Leviticus 7:6

Summary

The verse establishes that any male member of the priesthood is permitted to eat from the offering under discussion. It specifies that this eating must occur in a holy place, and closes by qualifying the offering itself as "a holy thing of holy things" — the most sacred category of offering.

Key words

• kol ("every", H3605) — construct-like use meaning "all/every," combined with zakhar to specify an unrestricted class of eligible persons.
• yo'khe.Lennu ("he will eat it", H0398) — qal imperfect with 3ms verb plus 3ms pronominal suffix -nu ("it," H9033), a simple active form indicating who performs the eating and on what object.
• ye'a.Khel ("it will be eaten", H0398) — same root as above but in niphal, the passive/reflexive stem; the subject (the offering) undergoes the action rather than performing it.
• ma.Qom qa.Dosh ("a holy place", H4725 + H6918G) — noun plus adjective, both masculine singular, specifying the required location.
• Qodesh qa.da.Shim ("holy thing of holy things", H6944G construct + H6944G plural) — construct chain (noun of noun) forming a superlative-type expression, intensifying the holiness classification of the object.

What the text says

The verse is built on two clauses using the same verbal root 'akhal ("to eat", H0398) in two different stems. The first clause, kol-zakhar bakkohanim yo'khelennu, uses the qal (active) imperfect yo'khe.Lennu, placing the priest as grammatical subject and the offering as the object marked by the suffix -nu ("it"). The second clause, bemaqom qadosh ye'akhel, switches to the niphal (passive) imperfect ye'akhel, so here the offering itself becomes the subject and no human agent is named — the sentence structure emphasizes the location and passive character of the eating rather than who performs it.

The final clause, qodesh qadashim hu', is a nominal (verbless) sentence: a construct chain qodesh qadashim ("holy thing of holy things") followed by the independent pronoun hu' ("it", H1931) functioning as a copula-like subject marker. This construct-of-plural pattern in Biblical Hebrew intensifies the noun, producing a superlative sense not conveyed by a simple adjective — the offering is placed in the highest category of sanctity through repetition of the same root (qadosh/qodesh/qadashim) three times across the verse.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text of this verse concerns priestly consumption of a most-holy offering in a holy place. The Vulgate (Omnis masculus de sacerdotali genere, in loco sancto vescetur his carnibus, quia Sanctum sanctorum est) and the Spanish/English translations follow this content closely. The Swete LXX text supplied here does not correspond to this Hebrew verse; it speaks instead of a vow or voluntary sacrifice being eaten "on that day and the next," with no mention of priests, a holy place, or the "holy of holies" formula — indicating the LXX text cited reflects a different portion of Leviticus 7 than the Hebrew verse given.