Leviticus 16:17

Summary

Leviticus 16:17 states that no person may be present in the Tent of Meeting while the high priest enters to make atonement in the holy place, until he comes out. It then describes the sequence of atonement he performs: for himself, for his household, and for the whole assembly of Israel.

Key words

• 'a.Dam ("person", H0120G) — a singular noun preceded by khol ("any", H3605) in construct form, producing the sense "any person" or "every person," setting up a total prohibition.
• yih.Yeh ("he will be", H1961) — qal imperfect of the verb "to be," negated by lo' ("not", H3808); the imperfect form marks this as an ongoing or repeated prohibition rather than a single event.
• kha.Per ("make atonement", H3722A) — piel infinitive, the intensive stem used throughout Leviticus 16 for the atonement ritual; paired with the preposition le. ("to") it expresses purpose: "in order to make atonement."
• khi.Per ("he has made atonement", H3722A) — piel sequential perfect, same root as kha.Per but now a finite verb continuing the narrative sequence after the infinitives describing entry and exit.
• ba.'a.D / ve.'Ad ("for", H1157) — repeated three times (for himself, for his household, for the assembly), each time governing a different beneficiary of the atonement action.

What the text says

The verse divides into two grammatical movements. The first is a prohibition built on khol-'a.Dam ("any person") as subject of the negated imperfect verb yih.Yeh ("he will be [not]"), locating the restriction be'ohel mo'ed ("in the tent of meeting", H0168G + H4150I). This prohibition is bounded temporally by two infinitive construct clauses: be.vo'o ("in his coming", H0935G + suffix "his") marking the starting point, and 'ad tze'to ("until his going out", H3318G + suffix "his") marking the endpoint. Both infinitives carry the third-person pronominal suffix -o ("his"), referring to the one performing the atonement, though the referent's identity is not stated within this verse's own wording—only implied by the surrounding chapter's use of similar constructions.

The second movement shifts from infinitive clauses to a finite verb, ve.khi.Per ("and he has made atonement"), a piel sequential perfect that continues the narrative chain begun by the vav. This verb governs three prepositional phrases built on ba'ad / ve'ad ("for"), each introducing a beneficiary: ba'adav ("for himself"), u've'ad beito ("and for his household", H1004M + suffix), and u've'ad kol-qehal Yisra'el ("and for all the assembly of Israel", H6951 + H3478). The construct chain kol-qehal Yisra'el stacks three nouns to specify "the totality of the assembly of Israel" as final object of atonement.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text does not use a proper name or title for the one entering to atone; the LXX likewise uses only the participle εἰσπορευομένου αὐτοῦ ("of him entering"). The Vulgate makes this explicit by inserting pontifex ("the high priest"), a specification not present in the Hebrew wording of this verse itself. Similarly, the Hebrew ba.Kodesh ("in the holy place", H6944J) is rendered by the LXX as ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ ("in the holy [place]"), while the BSB translation specifies "the Most Holy Place," a further interpretive narrowing not distinguished by the single Hebrew term used here.