Leviticus 14:14

Summary

The verse describes a ritual action performed by the priest: he takes some of the blood from the asham ("guilt offering", H0817) and applies it to three specific right-side extremities of the person being purified — the earlobe, the thumb, and the big toe.

Key words

• ko.Hen ("priest", H3548) — repeated twice (positions 4 and 12), naming the sole agent of both actions (taking and applying the blood).
• 'a.Sham ("guilt offering", H0817) — definite noun, the specific sacrifice whose blood is used; distinct from other offering types.
• te.Nukh ("lobe of", H8571) — construct noun, grammatically bound to 'O.zen ("ear of", H0241G), forming the phrase "lobe of the ear."
• mi.ta.Her ("one purifying himself", H2891) — hithpael participle, reflexive form describing the person as one undergoing the purification process, not merely a passive recipient.
• y.ma.Nit ("right", H3233G) — feminine adjective repeated three times (once per body part), each time agreeing grammatically with the feminine nouns 'O.zen, ya.D (via Bo.hen), and rag.L.

What the text says

The sentence is built as two sequential clauses joined by the narrative ve ("and", H9001): first la.Kach ("he will take", H3947G), then na.Tan ("he will put [it]", H5414H). Both verbs are qal sequential perfects, a form that continues a narrative or instructional sequence — here indicating consecutive ritual steps the priest performs in order.

The three body parts receiving the blood are each expressed through a chain of construct nouns: te.Nukh ... 'O.zen ("lobe of the ear"), Bo.hen ... ya.D ("thumb of the hand"), and Bo.hen ... rag.L ("big toe of the foot"). In each case, the noun Bo.hen (H0931) is grammatically feminine and construct, meaning "thumb/big toe of," and is followed by a pronominal suffix o ("his", H9023) attached to "hand" and "foot," specifying whose hand and foot are meant. The adjective y.ma.Nit ("right", H3233G) closes each phrase, agreeing in gender with the feminine head nouns of each construct chain ('O.zen, and by extension Bo.hen for hand and foot).

The person undergoing the rite is called ha.mi.ta.Her ("the one purifying himself", H2891), a hithpael participle with reflexive nuance — grammatically framing the individual as the subject of an ongoing state of purification, even though the priest performs the physical action of applying the blood.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew repeats the adjective y.ma.Nit ("right") three separate times, once for each body part (ear, hand, foot). The LXX likewise marks "right" for the hand and foot (δεξιᾶς, δεξιοῦ) but its rendering of the ear phrase is truncated in the given text (τοῦ δεξι'), suggesting the same threefold repetition. The Vulgate uses "dextræ" only once explicitly for the ear ("auriculæ dextræ") and then applies "dextræ" to the hand while leaving "pedis" ("foot") without a repeated explicit "right," relying on the shared modifier from the preceding clause rather than restating it for each limb as the Hebrew construction does.