Exodus 29:10

Summary

The verse instructs that the young bull be brought near before the Tent of Meeting, and that Aaron together with his sons place their hands upon the head of that bull. It describes two sequential actions: bringing the animal to a specific location, then a physical gesture performed by the priests upon it.

Key words

• hik.rav.Ta ("you will bring near", H7126) — hiphil (causative) sequential perfect, second person masculine singular; the causative stem indicates the subject (Moses, addressed as "you") causes the bull to approach, rather than the bull moving on its own.
• Par ("young bull", H6499) — masculine singular noun, marked twice with the definite article ha (H9009) and the object marker 'et (H0853), appearing both as the object brought near and later as the location of the hand-laying ("the head of the bull").
• f.Nei ("before", H6440) construct with 'O.hel ("tent of", H0168) and mo.'Ed ("meeting", H4150) — a construct chain meaning "before the Tent of Meeting," locating the action spatially.
• sa.Makh ("he will lay", H5564) — qal sequential perfect, third person masculine singular; a simple (non-causative) verb describing the direct physical act of laying hands, distinct from the causative verb used for "bringing near."
• ye.dei.Hem ("their hands", H3027 + H9028) — dual construct noun with third person masculine plural suffix; the dual form specifically marks "hands" as a pair, and the suffix ties the hands to both Aaron and his sons collectively.

What the text says

The verse is built as two linked clauses joined by the narrative ve ("and", H9001), both using sequential perfect verb forms that continue a chain of instructions begun earlier in the passage. The first clause uses the hiphil verb hik.rav.Ta, placing the addressee (grammatically "you," singular) as the causer of the bull's approach toward f.Nei 'O.hel mo.'Ed, a construct chain literally "the face/front of the tent of meeting" — a spatial designation rather than a simple preposition.

The second clause shifts subject to 'a.ha.Ron ("Aaron", H0175) and his va.Na ("sons", H1121) via the conjunction u (H9002), and uses the qal verb sa.Makh, denoting the simple act of leaning or resting hands. The object is 'et-ye.dei.Hem — "their hands," using the dual construct form of H3027, explicitly marking this as a two-handed action performed by both hands of each person. The final phrase 'al-rosh ha-Par ("on the head of the bull") repeats Par (H6499) with the article, closing the sentence by returning to the same animal introduced in the first clause.

Differences between versions

The LXX adds ἔναντι κυρίου ("before the Lord") and repeats "at the doors of the tent of the testimony," phrases not present in the Hebrew text provided. The Hebrew construct chain li-f.Nei 'O.hel mo.'Ed ("before the Tent of Meeting") is rendered in the LXX as ἐπὶ τὰς θύρας τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου ("at the doors of the tent of testimony"), specifying "doors" where the Hebrew simply states "before/face of."