Leviticus 2:14
וְאִם־תַּקְרִיב מִנְחַת בִּכּוּרִים לַיהוָה אָבִיב קָלוּי בָּאֵשׁ גֶּרֶשׂ כַּרְמֶל תַּקְרִיב אֵת מִנְחַת בִּכּוּרֶֽיךָ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
Tap a word to see its entry
✦ The same verse in five languages
וְאִם־תַּקְרִ֛יב מִנְחַ֥ת בִּכּוּרִ֖ים לַיהוָ֑ה אָבִ֞יב קָל֤וּי בָּאֵשׁ֙ גֶּ֣רֶשׂ כַּרְמֶ֔ל תַּקְרִ֕יב אֵ֖ת מִנְחַ֥ת בִּכּוּרֶֽיךָ׃
Ἐὰν δὲ προσφέρῃς πρωτογενημάτων τῷ κυρίῳ, ἁπαλόν, νέα πεφρυγμένα χίδρα τῷ κυρίῳ· καὶ π ροσοίσεις τὴν θυσίαν τῶν πρωτογενημάτων·
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Si autem obtuleris munus primarum frugum tuarum Domino de spicis adhuc virentibus, torrebis igni, et confringes in morem farris, et sic offeres primitias tuas Domino,
“‘Si presentas a Yehová una ofrenda de primicias, ofrecerás grano tierno tostado al fuego o grano desmenuzado de espigas frescas.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y si ofrecieres á Jehová presente de primicias, tostarás al fuego las espigas verdes, y el grano desmenuzado ofrecerás por ofrenda de tus primicias.
If you bring a grain offering of firstfruits to the LORD, you shall offer crushed heads of new grain roasted on the fire.
✦ What the text says
Summary
This verse describes a grain offering of first-fruits presented to Yehovah, specifying that it must consist of fresh barley ears roasted over fire and crushed into groats. The Hebrew sentence is built around a repeated verb that frames a detailed description of the offering's ingredients.
Key words
- tak.Riv ("you will present", H7126H) — hiphil (causative) imperfect, second person masculine singular. This verb appears twice (positions 3 and 14), forming a bracket around the description of the offering.
- bikkurim ("first-fruits", H1061) — masculine plural noun, used twice in construct relationships (minchat bikkurim, "grain offering of first-fruits"; bikkurekha, "your first-fruits").
- aviv ("young barley ears", H0024) — common gender singular noun naming the raw material of the offering, unripe or fresh grain still on the stalk.
- qalui ("roasted", H7033) — qal passive participle, masculine singular, describing the state of the aviv rather than commanding an action.
- geres ("groats of", H1643) — masculine singular construct noun, linked to karmel ("new corn", H3759), forming the phrase "groats of new corn."
What the text says
The clause opens with the conditional particle 'im ("if", H0518A) governing taqriv ("you will present"), establishing the general case: presenting a minchat bikkurim ("grain offering of first-fruits") la-YHWH ("to Yehovah"). The text then inserts a descriptive unit — aviv qalui ba-esh, geres karmel — specifying what this offering materially consists of: fresh barley ears (aviv) in a roasted state (qalui, a passive participle, not a finite verb) "in the fire" (ba-esh), further defined as geres karmel, groats made from new corn. After this descriptive insertion, the verb taqriv is repeated, resuming the main clause: "you will present the grain offering of your first-fruits." This repetition of the verb around an intervening description is a feature of the Hebrew syntax that allows a long qualifying phrase to be inserted without losing the grammatical thread of the sentence — the second taqriv effectively restates the command after the description of the offering's components.
Differences between versions
The LXX mirrors the double-verb structure with προσφέρῃς and προσοίσεις, corresponding to the two occurrences of taqriv. The Vulgate, however, converts the participial description into a sequence of finite verbs: torrebis igni ("you will roast in fire") and confringes ("you will crush"), where the Hebrew instead uses the passive participle qalui and the construct noun geres as descriptive terms rather than commanded actions. The Vulgate also adds "et sic" ("and thus"), making the resumptive structure of the Hebrew explicit as a sequential procedure rather than an envelope construction.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.