Leviticus 2:4

Summary

This verse opens a conditional clause specifying the requirements for a grain offering baked in an oven. It describes two distinct forms this offering may take: thick perforated cakes made of fine flour mixed with oil, or thin wafers smeared with oil.

Key words

• takriv ("you will present", H7126H) — hiphil imperfect, causative form indicating the offerer causes the offering to draw near; sets up the conditional scenario for the whole chapter.
• korban ("a present of", H7133A) — construct form, meaning it is grammatically bound to minchah ("grain offering") that follows, forming the phrase "a present of a grain offering."
• challot ("round perforated breads of", H2471) — feminine plural construct, governs matzot ("unleavened", H4682); this construct chain identifies the specific baked form.
• belulot ("mixed", H1101A) — qal passive participle, feminine plural, describing the cakes as having been mixed with oil into the dough itself.
• meshuchim ("smeared", H4886) — qal passive participle, masculine plural, describing the wafers as having oil applied on the surface rather than mixed in.

What the text says

The verse is built as a conditional sentence introduced by ve-khi ("and if", H9002 + H3588A), followed by the second-person verb takriv ("you will present", H7126H) in the hiphil imperfect. This causative form frames the offerer as the active agent bringing the offering forward, a grammatical pattern repeated throughout Leviticus 2 to introduce each type of grain offering. The phrase korban minchah uses a construct chain: korban ("present of", H7133A) governs minchah ("grain offering", H4503G), meaning the "present" is specified as a grain offering.

The chain continues with ma'apheh tanur ("baked item of an oven", H3989 + H8574H), another construct pair identifying the cooking method. The text then splits into two sub-categories, each marked by its own construct chain and passive participle: challot matzot belulot ba-shemen ("perforated breads of unleavened bread, mixed with the oil") and reqiqei matzot meshuchim ba-shemen ("thin breads of unleavened bread, smeared with the oil"). The distinction between belulot (oil mixed into the dough) and meshuchim (oil applied to the surface) is preserved only in the Hebrew verb choice; the grammatical difference in preparation method is not always visible in translation.

Differences between versions

The LXX text given renders the oven-baked offering with θυσίαν πεπεμμένην ἐκ λιβάνου ("a sacrifice baked of frankincense") and δῶρον Τυρίῳ ("a gift to a Tyrian" or similar), phrasing that does not correspond transparently to the Hebrew korban minchah ma'apheh tanur. The Vulgate's sacrificium coctum in clibano: de simila follows the Hebrew construct structure more closely, rendering "fine flour" (simila) as the base material, matching solet ("fine flour of", H5560) in the Hebrew.