Leviticus 22:16

Summary

The verse states that causing people to bear the "iniquity of guilt" happens when they eat "their holy things," concluding with a self-identification formula: "I am Yehovah who sanctifies them." The Hebrew syntax links a causative action, a conditional temporal clause, and a closing divine declaration.

Key words

• hiSiu ("they will cause to bear", H5375J) — hiphil (causative) sequential perfect; the causative stem means the subject is not merely "bearing" guilt but "causing [someone] to bear" it, implying an external agent enacting consequence.
• avon ("iniquity of", H5771G) — construct singular noun forming a bound phrase with the following word, producing "iniquity of guilt" rather than two separate nouns.
• ashmah ("guilt", H0819) — feminine singular noun completing the construct chain begun by avon.
• be'okhlam ("when they eat", H0398 + suffix) — qal infinitive with prefixed preposition be and pronominal suffix "their," functioning adverbially to mark the temporal condition ("in their eating").
• mekaddesham ("who sets apart as holy", H6942G) — piel (intensive) participle in construct with the suffix "them," presenting Yehovah's action as an ongoing, defining role ("the one sanctifying them") rather than a completed act.

What the text says

The verse opens with a narrative vav attached to hiSiu, a hiphil sequential perfect verb. The hiphil stem shifts the meaning from a simple action ("bear") to a causative one ("cause to bear"), meaning the grammatical subject brings about the state of guilt-bearing in the object marked by 'otam ("them"). This causative nuance is not visible in translations that use plain phrasing like "they will bear" — the Hebrew explicitly encodes an agent causing the effect.

The phrase avon ashmah is a construct chain: avon ("iniquity of") stands grammatically bound to ashmah ("guilt"), producing a compound expression "iniquity of guilt" rather than two coordinated terms. The temporal clause be'okhlam et-qodsheihem ("in their eating their holy things") uses an infinitive construct with a pronominal suffix, a common Hebrew way to express "when/while they do X," tying the guilt-bearing action directly to the act of eating consecrated items.

The closing clause ki ani Yehovah mekaddesham uses the participle mekaddesham (piel, "the one sanctifying them"), a verb form that in Hebrew often expresses continuous or characteristic action rather than a single past event — this is a habitual/durative aspect that a finite past-tense verb would not convey.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders the opening with a purpose/result construction, "ne forte sustineant" ("lest perhaps they bear"), which frames the clause as a warning rather than the Hebrew's sequential causative statement ("they will cause to bear"). The LXX uses ἐπάξουσιν ("they will bring upon [themselves]"), rendering the causative sense with a different verb but reflexive pronoun ἑαυτοὺς, shifting agency toward self-infliction rather than the Hebrew's ambiguous external causation implied by the hiphil. The BSB adds "by allowing the people to eat," introducing an interpretive agent ("the people") not present as a distinct noun in the Hebrew clause. The SBLIBRE similarly inserts "gente no autorizada" ("unauthorized people"), an explanatory expansion absent from the Hebrew wording, which only says be'okhlam ("in their eating") without specifying an unauthorized third party.