Leviticus 22:4
אִישׁ אִישׁ מִזֶּרַע אַהֲרֹן וְהוּא צָרוּעַ אוֹ זָב בַּקֳּדָשִׁים לֹא יֹאכַל עַד אֲשֶׁר יִטְהָר וְהַנֹּגֵעַ בְּכָל־טְמֵא־נֶפֶשׁ אוֹ אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר־תֵּצֵא מִמֶּנּוּ שִׁכְבַת־זָֽרַע׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
אִ֣ישׁ אִ֞ישׁ מִזֶּ֣רַע אַהֲרֹ֗ן וְה֤וּא צָר֙וּעַ֙ א֣וֹ זָ֔ב בַּקֳּדָשִׁים֙ לֹ֣א יֹאכַ֔ל עַ֖ד אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִטְהָ֑ר וְהַנֹּגֵ֙עַ֙ בְּכָל־טְמֵא־נֶ֔פֶשׁ א֣וֹ אִ֔ישׁ אֲשֶׁר־תֵּצֵ֥א מִמֶּ֖נּוּ שִׁכְבַת־זָֽרַע׃
καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τοῦ σπέρματος Ἀαρὼν τοῦ ἱερέως, καὶ οὗτος λεπρᾷ ἢ γονορρυής, τῶν ἁγίων οὐκ ἔδεται ἕως ἂν καθαρισθῇ· καὶ ὁ ἁπτόμενος πάσης ἀκαθαρσίας ψυχῆς, ἢ ἄνθρωπος ὧ ἂν ἐξέλθῃ ἐξ αὐτοῦ κοίτη σπέρματος,
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Homo de semine Aaron, qui fuerit leprosus, aut patiens fluxum seminis, non vescetur de his quæ sanctificata sunt mihi, donec sanetur. Qui tetigerit immundum super mortuo, et ex quo egreditur semen quasi coitus,
“‘Ningún descendiente de Aarón que tenga una infección de lepra o que tenga un flujo, podrá comer de las ofrendas sagradas hasta que quede puro. El que toque algo que se haya vuelto impuro por causa de un cadáver, o el hombre que tenga un derrame de semen,
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Cualquier varón de la simiente de Aarón que fuere leproso, ó padeciere flujo, no comerá de las cosas sagradas hasta que esté limpio: y el que tocare cualquiera cosa inmunda de mortecino, ó el varón del cual hubiere salido derramamiento de semen;
If a descendant of Aaron has a skin disease or a discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is clean. Whoever touches anything defiled by a corpse or by a man who has an emission of semen,
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse specifies that any descendant of Aaron who has a skin disease (tzaru'a, H6879) or a bodily discharge (zav, H2100H) may not eat from the holy offerings until he becomes ritually pure. It then extends the restriction to anyone who touches something defiled by a corpse or who has had an emission of semen.
Key words
- 'ish 'ish ("a man, a man", H0376G, doubled) — the repetition of the same noun functions distributively, meaning "any man whatsoever" among Aaron's line, not a single specific individual.
- tzaru'a ("having a serious skin disease", H6879) — qal passive participle, describing a state the man is in rather than an action he performs.
- zav ("discharging", H2100H) — qal participle, "the one who discharges," again marking an ongoing bodily condition.
- yo.khal ("he will eat", H0398) — qal imperfect, negated by lo (H3808), expressing a prohibition that holds for the duration of the impure state.
- yit.har ("he will be pure", H2891) — qal imperfect after the particle 'ad 'asher ("until", H5704 + H0834A), marking the temporal limit of the prohibition.
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence opens with the doubled noun 'ish 'ish mi.zzera' 'aharon ("a man, a man from the seed of Aaron"), a construction that in Biblical Hebrew typically signals distributivity — "any man" — rather than referring to two people. The subject is then qualified by the pronoun hu' ("he", H1931) followed by two participles, tzaru'a and zav, joined by 'o ("or", H0176A). Both participles describe states of bodily impurity rather than deliberate acts, which is why they are expressed in participial rather than finite verbal form.
The main clause uses the qal imperfect yokhal negated by lo, producing a durative prohibition: eating from ha.qqodashim ("the holy things", H6944G) is forbidden for as long as the condition lasts. The temporal boundary is marked by 'ad 'asher yit.har, "until he becomes pure," using the imperfect of taher to indicate a future, resultative change of state.
The verse continues with a second case introduced by ve.ha.noge'a ("and the one touching", H5060), a participle with the definite article functioning as a substantive ("whoever touches"). This clause extends the same restriction to contact with tme' nefesh ("uncleanness of a corpse", construct chain H2931/H5315M) or with shikhvat zara' ("an emission of seed", construct H7902/H2233I), both expressed through construct-noun phrases that describe types of defilement rather than single objects.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders "Ἀαρὼν τοῦ ἱερέως" ("Aaron the priest"), adding "the priest" where the Hebrew simply has 'Aharon (H0175) without any title. The Vulgate translates tzaru'a as "leprosus" and zav as "patiens fluxum seminis," narrowing the participle zav to a seminal flux specifically, whereas the Hebrew term itself does not specify the nature of the discharge. The doubled Hebrew 'ish 'ish is rendered as a single noun ("homo," "ἄνθρωπος") in both the Vulgate and LXX, so the distributive emphasis of the repetition is not reproduced in either translation.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.