Leviticus 23:6
וּבַחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר יוֹם לַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה חַג הַמַּצּוֹת לַיהוָה שִׁבְעַת יָמִים מַצּוֹת תֹּאכֵֽלוּ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וּבַחֲמִשָּׁ֨ה עָשָׂ֥ר יוֹם֙ לַחֹ֣דֶשׁ הַזֶּ֔ה חַ֥ג הַמַּצּ֖וֹת לַיהוָ֑ה שִׁבְעַ֥ת יָמִ֖ים מַצּ֥וֹת תֹּאכֵֽלוּ׃
καὶ ἐν τῇ πεντεκαιδεκάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ μηνὸς τούτου ἑορτὴ τῶν ἀζύμων τῷ κυρίῳ· ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας ἄζυμα ἔδεσθε.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
et quintadecima die mensis hujus, solemnitas azymorum Domini est. Septem diebus azyma comedetis.
El día quince de ese mismo mes comienza la Fiesta de los Panes sin Levadura en honor a Yehová. Durante siete días comerán pan hecho sin levadura.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y á los quince días de este mes es la solemnidad de los ázimos á Jehová: siete días comeréis ázimos.
On the fifteenth day of the same month begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse specifies the date—the fifteenth day of the same month—for the festival of unleavened bread dedicated to Yehovah, and commands that unleavened bread be eaten for seven days.
Key words
- cha.mi.Shah 'a.Sar ("fifteen", H2568/H6240): a compound cardinal number (five + ten) construction, giving the exact calendar day within the month.
- chag ("festival of", H2282): masculine singular noun in construct state, linking it to ha.mma.Tzot ("the unleavened breads") — literally "festival of the unleavened-breads."
- ma.Tzot ("unleavened breads", H4682): feminine plural noun, appearing twice in the verse — first as the name of the festival, then as the food item to be eaten.
- shiv.'At ("seven of", H7651): cardinal number in construct state, governing ya.Mim ("days", H3117G), forming the phrase "seven of days" = "seven days."
- to.Khe.lu ("you will eat", H0398): qal imperfect, second person masculine plural — expresses an ongoing or future collective action directed at the addressees.
What the text says
The verse opens with a temporal clause built from the preposition va- ("on"), the compound number cha.mi.Shah 'a.Sar ("fifteen"), and yOm ("day", H3117G) governed by la.Cho.desh ha.Zeh ("of this month"), fixing the date precisely. This temporal phrase is followed by a nominal clause without an explicit verb "to be" in Hebrew: chag ha.mma.Tzot la.Yah.weh ("festival of the unleavened breads, to Yehovah"), where the construct chain chag + ha.mma.Tzot identifies the festival by its central practice, and the prepositional phrase la-Yehovah marks the festival's dedication.
The second half of the verse shifts to a command: shiv.'At ya.Mim ma.Tzot to.Khe.lu ("seven of days, unleavened breads, you will eat"). The construct phrase shiv.'At ya.Mim ("seven of days") functions adverbially, indicating duration. The verb to.Khe.lu is a qal imperfect second masculine plural, which in Hebrew legal/ritual texts commonly carries an obligatory or customary sense — "you [all] shall eat" — addressed collectively rather than to an individual. The object ma.Tzot ("unleavened breads") precedes the verb, a word order that places emphasis on the food item itself.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders the opening as a full sentence with an implied "is" — ἑορτὴ τῶν ἀζύμων τῷ κυρίῳ ("the feast of unleavened breads is to the Lord") — supplying a copula absent in the Hebrew nominal clause. The Vulgate similarly adds "est" ("is"), making explicit what the Hebrew leaves as a verbless clause: "solemnitas azymorum Domini est." Both Greek and Latin versions thus turn the Hebrew's paratactic, verbless construction into an explicit predication.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.