Exodus 29:8

Summary

The verse instructs that Aaron's sons be brought near (for the ordination ceremony) and then be clothed with tunics. It continues the sequence of ritual actions describing the consecration of the priests.

Key words

• ba.Nav ("his sons", H1121A) — masculine plural noun in construct form, meaning "sons of him," referring to Aaron's sons who are to undergo the same ritual as him.
• tak.Riv ("you will bring near", H7126H) — hiphil (causative) imperfect, second person masculine singular. The causative stem indicates the subject (Moses) makes the sons approach; the imperfect conveys an instruction for future/ongoing action within the ritual sequence.
• ve.hil.bash.Tam ("and you will clothe them", H3847 + H9038) — hiphil sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain begun by the imperfect verb. The causative sense means Moses causes the sons to be clothed, not that they clothe themselves. The attached suffix -ם ("them", H9038) marks the sons as direct recipients of the action.
• ku.to.Not ("tunics", H3801) — feminine plural noun, the garments to be placed on the sons, without further modifier in the Hebrew text.

What the text says

The Hebrand sentence has two verbal clauses joined by the narrative vav (H9001), a common device in Biblical Hebrew for sequencing successive actions in legal or ritual instruction. The first verb, tak.Riv ("you will bring near", H7126H), is in the hiphil imperfect, marking causation: the addressee (Moses) causes the sons to approach, rather than the sons acting independently. This verb is preceded by the object marker 'Et (H0853), which signals that ba.Nav ("his sons", H1121A) is the direct object of the bringing-near action.

The second clause uses hil.bash.Tam ("you will clothe them", H3847), a hiphil sequential perfect — a verb form that continues a chain of instructions initiated by an imperfect, common in procedural Hebrew texts. The suffix -ם attached to this verb explicitly marks "them" (the sons) as the object being clothed, reinforcing that Moses is the causative agent of the clothing as well. The noun ku.to.Not ("tunics", H3801) appears without any qualifying adjective in the Hebrew, simply naming the garment type.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) adds tunicis lineis ("linen tunics") and cingesque balteo ("and you will gird [them] with a sash"), details not present in the Hebrew text provided, which reads only ku.to.Not ("tunics", H3801) without a material specified and without mention of a sash in this verse. The LXX (LXXSWETE) renders the clothing verb as ἐνδύσεις ("you will clothe") with χιτῶνας ("tunics"), matching the Hebrew's two main actions without the added elements found in the Vulgate.