Exodus 29:16

Summary

The verse instructs that the ram is to be slaughtered, its blood taken, and that blood sprinkled around the altar. It forms part of a sequence of ritual actions described in successive verbs.

Key words

• sha.chaTa ("you will slaughter", H7819A) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the chain of instructions begun in earlier verses; the form indicates a future/consequential action following a prior command.
• 'Ayil ("ram", H0352A) — masculine singular noun, marked by the definite article ha ("the", H9009), pointing to the specific ram already introduced in the preceding context.
• laKachTa ("you will take", H3947G) — qal sequential perfect, same chain-verb pattern as shachaTa, marking the second action in the sequence.
• daMo ("its blood", H1818 + H9023) — noun in construct form with a pronominal suffix "his/its," directly linking the blood taken to the ram just slaughtered.
• zaraqTa ("you will sprinkle", H2236) — qal sequential perfect, the third verb in the chain, describing the disposal of the blood.
• saViv ("all around", H5439H) — common gender singular noun functioning adverbially, specifying the spatial extent of the sprinkling action around the altar.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain of three sequential perfect verbs — shachaTa ("you will slaughter"), laqachTa ("you will take"), zaraqTa ("you will sprinkle") — each introduced by the narrative ve ("and", H9001). This grammatical pattern signals a sequence of ritual steps to be performed in order, with the subject (a second-person masculine "you") remaining constant throughout. The direct object markers 'et (H0853) before "the ram" and "its blood" show these nouns as the grammatical objects of the respective verbs without being translated themselves.

The noun dam ("blood", H1818) appears in construct form with the suffix -o ("its"), tying the blood explicitly back to the ram ('Ayil, H0352A) mentioned in the prior clause. The final action, sprinkling, is qualified by the prepositional phrase 'al-ha-mizBeach ("on the altar", H5921A + H9009 + H4196) and the adverbial noun saViv ("all around", H5439H), which specifies that the blood is to be applied around the entirety of the altar rather than to one point.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'et-ha-'Ayil ("the ram") with the pronoun αὐτόν ("him/it"), omitting explicit repetition of "ram" and instead relying on the antecedent from a prior clause. The Vulgate similarly uses the relative quem ("whom/which") to refer back to the ram, structuring the sentence as a subordinate clause ("cum mactaveris" — "when you have slaughtered him") rather than as a further coordinated command as in the Hebrew's sequential perfect chain. The Hebrew saViv ("all around") is rendered by the LXX as κύκλῳ ("in a circle") and by the Vulgate as circa ("around"), both conveying the same spatial sense but through different grammatical categories (adverb vs. prepositional phrase).