Leviticus 23:15

Summary

The verse instructs counting a period beginning "from the day after the sabbath," specifically from the day the sheaf of the wave-offering was brought, and states that seven complete "sabbatot" (weeks) must pass. The sentence uses two constructs and one infinitive construct to anchor the starting point of the count precisely.

Key words

• sefartem ("you will count", H5608A) — qal perfect with narrative vav, functioning as a sequential future: "and you shall count," continuing the chain of instructions from the preceding verses.
• mochorat ("[the] next day of", H4283) — feminine singular construct, linking to ha-shabbat to form "the day after the sabbath."
• havi'akhem ("your bringing", H0935P) — hiphil infinitive construct with pronominal suffix "you all," meaning literally "in your bringing," used to date the starting day by an action rather than a calendar name.
• shabbatot ("sabbaths/weeks", H7676) — feminine plural of the same root as ha-shabbat earlier in the verse, here counted as units of seven ("sheva shabbatot").
• temimot ("complete", H8549I) — feminine plural adjective agreeing with shabbatot, specifying that the seven units must be full/whole.

What the text says

The verse opens with u-sefartem, a perfect verb with narrative vav that carries forward the sequence of commands as a future instruction: "you shall count." The starting point is given through a chain of construct phrases: mi-mochorat ha-shabbat ("from the day-after of the sabbath") is then further specified by mi-yom havi'akhem et-'omer ha-tnufah ("from the day of your-bringing the sheaf of the wave-offering"), an infinitive construct that dates the starting day by reference to a ritual act rather than a fixed calendar term. The object marked by 'et (the direct object marker) shows that "the sheaf" is what is brought, in construct with ha-tnufah, "the wave-offering," so the phrase reads "the sheaf of the wave-offering."

The final clause, sheva shabbatot temimot tihyeynah, contains the cardinal sheva ("seven") governing the plural noun shabbatot, modified by the plural adjective temimot ("complete"), with the imperfect verb tihyeynah ("they will be," feminine plural, agreeing with shabbatot) closing the sentence. Notably, the same root sh-b-t (H7676) appears twice in the verse: first as ha-shabbat (singular, "the sabbath") marking the starting day, and second as shabbatot (plural) counting seven units — the Hebrew text uses one root for both the specific rest-day and the successive periods being counted.

Differences between versions

The LXX translates the first occurrence of the root (ha-shabbat) as σαββάτων ("of the sabbaths"), but renders the second occurrence, sheva shabbatot, as ἑπτὰ ἑβδομάδας ("seven weeks"), using a different Greek word than for the earlier sabbath. The Vulgate similarly uses sabbati for the first instance and hebdomadas ("weeks") for the second, so both versions shift vocabulary between the two occurrences of the same Hebrew root, where the Hebrew itself repeats shabbat/shabbatot.