Leviticus 21:8

Summary

The verse instructs that the priest who presents the food offering of God must be treated as holy, because he performs this sacred function. The stated reason is grounded in Yehovah's own holiness, who is described as the one who sets the addressees apart.

Key words

• ki.dash.T ("you will set apart as holy", H6942G) — piel sequential perfect, second person masculine singular: an intensive verb form indicating a deliberate act of consecration, continuing a preceding narrative sequence.
• mak.Riv ("presenting", H7126H) — hiphil (causative) participle, masculine singular: describes an ongoing, defining activity of the subject ("he" — hu', H1931) rather than a single completed act.
• ka.Dosh ("holy", H6918G) — masculine singular adjective, appearing twice in the verse (lines 11 and 16), once predicated of the priest and once of Yehovah, linking the two holiness statements.
• me.ka.dish. ("sets apart as holy", H6942G) — piel participle in construct form, masculine singular, governing the following suffix; portrays sanctification as Yehovah's continuous action rather than a completed event.
• Khem ("you", H9036) — second person masculine plural pronominal suffix attached to the participle me.ka.dish, marking a shift from the singular address used earlier in the verse (ki.dash.T...o, 'e.lo.Hei.kha) to a plural addressee at the end.

What the text says

The verse opens with a sequential perfect verb, ki.dash.T ("you will set apart as holy", H6942G), addressed to a singular "you," with the object suffix o ("him," H9033) referring to the priest. The causal particle ki (H3588A) introduces the grounds for this command: the priest, marked by the independent pronoun hu' ("he," H1931) and the participle mak.Riv ("presenting," H7126H), is defined by his ongoing role of presenting lechem 'elohekha ("the food of your God," H3899H/H0430G), both nouns in construct form.

The clause ka.Dosh yih.yeh-la.kh ("holy he will be to you") places the predicate adjective ka.Dosh (H6918G) before the verb yih.yeh (H1961, qal imperfect), giving the holiness status emphasis as the point of the statement. A second ki clause repeats ka.Dosh, now applied to 'a.Ni Yehovah ("I, Yehovah," H0589/H3068G), followed by the participle me.ka.dish. (H6942G) with the plural suffix Khem (H9036). This final suffix shifts the address from the singular "you" used throughout the verse to a plural "you," broadening the referent of Yehovah's sanctifying action at the verse's close.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate uses the plural verb offerunt ("they offer") where the Hebrew has the singular participle mak.Riv ("he presents," H7126H) paired with the singular pronoun hu'; the LXX's οὗτος προσφέρει ("this one offers") preserves the Hebrew's singular subject. At the verse's end, the Hebrew me.ka.dish.Khem addresses the audience directly ("who sets apart you," second person plural), while both the LXX (ὁ ἁγιάζων αὐτούς, "who sanctifies them") and the Vulgate (qui sanctifico eos, "who sanctify them") render this in the third person, shifting from direct address to indirect reference.