Leviticus 4:32

Summary

Leviticus 4:32 presents a conditional case within the sin offering regulations: if the offerer chooses to bring a keves ("a male lamb", H3532) as his offering, the animal must be a nekevah ("a female", H5347) that is temimah ("unblemished", H8549G). The verse structures an alternative to the offering type described in the preceding verses.

Key words

• 'im ("if", H0518A) — conditional particle introducing this case as one option among several possible sin offerings (compare the goat offering earlier in the chapter).
• Ke.ves ("a male lamb", H3532) — masculine singular noun; despite the masculine form of the species term, the verse specifies the individual animal must be female (see nekevah below).
• ya.Vi' ("he will bring", H0935P) — hiphil (causative) imperfect; the hiphil stem indicates the offerer causes the animal to be brought/presented, not that the animal moves itself.
• ne.ke.Vah ("a female", H5347) — feminine singular adjective specifying the required sex of the animal, overriding the grammatical masculine gender of kevesh.
• ye.vi.'E.nah ("he will bring it", H0935P + H9034) — same hiphil imperfect verb repeated with a feminine pronominal suffix ("her/it"), grammatically confirming the animal in view is female.

What the text says

The verse opens with ve'im ("and if"), marking it as a subordinate clause continuing a sequence of conditional offerings begun earlier in the chapter. The syntax follows a pattern: protasis ('im kevesh yavi' korbano lechatat — "if a lamb he brings, his offering, for a sin offering") followed by apodosis (nekevah temimah yevi'enah — "a female unblemished he shall bring it"). The construct phrase korbano ("his offering", H7133A with suffix H9023) ties the offering grammatically to the offerer, marking possession/agency.

Note the interplay between grammatical and referential gender: kevesh (H3532) is a masculine noun functioning here as the general term for "lamb" (the species), while the adjective nekevah (H5347) clarifies that the specific animal required is female. This is a case where Hebrew uses a masculine noun as a category label while specifying sex separately through an adjective. The final verb yevi'enah repeats the hiphil root of yavi' but attaches a feminine object suffix, grammatically anchoring the female referent established by nekevah.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders kevesh (H3532) as probaton ("sheep"), a more general term than the Hebrew's specific reference to a lamb, while the Vulgate uses ovem ("sheep/ewe") within the broader phrase de pecoribus ("from the flocks"), also generalizing beyond the specific Hebrew term for lamb.