Exodus 12:19

Summary

Exodus 12:19 extends the previous prohibition on leaven during the seven-day festival period: no se'or ("leaven", H7603) may be found in Israelite houses. Anyone who eats machmetzet ("a thing leavened", H2556A), whether ger ("sojourner", H1616) or ezrach ("native-born", H0249), is to be "cut off" from the congregation of Israel.

Key words

• yimmatze' ("it will be found", H4672) — niphal (passive) imperfect: leaven is the grammatical subject of "being found," not of an active search; the sentence describes a state of absence rather than a human action of removal.
• 'okhel ("[one who] eats", H0398) — qal participle, masculine singular: describes an ongoing characteristic, "the one who eats," functioning as the subject of the conditional clause introduced by ki ("for/if", H3588A).
• machmetzet ("a thing leavened", H2556A) — hiphil participle, feminine singular: a causative form, literally "that which causes leavening" or "the leavened thing," distinct from se'or ("leaven" itself as substance) used earlier in the verse.
• nikhretah ("she will be cut off", H3772I) — niphal sequential perfect, agreeing grammatically with nefesh ("person", H5315J), a feminine noun; the verb continues the narrative sequence begun by the vav prefix.
• ba-ger u-ve-ezrach ("in the sojourner and in the native-born", H1616/H0249) — two construct-type nouns joined by ve ("and", H9002), marking that the rule applies without distinction between the two social categories named.

What the text says

The verse opens with a temporal construct phrase, shiv'at yamim ("seven of days", H7651/H3117G), setting the duration before the main clause. The clause "se'or lo' yimmatze' be-vateikhem" places se'or ("leaven") as subject of a niphal (passive-type) verb — the text states a condition of absence, not an instruction to a human agent to remove it, though the effect described is the same.

The second half is built as a conditional clause marked by ki ("for/if", H3588A): "kol 'okhel machmetzet" — "anyone who eats a leavened thing." Here 'okhel is a qal participle, presenting the eater as one characterized by the ongoing action of eating, while machmetzet is a hiphil (causative) participle referring to the leavened substance itself, grammatically distinct from se'or used in the first clause. The consequence is introduced with the narrative ve- ("and") attached to nikhretah ("she will be cut off", H3772I), a sequential perfect agreeing with the feminine noun nefesh ("person", literally "soul", H5315J), specified further by the demonstrative ha-hi' ("that", H1931). The phrase me-'adat Yisra'el ("from the congregation of Israel", H5712/H3478) marks the group from which the person is separated. The final pair, ba-ger u-ve-ezrach ha-'aretz ("in the sojourner and in the native-born of the land"), uses construct nouns joined by ve, applying the rule equally to both categories without further grammatical distinction between them.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders machmetzet with the participle ζυμωτόν ("leavened thing"), matching the Hebrew's focus on the substance eaten, while the Vulgate uses "fermentatum" similarly. The Vulgate's "peribit anima ejus" ("his soul will perish") expresses the niphal nikhretah ("will be cut off") with a verb of perishing rather than one of severance/removal, a difference in image though not necessarily in outcome. The LXX's ἐξολεθρευθήσεται ("will be utterly destroyed") likewise intensifies beyond the more neutral "cut off" sense of the Hebrew niphal.