Leviticus 19:5

Summary

Leviticus 19:5 addresses the offering of a zevach shelamim ("sacrifice of peace offerings", H2077/H8002) to Yehovah. The verse uses two occurrences of the verb "to sacrifice" — one introducing the act, one closing it — framing the phrase lirtzonkhem ("for your acceptance", H7522) between them.

Key words

• tizbechu ("you will sacrifice", H2076) — qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural, opening the conditional clause with khi ("if", H3588A).
• zevach ("sacrifice of", H2077) — masculine singular construct, linking directly to the following noun to form the phrase "sacrifice of peace offerings".
• shelamim ("peace offerings", H8002) — masculine plural, completing the construct chain begun by zevach.
• retzone- ("acceptance of", H7522) — masculine singular construct, with the suffix -khem ("your", H9026) attached, producing "your acceptance/favor".
• tizbachuhu ("you will sacrifice it", H2076 + H9033) — qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural, with the 3rd person masculine singular object suffix -hu ("it") referring back to the zevach.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a conditional clause introduced by ve-khi ("and if"), followed by the verb tizbechu ("you will sacrifice") and its object phrase zevach shelamim la-Yehovah ("a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yehovah"). The construct chain zevach shelamim binds the two nouns tightly: zevach ("sacrifice of") cannot stand alone and requires shelamim to complete its meaning.

After the object is introduced, the sentence pivots with li-retzonekhem ("for your acceptance"), a prepositional phrase built on the construct noun retzon with the second-person plural suffix. The clause then closes with a second verb, tizbachuhu ("you will sacrifice it"), repeating the same root as the opening verb but now carrying the pronominal suffix -hu ("it") that points back to the zevach already named. This verbal repetition (tizbechu...tizbachuhu) frames the phrase about acceptance in the middle, structurally emphasizing that the manner or purpose of the sacrificing is qualified by "your acceptance" rather than introducing new action.

Differences between versions

The LXX text given renders the clause more compactly: "θύσητε θυσίαν τὴν ὑμῶν θύσετε" — it preserves the double-verb structure (θύσητε/θύσετε corresponding to tizbechu/tizbachuhu) but does not explicitly render shelamim ("peace offerings") or spell out retzonekhem ("your acceptance") as a separate phrase; "τὴν ὑμῶν" stands where the Hebrew has the fuller expression.

The Vulgate renders the second Hebrew verb differently: instead of a repeated verb of sacrificing, it gives a purpose clause, "ut sit placabilis" ("so that it may be pleasing"), converting the finite verb tizbachuhu into a result/purpose construction rather than mirroring the Hebrew's verbal repetition.