Exodus 19:22

Summary

The verse instructs that even the priests who approach Yehovah must sanctify themselves, so that Yehovah does not break out against them. It extends a requirement of ritual holiness beyond the general population to the priestly group specifically, with a stated consequence for failure to comply.

Key words

• gam ("also", H1571) — adverb that emphasizes inclusion, signaling that the priests are added to a group already subject to the preceding requirements, not exempted from them.
• ha-nnigashim ("the ones who draw near", H5066G) — niphal participle, masculine plural, with passive/reflexive nuance. It functions as a substantive clause modifying "the priests," describing their characteristic action of approaching Yehovah.
• yitqaddashu ("they shall sanctify themselves", H6942G) — hithpael imperfect, reflexive stem indicating the subject performs the action upon itself. The imperfect aspect marks this as an ongoing or required future action, not a completed one.
• pen ("lest", H6435) — subordinating particle introducing a negative purpose/result clause, connecting the sanctification requirement to the danger of divine action.
• yifrotz ("he will break out", H6555) — qal imperfect, third person masculine singular. The verbal root conveys a sudden, forceful bursting-forth action, here with Yehovah as subject.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with ve-gam ("and also"), which ties this verse to preceding material and marks the priests as an additional category requiring the same self-sanctification already demanded of others. The subject "the priests" (ha-kohanim, H3548) is further specified by the niphal participle ha-nnigashim ("the ones who draw near"), a construction that identifies them by their characteristic function of approaching Yehovah — the participle form treats this proximity as a defining, ongoing role rather than a single event.

The main verb yitqaddashu is in the hithpael stem, which in Biblical Hebrew regularly marks reflexive or self-directed action: the priests are to sanctify themselves, rather than being sanctified by an external agent within this clause. The imperfect conjugation leaves the action open — habitual, repeated, or future-oriented rather than a single completed act.

The clause introduced by pen ("lest") expresses a negative purpose: the self-sanctification is required specifically to avoid a consequence. That consequence is expressed by yifrotz, a qal imperfect from a root denoting a sudden breach or outburst, with Yehovah as the grammatical subject acting bahem ("against them," H9038, pronominal suffix attached to the preposition).

Differences between versions

The LXX renders yifrotz ("break out") as apallaxē ("remove/take away"), a softer verb than the Hebrew's image of sudden bursting force. The Vulgate uses percutiat ("strike"), which conveys direct violent action, differing from both the Hebrew's "breaking out" imagery and the LXX's "removal." The Vulgate also adds "quoque" for gam, matching the inclusive sense, while the LXX's kyriō tō theō ("the Lord God") expands the single Hebrew name YHWH into a double title not present in the Hebrew text.