Leviticus 16:32

Summary

The verse specifies who performs the atonement ritual: the priest who has been anointed and whose hand has been "filled" (ordained) to serve in place of his father. This priest then puts on the linen garments, described as holy garments.

Key words

• khi.Per ("he will make atonement", H3722A) — piel sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain of actions; the intensive piel stem marks this as the decisive ritual act.
• yim.Shach ("someone will anoint", H4886) — qal imperfect, passive-like sense within a relative clause introduced by 'a.Sher ("whom", H0834A); denotes the anointing that qualifies the priest.
• ye.ma.Le' ("someone will fill", H4390) — piel imperfect, used with yad ("hand", H3027R) in the idiom "to fill the hand," meaning ordination or installation into priestly office.
• kha.Hen ("serve as priest", H3547) — piel infinitive with prefixed le. ("to", H9005), expressing purpose: "to serve as priest."
• Ko.desh ("holiness", H6944G) — construct noun modifying big.Dei ("garments of", H0899B), forming "garments of holiness," i.e., the sacred vestments.

What the text says

The sentence opens with the sequential ve.khi.Per ("and he will make atonement"), a form that continues a chain of prior instructions, identifying the subject only after the verb: ha.ko.Hen ("the priest"). Two relative clauses, both introduced by 'a.Sher ("whom"), qualify which priest is meant — one anointed (yim.Shach), and one whose hand has been filled (ye.ma.Le' 'et-ya.D-o), a Hebrew idiom for ordination into priestly service. This qualifying clause is followed by the infinitive construction le.kha.Hen ("to serve as priest"), explaining the purpose of that filling, and Ta.chat 'a.Vi-v ("in place of his father"), indicating succession.

The second sequential verb, ve.la.Vash ("and he will wear"), shifts to the priest's clothing action. The object is doubled: big.Dei ha.Bad ("garments of the linen") and big.Dei ha.Ko.desh ("garments of the holiness"), both in construct chains repeating big.Dei ("garments of"). This repetition in the Hebrew presents the linen garments and the holy garments as two designations for the same vestments, joined in apposition rather than by a conjunction.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders Ta.chat 'a.Vi-v ("in place of his father") as μετὰ τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ ("after his father"), a temporal sense differing from the Hebrew's spatial/successive "in place of." The Vulgate's pro patre suo ("for/in place of his father") aligns more closely with the Hebrew construct Ta.chat. Regarding the garments, the Hebrew's two construct phrases (big.Dei ha.Bad, big.Dei ha.Ko.desh) appear in apposition without a conjunction, while the Vulgate adds "et" (stola linea et vestibus sanctis), presenting them as two joined items rather than one restated designation.