Leviticus 15:29

Summary

Leviticus 15:29 instructs that on the eighth day a woman is to take two turtledoves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. The verse describes the concluding ritual action following a period of impurity, specifying the day, the offering animals, and the location where they are presented.

Key words

• ha.she.mi.Ni ("eighth", H8066) — ordinal number marking the specific day on which the action occurs, fixed by the definite article attached to it.
• ti.kach ("she will take", H3947G) — qal imperfect, third person feminine singular, expressing an action she is to perform, with future/ongoing nuance typical of imperfect verbs.
• she.Tei ("two of...", H8147) — cardinal number in construct form, linking directly to to.Rim ("turtle-doves", H8449) to form the phrase "two turtledoves."
• he.vi.'Ah ("she will bring", H0935P) — hiphil sequential perfect, causative in force ("cause to come/bring"), continuing the narrative sequence begun by the imperfect verb ti.kach.
• Pe.tach ("entrance of", H6607) — construct noun beginning a chain (Pe.tach + 'O.hel + mo.'Ed) that specifies the precise location, "entrance of the Tent of Meeting."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built around two main verbs describing sequential actions performed by the same female subject: ti.kach ("she will take"), a qal imperfect, and ve.he.vi.'Ah ("and she will bring"), a hiphil sequential perfect. This verb pairing is a common Hebrew narrative structure where an imperfect verb introduces an action and a following perfect verb (marked by the vav) continues the sequence, here rendering both as future actions in translation despite their different verbal forms.

The object of the first verb is specified through two construct phrases joined by 'o ("or", H0176A): she.Tei to.Rim ("two of turtledoves") and she.Nei be.Nei yo.Nah ("two of young ones of a dove"), offering an alternative between adult turtledoves and young pigeons. The final clause uses a double preposition construction, 'el ha.ko.Hen ("to the priest") followed by 'el Pe.tach 'O.hel mo.'Ed ("to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting"), stacking two prepositional phrases with 'el to specify both the recipient and the precise location of delivery.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders she.Tei to.Rim as δύο τρυγόνας ("two turtledoves") and she.Nei be.Nei yo.Nah as δύο νοσσοὺς περιστερῶν ("two young ones of doves"), closely matching the Hebrew construct structure. The Vulgate's duos turtures, aut duos pullos columbarum similarly preserves the two-option structure. All three textual traditions agree on the eighth day, the two bird species, and the location at the Tent of Meeting's entrance, showing no substantive divergence in this verse.