Leviticus 16:34

Summary

The verse closes the Yom Kippur legislation of Leviticus 16 by declaring the preceding ritual a permanent statute for making atonement for the Israelites' sins once a year, and it states that this was carried out according to what Yehovah had commanded Moses.

Key words

• chuqqat ("a statute of", H2708) — feminine singular construct noun, linked to olam to form "a statute of perpetuity," marking the rule as enduring rather than one-time.
• olam ("perpetuity", H5769G) — masculine singular noun in construct relation with chuqqat, supplying the durational quality "forever/perpetual."
• kapper ("make atonement", H3722A) — piel infinitive, expressing purpose ("in order to atone"); the piel stem gives an intensive/causative sense to the action.
• 'achat bashanah ("one [time] in the year", H0259 + H8141) — cardinal number plus noun with article, specifying the frequency of the rite as annual.
• tzivah ("he had commanded", H6680) — piel perfect verb, denoting a completed prior act of command by Yehovah, distinct from the following narrative verb.

What the text says

The verse divides into two clauses joined by narrative vav. The first clause runs from ve-hayetah ("and it will become") through bashanah ("in the year") and sets up the demonstrative zot ("this") as subject, referring back to the preceding ritual instructions. The construct chain chuqqat olam ("statute of perpetuity") functions as a predicate nominal describing what "this" will be for the addressees (lakhem, "for you"). The purpose infinitive lekhapper ("to atone") governs the prepositional phrase 'al benei Yisra'el ("on/for the sons of Israel") and the partitive mikol chattotam ("from all their sins"), fixing the scope of the atonement. The frequency phrase 'achat bashanah closes this clause.

The second clause, introduced by the narrative verb vaya'as ("and he did"), reports execution. The subject of vaya'as is grammatically only "he" (third person masculine singular); the text supplies no explicit named subject at this point in the sequence. The comparative clause ka'asher tzivah Yehovah 'et-Mosheh ("as Yehovah had commanded Moses") uses the piel perfect tzivah, indicating an antecedent completed command, contrasted with the narrative (converted imperfect) vaya'as, which reports subsequent action in sequence.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the closing clause with a future passive, ποιηθήσεται ("it will be done"), differing from the Hebrew narrative past vaya'as ("he did"); this shifts the statement from a report of past execution to a future/generalized directive. The Vulgate keeps a past active verb, Fecit ("he did"), aligning with the Hebrew's grammatical person but, like the Hebrew, without naming the subject explicitly. Some translations (e.g., SBLIBRE) supply "Aarón" as the subject of "did," a specification not present in the Hebrew word list itself. The Vulgate also renders the purpose infinitive lekhapper ("to atone") as ut oretis ("that you might pray/entreat"), a different verbal notion from the atonement sense carried by the piel infinitive kapper.