Exodus 29:42

Summary

Exodus 29:42 specifies that the burnt offering described in the preceding verses is to be a continual practice, performed by future generations at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, in the presence of Yehovah. The verse closes by identifying this location as the place where Yehovah will meet with the people and speak to them.

Key words

• tamid ("continuity", H8548) — a noun in construct relationship with 'olat ("burnt offering of"), forming the phrase "burnt offering of continuity," commonly rendered as "continual burnt offering."
• dorotekhem ("generations", H1755) — feminine plural construct with the pronominal suffix khem ("your," H9026), indicating the offering spans "your generations," i.e., extends across time.
• iva'ed ("I will meet", H3259) — Niphal imperfect first person. The Niphal stem here carries a reflexive/reciprocal sense — the verb describes mutual meeting rather than a simple active "I will go to."
• shammah ("there", H8033 + H9011) — the adverb "there" combined with a directional he suffix, reinforcing the sense of movement or orientation "toward there," marking the Tent of Meeting as the designated site.
• dabber ("speak", H1696) — Piel infinitive, an intensive verb stem paired with the preposition le- ("to"), forming the purpose clause "to speak" — the stated reason for the meeting.

What the text says

The verse is built from a chain of construct phrases stacked to locate and qualify the offering: 'olat tamid ("burnt offering of continuity") is further specified by le-dorotekhem ("for your generations"), then physically located by petach 'ohel-mo'ed ("entrance of the tent of meeting"), and finally oriented lifnei YHWH ("before Yehovah"). This layering allows Hebrew to pack temporal scope, spatial location, and relational orientation into a single continuous phrase without independent clauses.

The relative clause beginning with 'asher ("where," H0834A) shifts to first-person verbal action: iva'ed lakhem shammah ("I will meet with you there"). The Niphal form of iva'ed does not simply mean "I will come" but conveys a reciprocal encounter — the verb root itself implies two parties meeting. The purpose of this meeting is then stated with the Piel infinitive dabber ("to speak"), governed by the preposition le-, giving the clause a purposive sense: the meeting occurs specifically in order to speak.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders lifnei YHWH ("before Yehovah") as ἔναντι Τυρίου ("before Tyrios/Tyrian"), diverging from both the Hebrew Tetragrammaton and the Vulgate's "coram Domino" ("before the Lord"). The Vulgate also restructures the opening of the verse, adding "sacrificium est Domino" ("it is a sacrifice to the Lord"), a phrase not present as a separate clause in the Hebrew construct chain, which simply reads "burnt offering of continuity for your generations."