Leviticus 7:13

Summary

The verse specifies that alongside the sacrifice of thanksgiving belonging to the peace offerings, the offerer must present cakes of leavened bread as part of his offering. The Hebrew places the leavened bread cakes at the front of the sentence, before naming the verb of presentation.

Key words

• challot ("round perforated breads", H2471) — feminine plural noun, referring to a specific baked form (cakes with holes), fronted before the verb for emphasis.
• lechem chametz ("bread of leaven", H3899H + H2557A) — construct chain: lechem ("bread of") governs chametz ("leaven"), literally "bread of leavened-ness," describing the type of cake.
• yaqriv ("he will present", H7126H) — Hiphil (causative) imperfect: literally "he will cause to draw near," the standard technical verb for bringing an offering to the altar.
• qorbano ("his offering", H7133A + H9023) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, naming the object being presented.
• todat shelamayv ("thanksgiving of his peace-offerings", H8426 + H8002 + H9023) — double construct chain ending in a suffixed plural noun, linking the thanksgiving sacrifice to the category of peace offerings.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built around a fronted prepositional phrase: 'al-challot lechem chametz ("with cakes of leavened bread") stands before the verb yaqriv ("he will present"), reversing the more expected verb-first order of Biblical Hebrew narrative or legal prose. This fronting draws attention to the leavened cakes as the specific item under discussion in this clause, distinguishing it from the unleavened cakes treated in the surrounding verses of the same chapter. The verb itself, yaqriv, is in the Hiphil, a causative stem of the root meaning "to draw near" (qarab), so the action described is not simply "giving" but "causing [the offering] to approach" the altar — the standard technical vocabulary of Levitical sacrificial procedure.

The object of the action, qorbano ("his offering"), is stated only after the verb, and only then does the text specify, in a second prepositional phrase, what this offering accompanies: 'al-zevach todat shelamayv, "with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace-offerings." This final phrase itself is a chain of three construct nouns (zevach → todat → shelamayv), each modifying the next, producing a layered description that ties the leavened bread specifically to the thanksgiving sub-category of the peace-offering system.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate ("panes...fermentatos cum hostia gratiarum, quæ immolatur pro pacificis") inserts a relative clause, "quae immolatur" ("which is offered/sacrificed"), not present as a separate finite verb in the Hebrew construct chain, where the relationship between "thanksgiving" and "peace-offerings" is expressed only through nominal construct linking, not a verb. The LXX text supplied here does not correspond to this Hebrew verse; its content (concerning fat of oxen, sheep, and goats) matches a different passage, so no direct comparison with the Hebrew of Leviticus 7:13 can be made from the provided LXX text.