Leviticus 16:2

Summary

Yehovah instructs Moses to warn Aaron that he may not enter the sacred space behind the curtain, before the atonement cover on the ark, at just any time — otherwise he will die — because Yehovah manifests himself there in the cloud above the cover.

Key words

• da.Ber ("speak", H1696G) — piel imperative, an intensive command form directing Moses to relay a message rather than act himself.
• ya.Vo' ("he come", H0935G) — qal jussive, expressing a prohibition/wish ("let him not come") rather than a flat negative statement.
• be.khol-'et (from H9003 + H3605 + H6256, "at every time") — construct phrase meaning "at any time whatsoever," restricting the frequency of entry rather than banning it outright.
• ka.Po.ret ("atonement cover", H3727) — feminine singular noun naming the object placed on the ark, repeated twice in the verse to frame the location of Yehovah's appearance.
• 'e.ra.'Eh ("I will appear", H7200G) — niphal imperfect, a passive/reflexive form of the root "to see," indicating Yehovah causes himself to be seen rather than being seen by another's action.

What the text says

The verse opens with the standard narrative formula va-yo'mer Yehovah 'el-Mosheh ("and Yehovah said to Moses"), followed by a direct command in the piel imperative daBer ("speak") addressed to Moses, who is told to transmit a restriction to Aaron, called 'achikha ("your brother"). The restriction itself is phrased with the jussive ya.Vo' preceded by the negation 'al, producing a prohibition of manner ("let him not come") rather than a simple future negative — this grammatical choice frames the instruction as a directive to be obeyed rather than a prediction. The phrase be.khol-'et ("at every time") qualifies this jussive, meaning the restriction concerns frequency of access, not a permanent ban.

The spatial description stacks several construct phrases: mi-Beit la-Parokhet ("from inside to the curtain"), 'el-pnei ha-Kapporet ("to the face of the atonement cover"), and 'asher 'al-ha-'Aron ("which is on the ark"), each construct chain narrowing the location progressively from the general sacred area to the precise object. The consequence clause uses the qal imperfect ya.Mut ("he will die"), linked by ve-lo' ("and not") to the preceding prohibition, establishing a conditional relationship: violation of the entry restriction and death are connected through the sequence of clauses. The final clause explains the reason with ki ("for/because"), introducing the niphal imperfect 'e.ra.'eh ("I will appear"), a form that grammatically emphasizes Yehovah's self-manifestation be-he-'anan ("in the cloud") over ha-Kapporet ("the atonement cover") as the ongoing state that makes the space restricted.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ha-Kodesh ("the holy place") as τὸ ἅγιον ἐσώτερον τοῦ καταπετάσματος ("the holy [place] inner of the veil"), adding the qualifier "inner" not explicit in the single Hebrew term. The LXX also translates ka.Poret as ἱλαστηρίου ("propitiatory/mercy seat"), a rendering carrying atonement connotations not morphologically present in the Hebrew noun itself, which denotes a "cover." The Vulgate similarly uses propitiatorio and oraculum for the same Hebrew term in its two occurrences, showing variation even within a single Latin version for one Hebrew word.