Isaiah 61:8].

from domestic stock The sacrifice must be from this general category. Scripture then specifies from cattle , and from the flock — itself a category that includes the two species of sheep and goats. Your offering This word is also a general category.

WHEN ANY MAN BRINGETH OF YOU AN OFFERING UNTO THE ETERNAL OF THE CATTLE. The meaning of this verse is as follows: “when any man of you brings from the cattle an offering to the Eternal, of the herd or of the flock you shall bring it.” The reason for this command is that since He commanded afterwards concerning fowl-offerings and meal-offerings,, Chapter 2. He said here that when a man brings an offering of cattle, he must bring it of one of these two kinds [herd and flock], but not a wild beast nor any other cattle. Thus he who offers a beast [as an offering to G-d], violates a prohibition which is derived from a positive commandment [and carries the force of a positive commandment], just as the Rabbis have said in the third chapter of Tractate Zebachim: “Rabbi Yochanan said: one who offers the limbs of a [kosher] beast [upon the altar of G-d] transgresses a positive commandment.”

כי יקריב, when he donates an animal as a sacrifice. The expression denotes that the person under discussion does not offer such a sacrifice in order to expiate for a sin he is guilty of.

אדם כי יקריב מכם, when he brings himself close to G’d by means of a confession of his sins and by humbling himself. The concept parallels the verse in Hoseah 14,3 ונשלמה פרים שפתינו, “we will pay with bulls after having done so first with our lips.” Psalms 51,19 warns זבחי אלוקים רוח נשברה, “an offering of sacrificial meat is such only if accompanied by a crushed spirit.” The psalmist means that G’d is not interested in the fools who offer sacrificial animals if they have not first humbled themselves. Our sages paraphrase this when pointing out that the Torah does not write here כולכם, your entire selves, but מכם, something emanating from you, i.e. “by excreting the spiritually unworthy parts of you.” (compare Rashi)

מן הבהמה, “from some species of domesticated mammals;” Torat Kohanim sees in the wording proof that G–d did not want to tire out the Israelites excessively by having to hunt free roaming “kosher” animals to be served up as sacrifices, and this is why only domesticated animals, בהמה, were declared suitable for that purpose.