Leviticus 21:22

Summary

The verse states that a priest (with a bodily defect, per context) may eat the food belonging to his God, specifically naming two categories: the most holy offerings and the (regular) holy offerings. The sentence closes with the verb "he will eat," governing both categories of sacred food.

Key words

• Le.chem ("[the] food of", H3899) — construct form, meaning "food of X"; it opens the sentence and is bound to elohav.
• 'e.lo.Ha ("God", H0430) — plural noun in construct with a possessive suffix (-v, "his"), forming "his God"; grammatically plural though referring to a singular deity, following the Hebrew pattern for this word.
• ka.de.Shei ("[the] holy things of", H6944) — plural construct form of "holy things," here joined to haqqodashim to create a repeated/superlative expression.
• ha.ko.da.Shim ("the holy things", H6944, appears twice) — the same noun, once with the article following qodshei (forming "holy of holies"), and once independently after min ("from the holy things"), marking a distinct, second category.
• yo.Khel ("he will eat", H0398) — Qal imperfect, third person masculine singular; the imperfect aspect indicates an ongoing or repeated permitted action rather than a single event.

What the text says

The sentence is built around a double object introduced by the verb yokhel ("he will eat") at the very end, a common Hebrew word order where the verb closes the clause after its objects have been named. The first object is lechem elohav ("the food of his God"), a construct chain identifying the general category of food under discussion — offerings belonging to God.

The Hebrew then specifies two sub-categories using parallel prepositional phrases: miqqodshei haqqodashim ("from the holy things of the holy things") and umin-haqqodashim ("and from the holy things"). The first phrase repeats the noun qodashim ("holy things") in a construct-plus-article pattern that functions as an intensifying or superlative expression, commonly rendered "most holy things." The second phrase uses the same noun independently, marking a second, distinct tier of sacred food. The repetition of ha-qodashim in both phrases, with only the construct/superlative marker differing, creates a grammatical contrast between two levels of sanctity within the offerings the priest may consume.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders lechem as τὰ δῶρα ("the gifts") rather than a food/bread term, and reproduces the Hebrew superlative construction closely as τὰ ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων ("the holy of holies"). The Vulgate collapses the two Hebrew categories (qodshei haqqodashim and haqqodashim) into a single phrase, panibus qui offeruntur in sanctuario ("breads which are offered in the sanctuary"), adding the phrase "in sanctuario" not present in the Hebrew wording and using panibus ("breads") where the Hebrew has the broader term lechem ("food").