Exodus 28:1

Summary

Exodus 28:1 records a divine command instructing Moses to set apart his brother Aaron and Aaron's four sons — Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar — from among the Israelites, so that they may serve in the priestly office. The verse closes with a list naming the sons, reaffirming their status as "sons of Aaron."

Key words

• 'a.Tah ("you", H0859A) — an independent personal pronoun placed before the imperative, adding emphasis on Moses as the one addressed to perform the action.
• hak.Rev ("bring near", H7126H) — hiphil (causative) imperative: Moses is commanded to cause Aaron to approach, not merely to approach himself.
• 'a.Chi. ("brother", H0251G) — construct noun with pronominal suffix ("your brother"), marking the direct familial relationship between Moses and Aaron.
• Tokh ("among/midst", H8432) — construct noun preceded by mi ("from"), forming "from the midst of," indicating separation out of a larger group.
• kha.ha.no ("serve as priest", H3547) — piel infinitive with pronominal suffix, expressing purpose: "for his acting as priest," attached to li ("to me/for me").

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the independent pronoun 'a.Tah ("you") before the verb hak.Rev, a hiphil imperative construction that places grammatical stress on Moses as the agent who must "bring near" — that is, cause to approach — his brother. The object marked by 'et is 'Aharon 'achikha ("Aaron your brother"), followed by ve'et banav ito ("and his sons with him"), specifying that the sons accompany Aaron in this action. The phrase mitokh benei Yisra'el ("from the midst of the sons of Israel") uses the construct noun tokh to indicate that Aaron and his sons are drawn out from the larger body of Israelites, marking a separation.

The purpose of this bringing-near is given by the piel infinitive construct lekhahano-li ("for his serving as priest to me"), where the verbal root appears in the piel stem denoting the specialized cultic action of priestly service, oriented toward li ("to me"). The verse then repeats the name 'Aharon before listing the four sons — Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, Ithamar — closing with the phrase benei 'Aharon ("sons of Aaron"), a construct phrase that reaffirms their filial relationship as a summary statement.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew spells the second son's name 'Avihu' (H0030), while the LXX renders it Ἀβιούδ ("Abioud"), a variant transliteration not matching the Hebrew consonants as closely as the Vulgate's "Abiu." The Vulgate compresses "his sons with him" into "cum filiis suis" ("with his sons") before separately listing the names, while the Hebrew and LXX both repeat "Aaron" and structure the names as a distinct clause following the purpose statement.