Leviticus 14:32

Summary

This verse closes the section on skin-disease (tzara'at) purification rituals by introducing a specific legal case: the procedure for someone who had the affliction but whose financial means are insufficient to cover the normal purification offerings. The verse functions as a transition formula pointing to the following instructions for an abbreviated ritual.

Key words

• zot ("this", H2063) — demonstrative particle opening a legal formula, pointing forward to the ruling described.
• torat ("the legal procedure of", H8451) — feminine singular construct noun, meaning it must be followed by a genitive; here it introduces "the procedure of [him] who...".
• asher ("who/that", H0834A) — relative particle used twice in the verse, each time introducing a subordinate clause describing the subject of the law.
• tasig ("it will reach", H5381) — Hiphil (causative) imperfect verb, third person feminine, agreeing with yad ("hand"); the causative stem conveys the sense of "attaining" or "reaching sufficiency."
• yad ("hand of", H3027I) — masculine singular construct noun; combined with tasig, forms the idiom "his hand does not reach," meaning lack of material means.

What the text says

The sentence opens with the formula zot torat ("this is the procedure of"), a construct phrase requiring a following genitive to complete its meaning — here supplied by the relative clause asher bo nega tzara'at ("who has in him a plague of tzara'at", H5061 + H6883). This clause identifies the subject of the legal procedure: a person previously afflicted with the skin condition.

A second relative clause, introduced again by asher (H0834A), qualifies this same person further: lo tasig yado ("his hand does not reach"). The verb tasig (H5381) is a Hiphil imperfect, grammatically causative, describing an action not yet completed or habitual — here negated by lo (H3808), producing the sense "is not able to attain." Combined with yad ("hand", H3027I) in construct with the third-person suffix, the idiom expresses insufficient economic means, literally "his hand does not reach up to" a certain quantity. The final phrase beTohorato ("for his purification", H2893) specifies the purpose: the standard offerings required for ritual purification following recovery from tzara'at.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the Hebrew "hand" idiom as τοῦ μὴ εὑρίσκοντος τῇ χειρὶ ("the one not finding by hand"), preserving the bodily reference to "hand" found in the Hebrew. The Vulgate instead uses qui habere non potest omnia ("who cannot have all things"), removing the "hand" idiom and generalizing it to a statement about lacking material possessions. Modern translations such as RV1909 and SBLIBRE similarly interpret the idiom abstractly as "cannot afford" or "no le alcanza para pagar," rendering the sense of the idiom without retaining its literal bodily imagery.