Exodus 20:26

Summary

The verse prohibits ascending to the altar by means of steps, giving as the reason that doing so would expose the nakedness of the one ascending. It closes the section of Exodus 20 dealing with altar construction, following the instruction not to make the altar with hewn stones.

Key words

ta'aleh ("you must go up", H5927G) — qal imperfect, second person masculine singular; expresses a prohibited future/ongoing action when combined with the negation lo' (H3808) that precedes it.

ma'alot ("steps", H4609B) — feminine plural noun, object of the preposition ve ("on", H9003); designates the physical steps by which one would ascend.

mizbechi ("my altar", H4196 + H9020) — masculine singular noun in construct form with the first-person pronominal suffix i ("my"), marking the altar as belonging to the speaker.

tigaleh ("it will be uncovered", H1540I) — niphal imperfect, third person feminine singular; the niphal stem marks the action as passive, so the nakedness is the one "uncovered" rather than the subject doing the uncovering.

'ervatekha ("your nakedness", H6172 + H9021) — feminine singular noun in construct form with the second-person masculine suffix kha ("your"), the grammatical subject of the passive verb tigaleh.

What the text says

The verse divides into two clauses joined by the relative particle 'asher ("that", H0834A), which here functions to introduce the purpose or result of the prohibition. The first clause, ve-lo'-ta'aleh be-ma'alot 'al-mizbechi ("and you shall not go up by steps to my altar"), places the negation lo' directly before the qal imperfect verb ta'aleh, a standard construction for expressing a durative prohibition addressed to a second-person singular subject. The preposition be attached to ma'alot specifies the means ("by/on steps"), while 'al before mizbechi indicates the goal ("to my altar").

The second clause, 'asher lo'-tigaleh 'ervatekha 'alav ("that your nakedness not be uncovered upon it"), uses the niphal form tigaleh, which grammatically removes the actor from the sentence: the text does not state who or what would do the uncovering, only that the nakedness itself would become exposed. The construct chain 'ervat-kha ties the noun "nakedness" directly to the addressee through the pronominal suffix, making the exposure a property of the person ascending rather than of the altar. The final preposition 'alav ("on it"/"upon it," combining 'al with a third-person suffix referring back to the altar) closes the sentence by locating the exposure at the altar itself.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew tigaleh 'ervatekha ("your nakedness will be uncovered") is rendered in the LXX as ἀποκαλύψῃς τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην σου ("you might uncover your indecency"), shifting the verb from a passive (niphal) construction in Hebrew to an active subjunctive form in Greek, with the addressee as the one who "uncovers" rather than the nakedness being "uncovered." The Vulgate's ne reveletur turpitudo tua ("lest your shame be revealed") preserves the passive sense closer to the Hebrew niphal. The SBLIBRE paraphrase ("no se les vea la ropa interior," "their underwear not be seen") introduces a garment ("ropa interior") not present in the Hebrew noun 'ervah ("nakedness"), which the other versions render more literally as nakedness/shame/indecency.