Leviticus 16:16

וְכִפֶּר עַל־הַקֹּדֶשׁ מִטֻּמְאֹת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וּמִפִּשְׁעֵיהֶם לְכָל־חַטֹּאתָם וְכֵן יַעֲשֶׂה לְאֹהֶל מוֹעֵד הַשֹּׁכֵן אִתָּם בְּתוֹךְ טֻמְאֹתָֽם׃

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The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וְכִפֶּ֣ר עַל־הַקֹּ֗דֶשׁ מִטֻּמְאֹת֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וּמִפִּשְׁעֵיהֶ֖ם לְכָל־חַטֹּאתָ֑ם וְכֵ֤ן יַעֲשֶׂה֙ לְאֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֔ד הַשֹּׁכֵ֣ן אִתָּ֔ם בְּת֖וֹךְ טֻמְאֹתָֽם׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ ἐξιλάσεται τὸ ἅγιον ἀπὸ τῶν ἀκαθαρσιῶν τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀδικημάτων αὐτῶν περὶ πασῶν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν αὐτῶν· καὶ οὕτω ποιήσει τῇ σκηνῇ τοῦ μαρτυρίου τῇ ἐκτισμένῃ ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐν μέσῳ τῆς ἀκαθαρσίας αὐτῶν.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

et expiet sanctuarium ab immunditiis filiorum Israël, et a prævaricationibus eorum, cunctisque peccatis. Juxta hunc ritum faciet tabernaculo testimonii, quod fixum est inter eos, in medio sordium habitationis eorum.

Spanish

Así hará expiación por el Lugar Santísimo, purificándolo de las impurezas, rebeliones y pecados de los israelitas. Hará lo mismo por la Tienda del Encuentro, ya que está ubicada en medio de un pueblo impuro.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y limpiará el santuario, de las inmundicias de los hijos de Israel, y de sus rebeliones, y de todos sus pecados: de la misma manera hará también al tabernáculo del testimonio, el cual reside entre ellos en medio de sus inmundicias.

English

So he shall make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the impurities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to do the same for the Tent of Meeting which abides among them, because it is surrounded by their impurities.

What the text says

Summary

The verse describes Aaron making atonement for the qodesh ("holy place", H6944J) because of the impurities, transgressions, and sins of the Israelites, and states that he will do the same for the 'ohel mo'ed ("tent of meeting", H0168G + H4150I), described as dwelling among the people in the midst of their impurities.

Key words

  • khiPer ("he will make atonement", H3722A) — piel stem (intensive) in the sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain of ritual actions begun earlier in the chapter.
  • qodesh ("holy place", H6944J) — a title noun marking the object of the atonement action, preceded by the definite article.
  • tum'ot ("uncleannesses of", H2932) — feminine plural construct, the first of three construct nouns naming categories of wrongdoing attributed to benei Yisra'el ("sons of Israel", H1121G + H3478).
  • pish'ei ("transgressions of", H6588) and chatoTam ("their sins", H2403B) — additional construct nouns forming a three-part enumeration (impurities / transgressions / sins) linked by u- ("and", H9002).
  • shoKhen ("dwells", H7931) — qal participle, masculine singular, describing the tent as continuously "dwelling" or "residing" among the people; the preceding ha- functions here as a relativizer ("which dwells") rather than a simple article.

What the text says

The verse is built around two parallel verbal actions. The first, introduced by the sequential perfect khiPer, has the qodesh as its object marked by 'al ("on", H5921A), followed by a triple construct chain — tum'ot, pish'ei, chatoTam — piling up three distinct nominal categories of wrongdoing, each grammatically "belonging to" the benei Yisra'el. This construct stacking, rather than a single collective noun, sets up three specific dimensions of the ritual object of atonement.

The second action is signaled by ve-khen ("and thus", H9002 + H3651C) plus the qal imperfect ya'aseh ("he will do", H6213A), extending the same atoning procedure to the 'ohel mo'ed. This tent is further specified by the participial clause ha-shoKhen 'iTam ("which dwells with them", H7931 + H0854), using a participle rather than a finite verb — grammatically presenting the tent's presence among the people as an ongoing state rather than a single event, reinforced by be-tokh tum'oTam ("in the midst of their uncleannesses", H8432 + H2932).

Differences between versions

The Hebrew participle shoKhen ("dwells", H7931) describes the tent's ongoing presence among the people. The LXXSWETE renders this with τῇ ἐκτισμένῃ ("the one that has been established/built"), and the Vulgate similarly has quod fixum est ("which is fixed/established"). Both Greek and Latin versions shift from the Hebrew sense of continuous "dwelling" toward a sense of physical "founding" or "fixing" of the structure.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.