Leviticus 16:3

Summary

Leviticus 16:3 specifies the conditions under which Aaron may enter the sacred space (ha-qodesh, H6944): he must bring a young bull as a sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering. The verse functions as an introductory instruction before the ritual described in the rest of the chapter.

Key words

• Zot ("this", H2063) — demonstrative particle opening the verse; combined with the preposition be- ("with", H9003), it forms be-zot ("with this / by this means"), pointing forward to the conditions that follow.
• ya.Vo' ("he will come/enter", H0935) — qal imperfect verb, third person masculine singular; the imperfect aspect marks an action framed as ongoing or future, here functioning as an instruction ("he shall enter").
• ha-Qodesh ("the holy place", H6944) — masculine singular noun with definite article, naming the specific space Aaron is authorized to enter.
• ben-baqar ("young one of the herd", H1121 + H1241) — construct chain; H1121 in construct state ("son/young one of") links to baqar ("herd"), together specifying the bull's category as coming from cattle.
• cha.Tat ("sin offering", H2403) — feminine singular noun designating the ritual purpose of the bull, distinct from the ram's designated purpose.

What the text says

The verse opens with be-zot ("with this"), a demonstrative construction that sets up the following material as the defining condition — literally "by this [means] Aaron shall enter." The verb ya.Vo' (H0935, qal imperfect) describes Aaron's entering the qodesh (H6944, "holy place") not as a simple future prediction but as a conditioned or prescribed action, consistent with instructional legal texts.

The two offerings are introduced by parallel prepositional phrases using be- ("with," H9003) and le- ("to/for," H9005). The bull is specified through the construct phrase par ben-baqar — literally "a bull, young one of the herd" (H6499 + H1121 + H1241) — a common way in Biblical Hebrew of specifying an animal's origin category. This bull is designated le-chattat ("for a sin offering," H2403), while the ram (ayil, H0352) is designated le-olah ("for a burnt offering," H5930). The repetition of the le- preposition before each offering type creates a syntactic parallelism that assigns a distinct ritual function to each animal.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders be-zot ("with this," H2063+H9003) as houtōs ("thus"), shifting from a demonstrative pointing to specific items toward an adverbial "in this manner." The Vulgate omits an equivalent for be-zot entirely, instead opening with a conditional clause ("nisi haec ante fecerit" — "unless he has done these things beforehand"), which restructures the verse's syntax compared to the Hebrew's direct instructional form.