Leviticus 1:5

Summary

The verse describes the ritual sequence following the offering of a young bull: the offerer slaughters it before Yehovah, then Aaron's sons the priests present the blood and sprinkle it around the altar located at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

Key words

• sha.Chat ("he will cut [the] throat of", H7819A) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain begun in the previous verse; the subject (the offerer) is implied by the verb form, not stated by a separate noun.
• hik.ri.vu ("they will present", H7126H) — hiphil (causative) sequential perfect; the causative stem marks that the priests cause the blood to be brought forward, distinguishing their action from the slaughter performed by the offerer.
• be.Nei ("[the] sons of", H1121A) construct with 'a.ha.Ron ("Aaron", H0175) — construct chain identifying the priests specifically as Aaron's sons, appositionally clarified by ha.kohanim ("the priests", H3548).
• za.re.Ku ("they will sprinkle", H2236) — qal sequential perfect, third action in the chain, describing the disposal of the blood against the altar.
• sa.Viv ("all around", H5439H) — adverbial noun modifying the sprinkling action, indicating the blood is applied to the altar's perimeter rather than a single point.

What the text says

The Hebrew presents three sequential actions joined by the narrative ve- ("and", H9001) attached to sequential perfect verbs: sha.Chat ("he will cut [the] throat of", H7819A), hik.ri.vu ("they will present", H7126H), and za.re.Ku ("they will sprinkle", H2236). This chain structure marks a continuous ritual procedure with a shift in subject: the first verb's subject is unspecified (carried over from the preceding verse's offerer), while the second and third verbs explicitly name be.Nei 'a.ha.Ron ha.kohanim ("the sons of Aaron the priests") as agents. The direct object marker 'et (H0853) appears three times, marking ben ha.bakar ("the young one of the herd", i.e., the bull) and twice marking ha.dam ("the blood", H1818), keeping the object explicit even though untranslated in English.

The phrase li.f.Nei Yehovah ("before Yehovah") uses the construct noun f.Nei ("before/face of", H6440G), literally "to the face of," placing the slaughter action in a spatial/relational orientation toward the divine name. The final clause uses the relative particle 'a.Sher ("which", H0834A) to introduce a subordinate clause locating the altar: Pe.tach 'O.hel mo.'Ed ("entrance of the tent of meeting"), a double construct chain (Pe.tach + 'Ohel + mo.'Ed) that pinpoints the altar's position architecturally.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ben ha.bakar ("the young one of the herd") as τὸν μόσχον ("the calf/young bull"), a single noun without the construct phrase structure present in the Hebrew. The Vulgate similarly uses vitulum ("calf"), collapsing the Hebrew's two-word construct into one Latin term. The LXX also reorders syntax, placing οἱ ἱερεῖς οἱ υἱοὶ Ἀαρών ("the priests, the sons of Aaron") before mentioning the blood, whereas the Hebrew sequence is be.Nei 'a.ha.Ron ha.kohanim ("sons of Aaron, the priests").