Leviticus 21:3

Summary

Leviticus 21:3 specifies an exception to a priest's general prohibition against corpse contamination: he may allow himself to become ritually unclean for his virgin sister who is close to him and who has not belonged to a husband. The verse identifies who among female relatives qualifies for this permitted contact with the dead.

Key words

• 'achoT ("sister", H0269) — feminine singular construct form with pronominal suffix o ("his"), literally "sister-of-him," marking the specific kinship relation.
• betuLah ("virgin", H1330) — feminine singular noun with definite article, describing the sister's marital/sexual status.
• keroVah ("near", H7138) — feminine singular adjective with definite article, modifying betuLah and specifying that this sister is "close" to him (paired with 'eLav, "to him").
• hayeTah ("she has belonged", H1961) — qal perfect third feminine singular of the verb "to be," expressing completed state — she "was/has been" to a husband.
• yitaMa' ("he will make himself unclean", H2930A) — hithpael imperfect third masculine singular, a reflexive verbal stem indicating the subject brings the impurity upon himself, with imperfect aspect suggesting permitted or potential future action rather than a fixed past event.

What the text says

The sentence continues a list (marked by the initial ve, "and") of relatives for whom a priest may contract corpse impurity, this item concerning the sister. The noun 'achoT ("sister") is in construct form with a pronominal suffix, "his sister," and is further qualified by two attached descriptors: betuLah ("virgin") and keroVah 'elav ("near to him"), both bearing the definite article, which in Hebrew syntax functions to specify and restrict which sister is meant — not simply any sister, but one who is virgin and who is closely associated with him.

The relative clause introduced by 'asher ("who") adds a further qualifying condition: lo' hayetah le'ish ("she has not been to a husband"), using the qal perfect to describe a completed state of never having been married. The verb hayah with the preposition le ("to") is an idiomatic construction meaning "to belong to" in a marital sense.

The final clause, lah yitamma' ("for her he will make himself unclean"), places the object lah ("for her") before the verb for emphasis, and uses the hithpael stem of tame' ("to be unclean," H2930A), a reflexive/permissive verbal form. This construction frames the impurity as something the priest brings upon himself through his own action in relation to her, distinct from involuntary contamination.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders keroVah 'elav ("near to him") as τῇ ἐγγιζούσῃ αὐτῷ ("the one drawing near to him"), a close structural match. The Vulgate omits an equivalent for keroVah ("near") entirely, rendering only sorore virgine quae non est nupta viro ("virgin sister who is not married to a husband"), thus lacking the "near/close" qualifier present in the Hebrew and LXX.