Exodus 29:4

Summary

Exodus 29:4 instructs that Aaron and his sons be brought to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, where they are then to be washed with water. The verse forms two sequential actions: presentation at a specific location, followed by a ritual washing.

Key words

• tak.Riv ("you will bring near", H7126H) — hiphil (causative) imperfect, 2ms: the causative stem indicates the subject causes Aaron and his sons to approach/be brought, rather than them approaching on their own.
• 'O.hel ("tent of", H0168G) and mo.'Ed ("meeting", H4150I) — construct chain, masculine singular, forming the fixed phrase "tent of meeting," naming the specific location for the action.
• ra.chatz.Ta ("you will wash", H7364) — qal sequential perfect, 2ms: this verb form continues the instruction begun by tak.Riv, marking the washing as the next step in a chain of commanded actions rather than a separate, independent statement.
• Ma.yim ("water", H4325G) — masculine plural noun, the substance used for washing, here governed by the preposition ba. ("in the/with the", H9003).
• ba.Na ("sons", H1121A) — masculine plural construct with pronominal suffix v ("his", H9023), producing "his sons," i.e., the sons of Aaron.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with two direct objects marked by 'et (H0853, untranslated object marker): 'a.ha.Ron ("Aaron") and ba.Na + suffix ("his sons"), both governed by the single verb tak.Riv. This verb, a hiphil imperfect, expresses causation — the grammatical subject (addressed as "you") causes Aaron and his sons to be brought to a location, specified by the construct chain Pe.tach ("entrance of") + 'O.hel mo.'Ed ("tent of meeting").

The second clause begins with ve. functioning here as a sequential vav attached to ra.chatz.Ta, a qal perfect form. In this verbal sequence, the perfect verb continues the force of the preceding imperfect, so the washing is presented as the next required action in the same instructional sequence, not as a separate, disconnected statement. The object of washing, "them" ('o.Ta + suffix m, H0853/H9038), refers back to Aaron and his sons. The washing itself occurs ba. ("with the") Ma.yim ("water"), using the preposition with the definite article attached to the noun.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders the second clause with a subordinate temporal construction, "Cumque laveris patrem cum filiis suis aqua" ("and when you have washed the father with his sons in water"), introducing patrem ("the father") to refer to Aaron, a term not present in the Hebrew text, which simply continues with the pronominal object "them." The LXX follows the Hebrew structure more closely, using two coordinated future-tense verbs, προσάξεις ("you will bring near") and λούσεις ("you will wash"), paralleling the two sequential Hebrew verbs without introducing the term "father."