Leviticus 19:7

Summary

The verse addresses the case of sacrificial meat eaten on the third day after the offering. Such meat is declared pigul ("unclean meat", H6292) and will not be accepted.

Key words

• he'akhol ("to be eaten", H0398) — niphal absolute infinitive, doubling the verb root to intensify or emphasize the certainty of the action described by the following finite verb.
• ye'akhel ("it will be eaten", H0398) — niphal imperfect, third person masculine singular; passive voice indicates the meat is the object acted upon, and the imperfect aspect marks a hypothetical/future situation, matching the conditional 'im ("if", H0518A) that opens the verse.
• pigul ("unclean meat", H6292) — masculine singular noun, functioning as predicate nominate with the pronoun hu' ("it", H1931): "it [is] pigul."
• yeratzeh ("it will be accepted", H7521) — niphal imperfect, passive form, negated by lo' ("not", H3808), stating the resulting status of the meat.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the conditional particle 'im ("if", H0518A) followed by the construction he'akhol yeakhel — an infinitive absolute paired with a finite imperfect verb from the same root, H0398 ("to eat"). This doubling pattern in Biblical Hebrew grammar reinforces the verbal idea; here it underscores the reality or possibility of the eating happening, rather than adding a separate meaning. The action is located temporally by the prepositional phrase bayom hashelishi ("on the third day"), combining ba ("in the", H9003), yom ("day", H3117G), and the ordinal shelishi ("third", H7992) with the article ha (H9009).

The second half of the verse shifts to a nominal clause: pigul hu' ("it [is] pigul"), where the noun pigul (H6292) functions as a predicate describing the status of the meat, joined to the subject pronoun hu' (H1931). This is followed by a final clause, lo' yeratzeh ("it will not be accepted"), using the negation lo' (H3808) with the niphal imperfect yeratzeh (H7521), a passive form indicating that no one accepts or approves it — the acceptance is denied without specifying by whom.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the Hebrew doubled infinitive-imperfect construction he'akhol yeakhel with the Greek phrase βρώσει βρωθῇ, a comparable dative-plus-verb intensifying structure. The Vulgate diverges more significantly, translating with si quis... comederit ex ea ("if anyone eats from it"), introducing an explicit human subject ("anyone") not present as a grammatical subject in the Hebrew, and rendering pigul (H6292) as profanus ("profane") accompanied by impietatis reus ("guilty of impiety"), an interpretive expansion beyond the single Hebrew noun pigul.