Exodus 12:16

Summary

The verse designates the first and seventh days of the festival as mikra qodesh ("a convocation of holiness", H4744+H6944), days on which no melakhah ("work", H4399) may be performed. It then states an exception: whatever is needed for eating, prepared for every nefesh ("person", H5315), may be done.

Key words

• mikra' ("a convocation of", H4744) — construct noun, appearing twice, linking to qodesh to form "a convocation of holiness"; used identically for both the first and seventh day, marking them as parallel in status.
• melakhah ("work", H4399) — feminine singular noun, preceded by kol ("any", H3605) in construct, giving "any work" as the subject of the prohibition.
• ye'aseh ("it will be done", H6213A/H6213H) — niphal (passive) imperfect, appearing twice: once negated (work "will not be done") and once affirmed regarding food preparation ("it will be done for you").
• nefesh ("person", H5315J) — feminine singular noun preceded by kol ("every", H3605), specifying that the exception applies distributively, "for every person."
• levado ("by itself/alone", H0905H + suffix H9033) — construct noun with 3ms suffix, modifying the preceding relative clause to mean the food-related action is the sole exception permitted.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as two coordinated temporal clauses, each opening with u-va-yom ("and on the day", H9002+H9003+H3117G) followed by an ordinal (ha-rishon, "the first", H7223G; ha-shevi'i, "the seventh", H7637). Both clauses share a single predicate, mikra qodesh... yihyeh lakhem ("a convocation of holiness... it will be to you", H1961), the verb yihyeh being placed after both subjects, applying to them jointly rather than repeating the verb for each day.

The prohibition begins with kol-melakhah lo-ye'aseh vahem ("any work will not be done on them", H3605+H4399+H3808+H6213A), using the niphal (passive/reflexive) form of asah ("to do") rather than an active verb — the grammatical subject is the work itself, not a human agent, so the text does not name who is prohibited from acting.

The exception clause, introduced by akh ("only", H0389), uses the same niphal verb structure twice: asher ye'akhel le-khol-nefesh ("that which will be eaten by every person", H0834A+H0398+H3605+H5315J) — again passive, so no agent is specified doing the eating-preparation — and hu levado ye'aseh lakhem ("it, by itself, will be done for you", H1931+H0905H+H6213H). The repetition of the passive ye'aseh at both the start and end of the sentence creates a grammatical frame around the exception, isolating food-related activity from the general prohibition on melakhah.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders mikra qodesh with two different constructions: for the first day, a verb κληθήσεται ἁγία ("will be called holy"), and for the seventh, an adjective κλητὴ ἁγία ("called holy"), where the Hebrew uses the identical noun phrase mikra qodesh for both days. The LXX also specifies ἔργον λατρευτόν ("servile/liturgical work") where the Hebrew has the unqualified melakhah ("work", H4399). The Vulgate does not translate mikra qodesh literally but instead uses sancta atque solemnis ("holy and solemn") for the first day and eadem festivitate venerabilis ("venerable with the same festivity") for the seventh, diverging from the parallel Hebrew phrasing. The Vulgate's exception clause, quae ad vescendum pertinent ("things pertaining to eating"), omits an equivalent to le-khol-nefesh ("for every person", H3605+H5315J) found in the Hebrew.