The Targum Jonathan opens Leviticus 6 with a line that does not exist in the Hebrew Bible: the burnt offering "is brought to make atonement for the thoughts of the heart." Standard Leviticus describes what the burnt offering is. The Targum explains why it exists.
This is a radical addition. The Hebrew Bible treats the burnt offering as the most basic sacrifice—entirely consumed on the altar, with nothing left for the priest to eat. The Targum transforms it into a remedy for internal sin, the kind that never becomes an action. Bad thoughts. Wrong intentions. The errors of the heart that no court could ever prosecute.
The fire on the altar, the Targum insists, must never go out. The priest adds wood every morning "at four hours of the day"—a time specification absent from the Hebrew. This perpetual flame is not just practical; it represents God's constant willingness to receive atonement, even for sins that live only inside a person's mind.
When Aaron's sons inherit the high priesthood, each new priest must offer a daily grain offering—half in the morning, half at evening. The Targum clarifies that this applies both to the original anointing and to every future succession: "when any one of his sons who are constituted priests is consecrated in his place." The Hebrew is ambiguous; the Targum builds a perpetual institution.
The chapter closes with the sin offering, killed in the same place as the burnt offering. Any garment splashed with its blood must be washed "in the holy place." Any clay pot used to cook it must be shattered. God's holiness is contagious, and the Targum treats its transfer with deadly seriousness.