Leviticus 22:10

Summary

Leviticus 22:10 states that a zar ("stranger", H2114A) may not eat a qodesh ("holy thing", H6944G), and that neither a toshav ("resident alien of", H8453A) of a priest nor a sakhir ("hired laborer", H7916) may eat it either. The verse defines, by negation, which categories of people are excluded from consuming sacred offerings reserved for priestly households.

Key words

• zar ("stranger", H2114A) — masculine singular adjective functioning as a noun; denotes someone outside the priestly lineage/household, the general category excluded in the first clause.
• yokhal ("he will eat", H0398) — Qal imperfect, third person masculine singular; the imperfect form expresses a general, ongoing prohibition rather than a single event, repeated twice with identical form for both clauses.
• qodesh ("a holy thing", H6944G) — masculine singular noun, the direct object of yokhal in both clauses, referring to the sacred offering itself.
• toshav ("a resident alien of", H8453A) — masculine singular noun in the construct state, meaning it must be linked to the following noun kohen ("a priest", H3548); this construct phrase designates a temporary resident attached to a priest's household, not a full member of it.
• sakhir ("a hired laborer", H7916) — masculine singular adjective/noun, a separate category from toshav kohen, joined by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002).

What the text says

The verse is built as two parallel negative clauses, each following the pattern negation + imperfect verb + object: lo yokhal qodesh ("he will not eat a holy thing"). The repetition of this exact phrase at the end of both clauses creates a structural symmetry that reinforces the prohibition through repetition rather than elaboration.

The first clause names a broad category, zar, a general term for someone outside the group entitled to eat the offering. The second clause narrows the focus to two specific figures who might otherwise be assumed to have access because of physical proximity to the priestly household: the toshav construct-linked to kohen (a resident alien "of a priest," i.e., someone dwelling within or attached to a priest's household without being a blood member of it) and the sakhir (a hired laborer, presumably also working within that household). The construct form toshav kohen is grammatically significant: it ties the resident alien specifically to the priest's domestic sphere, distinguishing this figure from a zar in general and clarifying that mere residence or employment in a priestly household does not grant eating rights to the qodesh.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders zar as allogenes ("foreign-born") and toshav kohen as paroikos hiereos ("one sojourning beside a priest"), preserving the construct relationship. The Vulgate uses alienigena for zar and inquilinus sacerdotis ("tenant of a priest") for toshav kohen, similarly maintaining the possessive link. Modern translations diverge more: BSB and SBLIBRE render zar interpretively as "no one outside a priest's family," making explicit what the Hebrew states only generically as "stranger," while RV1909 retains the literal "extraño."