Leviticus 21:18
כִּי כָל־אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר־בּוֹ מוּם לֹא יִקְרָב אִישׁ עִוֵּר אוֹ פִסֵּחַ אוֹ חָרֻם אוֹ שָׂרֽוּעַ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
כִּ֥י כָל־אִ֛ישׁ אֲשֶׁר־בּ֥וֹ מ֖וּם לֹ֣א יִקְרָ֑ב אִ֤ישׁ עִוֵּר֙ א֣וֹ פִסֵּ֔חַ א֥וֹ חָרֻ֖ם א֥וֹ שָׂרֽוּעַ׃
πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ᾧ ἂν ᾖ ἐν αὐτῷ μῶμος οὐ προσελεύσεται· ἄνθρωπος χωλὸς ἢ τυφλὸς ἢ κολοβόριν ἢ ὠτότμητος,
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
nec accedet ad ministerium ejus: si cæcus fuerit, si claudus, si parvo vel grandi, vel torto naso,
Porque ningún hombre que tenga algún defecto podrá acercarse: ni el ciego, ni el cojo, ni el que tenga la cara deforme, ni el que tenga alguna otra deformidad,
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Porque ningún varón en el cual hubiere falta, se allegará: varón ciego, ó cojo, ó falto, ó sobrado,
No man who has any defect may approach — no man who is blind, lame, disfigured, or deformed;
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse establishes a general condition: any man who has mum ("a blemish", H3971B) in him will not draw near. It then begins a list of specific physical conditions that fall under this category, opening with blindness and lameness.
Key words
- khol- ("any", H3605) — construct form meaning "any of," setting up the noun that follows ('ish, "man") as a comprehensive category rather than a specific individual.
- mum ("a blemish", H3971B) — masculine singular noun; the general term under which the specific conditions listed afterward (blindness, lameness, etc.) are classified as examples.
- yik.Rav ("he will draw near", H7126G) — qal imperfect, indicating future or ongoing action; the imperfect aspect frames this as a standing rule rather than a single past event.
- 'i.Ver ("blind", H5787) — masculine singular adjective describing the first specific condition named after the general term mum.
- cha.Rum ("[having] a slit nose", H2763B) — qal passive participle, meaning the noun functions as one who has undergone or bears the state of having a slit/flat nose, rather than as a simple adjective.
What the text says
The verse opens with the particle ki ("for", H3588A), which connects this statement to what precedes it, followed by khol- 'ish ("any man") in construct form — a grammatical structure that presents a general class of person before narrowing to the qualifying condition. The relative clause 'asher-bo mum ("whom in him [is] a blemish") uses the preposition b- ("in") with a third-person pronominal suffix -o ("him") attached to mum, literally "a blemish is in him," locating the defect within the person rather than describing it as external.
The negated verb lo' yik.Rav ("he will not draw near") uses the qal imperfect form of yik.Rav (H7126G), which in Biblical Hebrew imperfect verbs often express general, repeated, or future actions — here functioning as a standing prohibition rather than a one-time event.
The list that follows begins with 'ish 'i.Ver ("a man blind") and 'o fi.Se.ach ("or lame", H6455), each joined by the conjunction 'o ("or", H0176A). Note that cha.Rum (H2763B) and sa.Ru.a' (H8311), listed later in the verse, are grammatically qal passive participles rather than simple adjectives like 'i.Ver and fi.Se.ach — this participial form frames the conditions as states resulting from an action or process (e.g., "having been slit" or "having been enlarged") rather than as inherent adjectival qualities.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew list order is 'i.Ver ("blind"), fi.Se.ach ("lame"), cha.Rum ("slit nose"), sa.Ru.a' ("enlarged"). The LXX reverses the first two, listing χωλὸς ("lame") before τυφλὸς ("blind"), and renders the third and fourth terms as κολοβόριν and ὠτότμητος. The Vulgate lists "caecus" ("blind"), "claudus" ("lame"), then "parvo vel grandi" ("small or large") and "torto naso" ("twisted nose"), showing a different construal of the final two Hebrew participles compared to the Greek renderings.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.