Leviticus 6:18

Summary

The verse restricts consumption of a sacred portion to male descendants of Aaron, establishes this as a lasting regulation for future generations, and states that contact with these offerings transmits holiness. It closes the instructions concerning the fire offerings due to Yehovah.

Key words

• za.Khar ("male", H2145) — masculine singular adjective specifying the gender restriction on who may eat the portion, governed by kol ("every", H3605) in construct.
• chok ("prescribed portion", H2706G) — masculine singular construct noun paired with olam ("perpetuity", H5769G), forming the phrase "a statute of perpetuity," marking the regulation as fixed and enduring rather than temporary.
• dorotei-khem ("your generations", H1755 + H9026) — feminine plural construct noun with second-person plural suffix, extending the rule's validity across successive generations of the addressed community.
• yigga' ("he will touch", H5060) — qal imperfect, third-person masculine singular, expressing a generalized future/habitual condition: whoever touches the offerings, at any time.
• yikdash ("he will be holy", H6942G) — qal imperfect, third-person masculine singular; the qal stem here conveys a resulting state (becoming holy) rather than an explicit passive action, though the effect described is that holiness is transferred by contact.

What the text says

The sentence opens with a construct chain, kol-zakhar bi-vnei Aharon ("every male among the sons of Aaron"), which narrows eligibility to eat the portion strictly by lineage and sex, without further qualification in the Hebrew (no priestly office is named, only descent from Aaron). The verb yo.kha.Lennah ("he will eat it") carries a third-person feminine suffix (-nah), referring back to the portion previously discussed, and its imperfect form indicates an ongoing or repeated permission/obligation rather than a single act.

The phrase chok-olam le-dorotei-khem stacks two construct relationships — "a portion of perpetuity" "for the generations of you (plural)" — reinforcing durability through grammar alone, without an explicit verb "to be" (supplied by translators). The final clause, kol asher yigga' bahem yikdash, uses a relative clause (asher, H0834A) with an imperfect verb (yigga') to describe a general rule ("whoever touches them"), followed by another imperfect (yikdash) stating the consequence. The qal stem of yikdash does not itself mean "is sanctified by another" but describes the subject entering a holy state, which translators render as a passive effect.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders bnei Aharon ("sons of Aaron") as τῶν ἱερέων ("of the priests"), generalizing the lineage-based Hebrew phrase into a priestly office designation. The Vulgate similarly shifts to stirpis Aaron ("of the stock of Aaron"), emphasizing descent rather than the literal "sons." The LXX explicitly renders yikdash with the passive future ἁγιασθήσεται ("will be sanctified"), making explicit a passive sense that the Hebrew qal form leaves grammatically unmarked as passive.