Leviticus 8:18

Summary

The verse describes an unnamed subject (contextually Moses) presenting the ram designated for the burnt offering, followed by Aaron and his sons placing their hands on the animal's head. The action unfolds in two sequential narrative steps linked by consecutive verb forms.

Key words

• yakrev ("he presented", H7126H) — hiphil (causative) verb in narrative form: someone caused the ram to be brought near/presented; the hiphil stem indicates an agent acting upon the object rather than the ram approaching on its own.
• ha'olah ("the burnt offering", H5930A) — feminine singular noun with definite article, standing in construct relation to eil ("ram of"), specifying the ram's designated function.
• yismekhu ("they leaned/laid", H5564) — qal (simple) verb, third person plural, narrative form: a direct, non-causative action performed by multiple subjects (Aaron and his sons).
• yedeihem ("their hands", H3027G) — dual construct noun with third person plural suffix; the dual form marks a pair (two hands) belonging jointly to Aaron and his sons.
• rosh ha'ayil ("head of the ram", H7218A + H0352A) — construct chain specifying the exact location where the hands are placed.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence chains two narrative actions using the vav-consecutive construction (va-yakrev... va-yismekhu), a structure that presents events as sequential steps in a single continuous account: first the presentation of the ram, then the hand-laying. The subject of yakrev ("he presented") is not named within this verse itself — the Hebrew text simply continues the third-person singular narrative from the preceding context without repeating a proper noun.

The phrase eil ha'olah ("ram of the burnt offering") uses a construct chain to identify the ram not merely as an animal but by its designated ritual function. Similarly, rosh ha'ayil ("head of the ram") at the end of the verse specifies the exact point of contact for the hand-laying action performed by Aharon u-vanav ("Aaron and his sons", H0175 + H1121A), where the plural subject governs the plural verb yismekhu.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text of this verse does not explicitly name the subject of yakrev ("he presented"); the subject must be inferred from surrounding context. The LXX supplies the name explicitly: "καὶ προσήγαγεν Μωυσῆς" ("and Moses presented"), inserting Μωυσῆς ("Moses") where the Hebrew has only the verb form. The Vulgate, like the Hebrew, does not name the subject explicitly in this clause ("Obtulit et arietem"), leaving it grammatically implicit as in the Hebrew. Modern translations such as the BSB follow the LXX's practice by inserting "Moses" explicitly for clarity, even though this name is not present in the Hebrew word-by-word text of this specific verse.