Leviticus 21:17

Summary

The verse records YHWH's instruction to Moses to speak to Aaron, establishing a rule that any of Aaron's male descendants, throughout their generations, who has a physical blemish is barred from approaching to present the food offering of his God. The command is framed as direct speech addressed specifically to Aaron regarding priestly qualification.

Key words

• da.Ber ("speak", H1696G) — Piel imperative, an intensive command form directing Moses to actively deliver a message.
• mum ("a blemish", H3971B) — masculine singular noun denoting a physical defect or flaw, the condition that triggers the restriction.
• yik.Rav ("he will draw near", H7126G) — Qal imperfect, expressing future/ongoing negated action ("he will not draw near"), describing approach toward the altar or sacred space.
• hak.Riv ("present", H7126H) — Hiphil infinitive of the same root as yik.Rav, causative in force ("to cause to draw near" = "to offer"), showing a wordplay between drawing near personally and causing an offering to draw near.
• Le.chem ("[the] food of", H3899H) — construct noun linking to 'e.lo.Ha ("God", H0430G), forming the phrase "food/bread of his God," referring to the offering itself.

What the text says

The verse opens with the imperative da.Ber ("speak") followed by 'el-'a.ha.Ron ("to Aaron") and the infinitive le.Mor ("saying"), a standard formula introducing reported speech. The content that follows is framed as a conditional/relative clause: 'ish mi.zar.'a.Kha le.do.ro.Tam ("a man from your offspring, throughout their generations") sets up the subject broadly across time, using the construct chains zar.'a-Kha ("offspring of you") and do.ro.Ta-m ("generations of them") to link the rule to all future descendants, not only immediate sons.

The relative clause 'a.Sher yih.Yeh vo Mum ("who will have in him a blemish") uses the Qal imperfect yih.Yeh to describe a state that may occur at any point, tying the disqualification to the presence of Mum rather than to a specific moment. The negated clause lo' yik.Rav ("he will not draw near") uses the same root (qrb) as the following infinitive le.hak.Riv ("to present/offer"), a root repetition in Hebrew that creates a wordplay lost in translation: the man himself is barred from "drawing near" (yik.Rav, Qal) even as the same verb in causative form (hak.Riv, Hiphil) describes the act he would otherwise perform — bringing an offering "to draw near" the altar. This paronomasia underscores that personal approach and the act of offering share the same underlying concept in Hebrew, a nuance not visible in the English or Spanish translations, which render the two occurrences with different verbs ("approach" / "offer").

The final phrase Le.chem 'e.lo.Ha-v ("the food of his God") uses a construct chain identifying the offering as belonging to, or intended for, God.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders Le.chem ("food/bread") as τὰ δῶρα ("the gifts/offerings"), a broader term than the Hebrew's specific "food" imagery. The Vulgate similarly uses panes ("loaves/bread"), staying closer to the literal sense of Le.chem. The LXX also renders the introductory clause as εἰπὸν Ἀαρών ("say to Aaron") without an equivalent infinitive matching le.Mor ("saying"), compressing the Hebrew's double formula (da.Ber... le.Mor) into a single verb.