Leviticus 2:11

Summary

Leviticus 2:11 establishes that no minchah ("grain offering", H4503G) presented to Yehovah may contain chametz ("leaven", H2557A). It further specifies that neither se'or ("leaven", H7603) nor devash ("honey", H1706) may be burned as an isheh ("fire offering", H0801) to Yehovah.

Key words

• minchah ("grain offering", H4503G) — feminine singular noun, the general term for a cereal-based offering; here in construct with kol ("any", H3605), producing "any grain offering."
• tekri̱vu ("you will present", H7126H) — hiphil imperfect, second person masculine plural; the hiphil stem marks a causative action, "to cause to come near," describing the human act of bringing the offering forward.
• te'aseh ("it will be made", H6213H) — niphal imperfect, third person feminine singular; the niphal (passive) stem shifts focus from the offerer to the resulting state of the offering itself, "it shall not be made [with leaven]."
• se'or ("leaven", H7603) — masculine singular noun, distinct in form from chametz (H2557A) used earlier in the verse, though both are rendered "leaven" in English.
• taktiru ("you must make to smoke", H6999A) — hiphil imperfect, second person masculine plural; from the root associated with producing smoke, describing the causative act of burning something so that it rises as smoke.

What the text says

The verse divides into two parallel prohibitions, each built on a construct phrase beginning with kol ("any", H3605): first kol-haminchah ("any grain offering"), then kol-se'or ("any leaven") and kol-devash ("any honey"). This repetition of kol extends the prohibition maximally — not a specific offering or ingredient, but the entire category.

The first clause uses the niphal verb te'aseh ("it will be made", H6213H), which is passive/reflexive in form, placing the grammatical subject on the offering ("it") rather than on the person making it. The second clause shifts to the hiphil verb taktiru ("you must make to smoke", H6999A), a causative form addressed directly to "you all" (second person masculine plural), making the human agents responsible for the act of burning. This grammatical shift moves from describing a state of the offering (not made with leaven) to prohibiting a specific action by the offerers (not burning leaven or honey as isheh, "a fire offering", H0801).

The particle ki ("for", H3588A) introduces the second prohibition as an explanation or basis for the first: the general rule against leaven in the minchah is grounded in the more specific rule that se'or and devash must never be turned to smoke mimennu ("any of it", H4480A + H9033) upon the altar for Yehovah.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders devash ("honey", H1706) as "mellis" and pairs it with "fermenti" for se'or/chametz, matching the Hebrew's two-fold distinction. The LXX (Swete) text as given contains "Τυρίῳ" where one would expect "κυρίῳ" ("to the Lord"), likely a transmission variant, and reads "ζύμην" and "μέλι" for leaven and honey, aligning with the Hebrew terms se'or and devash.