Leviticus 19:21

Summary

The verse states that the man must bring his guilt offering to Yehovah at the entrance of the tent of meeting, specifying that this offering is a ram of guilt-offering. The sentence closes a legal case by naming both the general category of the offering and the specific animal required.

Key words

• he.Vi' ("he will bring", H0935P) — hiphil (causative) verb in sequential perfect form, continuing the narrative chain; the causative stem marks that the subject actively brings/causes the offering to arrive.
• 'asham ("guilt offering", H0817) — masculine singular construct, first occurrence, bound to the suffix "his" (-o), naming the category of sacrifice owed.
• Pe.tach ("entrance of", H6607) — construct noun, first link in a three-word chain ("entrance of the tent of meeting") that locates the offering spatially.
• 'O.hel ("tent of", H0168G) and mo.'Ed ("meeting", H4150I) — together completing the construct chain begun by Pe.tach, forming the fixed place-name "tent of meeting."
• 'eil ("ram of", H0352A) — construct noun paired with a second occurrence of 'asham ("guilt offering", H0817), forming the phrase "ram of guilt-offering," which specifies the animal required by the earlier general term.

What the text says

The clause opens with the narrative vav attached to the hiphil sequential-perfect verb he.Vi' ("he will bring", H0935P), continuing a chain of legal instructions from the preceding verses. Its direct object is 'et-'asham-o — "his guilt offering" (H0817 with possessive suffix) — marked by the untranslated object marker 'et. This offering is directed la-Yehovah ("to Yehovah", H3068G), using a dative preposition, and located 'el-pethach 'ohel mo'ed ("to the entrance of the tent of meeting"), a three-term construct chain (H6607, H0168G, H4150I) that names a fixed cultic location rather than a general spot.

The final phrase, 'eil 'asham ("a ram of guilt offering", H0352A + H0817), stands in apposition to the earlier object 'asham-o. Grammatically, the construct pairing of 'eil with a second use of 'asham (H0817) clarifies which animal fulfills the general obligation named at the start of the verse — the Hebrew text names the category of offering twice, once as the object of the verb and once to specify the animal.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew repeats 'asham (H0817) twice — as the object "his guilt offering" and again in "ram of guilt offering." The LXX renders the first occurrence as a genitive phrase, τῆς πλημμελίας αὐτοῦ ("of his trespass"), without an explicit noun for "ram" at that point, placing κριὸν πλημμελίας ("ram of trespass") only at the end. The Vulgate similarly collapses the double Hebrew reference, translating the first 'asham as a causal phrase, pro delicto suo ("for his fault"), and reserving arietem ("ram") for the single explicit animal term, where the Hebrew has two separate nouns built on the same root.