Leviticus 7:25
כִּי כָּל־אֹכֵל חֵלֶב מִן־הַבְּהֵמָה אֲשֶׁר יַקְרִיב מִמֶּנָּה אִשֶּׁה לַיהוָה וְנִכְרְתָה הַנֶּפֶשׁ הָאֹכֶלֶת מֵֽעַמֶּֽיהָ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
Tap a word to see its entry
✦ The same verse in five languages
כִּ֚י כָּל־אֹכֵ֣ל חֵ֔לֶב מִן־הַ֨בְּהֵמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר יַקְרִ֥יב מִמֶּ֛נָּה אִשֶּׁ֖ה לַיהוָ֑ה וְנִכְרְתָ֛ה הַנֶּ֥פֶשׁ הָאֹכֶ֖לֶת מֵֽעַמֶּֽיהָ׃
Αὕτη ἡ χρίσις Ἀαρὼν καὶ ἡ χρίσις τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν καρπωμάτων κυρίου, ἐν ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ π ροσηγάγετο αὐτοὺς τοῦ ἱερατεύειν τῷ κυρίῳ,
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Si quis adipem, qui offerri debet in incensum Domini, comederit, peribit de populo suo.
Todo el que coma la grasa de un animal del cual se presenta una ofrenda quemada a Yehová, será eliminado de su pueblo.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Porque cualquiera que comiere sebo de animal, del cual se ofrece á Jehová ofrenda encendida, la persona que lo comiere, será cortada de sus pueblos.
If anyone eats the fat of an animal from which an offering made by fire may be presented to the LORD, the one who eats it must be cut off from his people.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse establishes a conditional case: whoever eats the fat of an animal from which a fire offering is presented to Yehovah will face the consequence of being cut off from among their kin. The Hebrew builds the sentence as a legal formula, opening with a conditional particle and closing with a passive verb describing the penalty.
Key words
- ki ("if", H3588A) — introduces the conditional clause that frames the entire verse as a legal case.
- 'o.Khel ("[one who] eats", H0398) — qal participle, masculine singular, describing the generic offender in the protasis ("any one eating fat").
- Che.lev ("fat", H2459) — the forbidden substance, object of the participle 'o.Khel.
- yak.Riv ("he will present", H7126H) — hiphil imperfect, causative form, describing the ongoing/future ritual act of presenting the animal's portion as an offering.
- nikh.re.Tah ("it will be cut off", H3772I) — niphal (passive) sequential perfect, marking the consequence that follows the conditional clause.
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence is structured as a two-part legal statement: a protasis introduced by ki ("if") describing the forbidden act, and an apodosis marked by the vav-consecutive perfect nikh.re.Tah that states the consequence. The subject of the punishment, ha-Ne.fesh ("the person", H5315J), is grammatically feminine, and the participle describing the offender is repeated in feminine form, 'o.Khe.let ("the one eating", H0398), agreeing with nefesh rather than indicating the sex of the actual offender — this is a grammatical feature of Hebrew, where nefesh as a feminine noun controls agreement regardless of who commits the act.
The final phrase, me-'a.Mei.ha ("from her kinspeople", H5971B), uses the plural construct 'ammei ("peoples of") with a feminine singular suffix -ha referring back to nefesh. The plural form of "peoples" attached to a singular referent is a set idiom in this legal formula, differing from a simple singular "people."
Differences between versions
The Vulgate renders the consequence as peribit de populo suo ("he will perish from his people"), using an active verb (peribit, "will perish") and a singular populo suo ("his people"), where the Hebrew has a passive verb nikh.re.Tah ("will be cut off") and the plural construct 'ammeiha ("her peoples/kinspeople"). The LXX text supplied here for this reference does not correspond to Leviticus 7:25 in content; it addresses a different subject (the anointing of Aaron and his sons), so no direct comparison of wording can be made from the data given.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.