Leviticus 14:27

Summary

The verse describes a ritual gesture: the priest sprinkles oil, using his right finger, from the oil pooled in his left palm, seven times before Yehovah. This is part of the purification ceremony described in the surrounding chapter.

Key words

• hi.Zah ("he will spatter", H5137A) — Hiphil (causative) form, sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain of priestly actions.
• 'etz.ba'o ("his finger", H0676) — feminine singular noun in construct state with pronominal suffix "his," specifying which body part performs the action.
• ka.Po ("his palm", H3709G) — feminine singular noun in construct with suffix "his," identifying the source location of the oil.
• she.va' ("seven", H7651) paired with pe.'a.Mim ("times", H6471, masculine plural) — the numeral and its counted noun together indicate the repetition count of the ritual act.
• li.f.Nei ("before", from H6440G, construct plural of "face") — construct form meaning literally "to the face of," here governing Yehovah (H3068G) to indicate the ritual takes place in Yehovah's presence.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the narrative vav on hi.Zah ("he will spatter", H5137A), linking this action to the prior steps of the ritual sequence. The subject is ha.ko.Hen ("the priest", H3548), and the verb is Hiphil, marking a causative action — the priest causes the oil to spatter, rather than the oil spattering on its own.

Two body parts are specified through construct-plus-suffix constructions: be.'etz.ba'o ha.ye.ma.Nit ("with his finger, the right one", H0676 + H3233G) and 'al-ka.po ha.se.ma.Lit ("on his palm, the left one", H3709G + H8042G). Each noun (finger, palm) is feminine singular in construct form, followed by a possessive suffix "his," and then modified by a feminine singular adjective (right/left) that agrees in gender. This produces a precise spatial choreography: the source of the oil is the left palm, the instrument of sprinkling is the right finger.

The relative clause 'a.Sher 'al-ka.po ("which is on his palm", H0834A) clarifies that the oil in question is specifically the oil sitting on the palm, not oil in general — connecting back to an oil-pouring action described earlier in the passage. The phrase She.va' pe.'a.Mim ("seven times", H7651 + H6471) quantifies the repetitions of the sprinkling. The final phrase li.f.Nei Yehovah ("before Yehovah", H6440G + H3068G) uses the construct noun "face" governing the divine name, a common Hebrew idiom for ritual action performed in a sacred or divine presence.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ka.Po ha.se.ma.Lit ("his left palm", H3709G + H8042G) as "the oil in his left hand" (τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ τῇ ἀριστερᾷ), using "hand" (χείρ) rather than a term specific to "palm." The SBLIBRE Spanish translation omits the explicit mention of the left hand/palm entirely, stating only that the priest sprinkles "with the right finger" without specifying the oil's source location on the body, unlike the Hebrew, LXX, Vulgate, RV1909, and BSB, which all retain both hand references.