Exodus 23:18

Summary

Exodus 23:18 gives two ritual prohibitions concerning sacrifice: blood offered to God must not accompany anything leavened, and the fat portion from a festival sacrifice must not be left until the following morning. Both clauses are structured as negative commands using the particle lo' ("not", H3808) with an imperfect verb.

Key words

• tiz.Bach ("you must sacrifice", H2076) — qal imperfect, second person masculine singular; the imperfect form combined with the preceding negation lo' produces a durative prohibition rather than a single-instance command.
• cha.Metz ("leaven", H2557A) — masculine singular adjective functioning as a substantive; it designates the fermented substance that must not accompany the sacrificial act.
• dam-ziv.Chi ("blood of my sacrifice", H1818 + H2077 + H9020) — a construct chain (dam "blood of" governing zevach "sacrifice") with the first-person suffix -i ("my"), marking the blood as belonging to a sacrifice offered to the speaker.
• ya.Lin ("it will remain overnight", H3885A) — qal imperfect, third person masculine singular; describes the fat's prohibited state of remaining past its intended time.
• che.lev-cha.Gi ("fat of my festival-sacrifice", H2459 + H2282 + H9020) — construct chain with first-person suffix, paralleling dam-zivchi in structure and indicating the specific animal portion in view.

What the text says

The verse divides into two parallel clauses, each beginning with the negation lo' ("not", H3808) followed by an imperfect verb, a pattern that in Biblical Hebrew typically expresses a standing prohibition rather than a one-time refusal. The first clause, lo'-tizbach 'al-chametz dam-zivchi ("you must not sacrifice with leaven the blood of my sacrifice"), uses the preposition 'al ("with", H5921A) to link the act of sacrificing blood to the presence of chametz ("leaven", H2557A). The construct phrase dam-zivchi ("blood of my sacrifice") ties the blood specifically to a sacrificial context marked by the first-person suffix, indicating the sacrifice is directed to the speaker.

The second clause, ve-lo'-yalin chelev-chaggi 'ad-boker ("and the fat of my festival-sacrifice will not remain until morning"), shifts the subject to chelev ("fat", H2459), the portion of the animal specifically associated with a chag ("festival-sacrifice", H2282). The verb yalin (H3885A), from a root meaning "to spend the night," frames the concern as temporal: the fat is not to persist past the night into the following boker ("morning", H1242). The preposition 'ad ("until", H5704) marks the outer temporal boundary for this restriction.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the second noun in the first clause as αἷμα θυμιάματός μου ("blood of my incense" or "of my offering"), differing from the Hebrew dam-zivchi ("blood of my sacrifice", H1818 + H2077), where the underlying Hebrew term specifically denotes a sacrificial offering (zevach) rather than incense. The Vulgate's victimæ meæ ("of my victim/sacrifice") aligns more closely with the Hebrew zevach. Additionally, the LXX prefaces the verse with a temporal clause about the expulsion of nations (Ὄταν γὰρ ἐκβάλω ἔθνη...) not present in the Hebrew text as provided for this verse.