Exodus 29:32

Summary

The verse continues the ritual instructions for Aaron's ordination, stating that Aaron and his sons will eat the meat of the ram and the bread that is in the basket, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.

Key words

• 'a.Khal ("he will eat", H0398) — qal sequential perfect, continuing a chain of prescribed actions begun earlier in the passage; the verb agrees with the first subject and covers both subjects that follow.
• va.Na ("sons", H1121A) — masculine plural construct with pronominal suffix ve ("his"), forming "and his sons," attached to Aaron as joint subject of the eating.
• be.Sar ("[the] meat of", H1320) — construct form linking directly to 'A.yil ("ram", H0352A), producing the phrase "meat of the ram."
• Pe.tach ("[the] entrance of", H6607) — construct noun beginning a chain with 'O.hel ("tent of", H0168G) and mo.'Ed ("meeting", H4150I), locating the action spatially rather than temporally.
• 'a.Sher ("which", H0834A) — relative particle introducing a clause that specifies which bread is meant: the one ba. ("in the", H9003) Sal ("basket", H5536).

What the text says

The clause opens with the sequential perfect 'a.Khal, a verb form typical of narrative or procedural sequences in Biblical Hebrew, marking this action as the next step following prior instructions. The subject is compound: 'a.ha.Ron ("Aaron") joined by u. ("and") to va.Na ("sons") with the suffix ve ("his"), so both Aaron and his sons perform the single verb of eating.

Two objects are marked separately by the direct object marker 'et (H0853, untranslated): first bes.Sar ha.'A.yil ("the meat of the ram"), a construct chain, and second ha.Le.chem ("the bread"), further specified by a relative clause 'a.Sher ba.Sal ("which is in the basket"). The construct chains (be.Sar ha.'A.yil; Pe.tach 'O.hel mo.'Ed) show how Hebrew links nouns without a separate word for "of," producing compact phrases like "entrance of tent of meeting" for the location where the eating occurs.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the verb as ἔδονται, a future-tense form ("they will eat"), where the Hebrew uses a sequential perfect continuing prior action; the sense of continuation in a procedural list is expressed differently by tense choice. The Vulgate splits the single Hebrew sentence into two: "quibus vescetur Aaron et filii ejus" (concerning the ram's meat) followed by "Panes quoque... comedent" (concerning the bread), using "quoque" ("also") to separate what the Hebrew presents as one continuous object list joined by ve. ("and") with two instances of 'et. The Vulgate also attaches the location phrase "in vestibulo tabernaculi testimonii" only to the bread-eating clause, whereas the Hebrew's locative phrase Pe.tach 'O.hel mo.'Ed stands at the end, governing the whole action.