Leviticus 10:9

Summary

The verse prohibits Aaron and his sons from drinking yayin ("wine", H3196) or shekhar ("strong drink", H7941) when entering the ohel mo'ed ("tent of meeting", H0168G/H4150I), under penalty of death. The command is labeled a chukkat olam ("statute of perpetuity", H2708/H5769G) binding for all future generations.

Key words

• Yayin ("wine", H3196) — masculine singular noun, placed as the first word of the verse, fronted before the verb that governs it.
• Shekhar ("strong drink", H7941) — masculine singular noun, paired with yayin via the conjunction ve (H9002), naming a second category of drink.
• Tesht ("you drink", H8354) — qal jussive form, combined with the negation al (H0408) to form a direct prohibition rather than a simple future negation.
• Bo'akhem ("your entering", H0935G) — qal infinitive construct with 2nd person plural suffix, forming a temporal clause: "when you (all) enter."
• Chukkat ("statute of", H2708) — feminine singular construct noun, linked to olam ("perpetuity", H5769G) to form the fixed legal phrase "perpetual statute," followed by le-dorotekhem ("for your generations", H1755).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the two prohibited substances, yayin and shekhar, positioned before the negative particle al and the verb tesht. This word order places the objects of prohibition at the front of the clause, ahead of the verb that forbids them. The verb itself is a jussive form governed by al, which in Biblical Hebrew marks a direct prohibition addressed to a specific subject — here atah ("you", H0859A, singular) — before the scope is broadened by u-vanekha itakh ("and your sons with you").

A shift in grammatical number occurs partway through the verse: the initial verb tesht and pronoun atah are singular, but the following clause be-vo'akhem ("when you enter") uses a plural suffix (-khem), as does the final verb tamutu ("you will die", H4191, plural). This grammatical movement from singular to plural tracks the transition from addressing one individual to addressing the group (Aaron and his sons together) as they approach the tent.

The closing phrase chukkat olam le-dorotekhem is a fixed formula in this legal material, built from a construct chain (chukkat + olam) followed by a second construct (dorotekhem, "your generations", H1755) governed by the preposition le ("to/for", H9005).

Differences between versions

The LXX adds a clause absent from the Hebrew: ἢ προσπορευομένων ὑμῶν πρὸς τὸ θυσιαστήριον ("or when you approach the altar"), extending the prohibition's scope beyond what the Hebrew text states, which mentions only entry into the ohel mo'ed. The Vulgate renders shekhar not with a specific term but as omne quod inebriare potest ("everything that can inebriate"), broadening the single Hebrew noun into a general category, where the Hebrew text uses one specific word alongside yayin.