Exodus 30:29

Summary

The verse instructs that the previously mentioned objects be consecrated so that they attain the status "holiness of holinesses" (a superlative expression), and states that whatever touches them will likewise become holy. The clause moves from a direct command to a general, almost automatic consequence expressed through participle + imperfect.

Key words

• ki.dash.Ta ("you will consecrate", H6942G) — piel stem, sequential perfect, second person masculine singular. The piel here marks an intensive/causative action: the subject actively makes the objects holy, not merely observes their holiness.
• ha.Yu ("they will be", H1961) — qal sequential perfect, third person plural. Chains onto the previous verb, showing consequence: the act of consecrating (v.29a) results in a state of being (v.29b).
• Ko.desh ("holiness of", H6944G) construct + ka.da.Shim ("holinesses", H6944G) plural — this construct-plural pairing of the same root produces a superlative sense, "holiness of holinesses," i.e., the highest degree of holiness expressible by repeating the noun.
• no.Ge.a' ("[thing which] touches", H5060) — qal active participle, masculine singular, governed by kol ("every/all", H3605) in construct. The participle presents touching as an ongoing or generic category ("whoever/whatever touches"), not a single event.
• yik.Dash ("it will be holy", H6942G) — qal imperfect, third person masculine singular. Same root as ki.dash.Ta but in the simple (qal) stem and imperfect aspect, describing a resulting or repeatable state rather than an intentional act.

What the text says

The verse is built as two paired sequential-perfect clauses (ve-qiddashta... ve-hayu...), a common construction continuing prior instructions: first an action ("you will consecrate them"), then its result ("and they will be [in a state of] holiness of holinesses"). The doubling of the root qodesh/qadashim in construct form does not simply mean "very holy" in isolation but grammatically expresses a superlative by stacking singular construct + plural of the same noun.

The second half of the verse shifts construction: kol ha-noge'a ("every one/thing touching") uses a participle to describe a general class of agents or objects, not a specific person. The clause closes with yiqdash, a qal imperfect from the same root as the piel verb that opened the verse. The shift from piel (qiddashta, "you consecrate," causative) to qal (yiqdash, "it becomes holy," simple/resultative) marks a distinction the English gloss "holy" does not preserve: one verb form describes deliberate consecration by an agent, the other describes an entity coming to be in that state as a consequence of contact.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders qodesh qadashim as ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων (plural noun + plural genitive), matching the Hebrew's doubled-root superlative structure. The Vulgate's "Sancta sanctorum" mirrors this same doubling. Both versions render yiqdash with future passive forms (ἁγιασθήσεται, sanctificabitur), which obscures the Hebrew's qal/piel stem distinction between the initial act of consecration and the resulting state of holiness through contact.