Leviticus 8:3

Summary

This clause instructs Moses to gather the entire community at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. It forms part of a larger divine command (beginning earlier in the verse) listing who and where to assemble for the consecration ceremony that follows.

Key words

• 'et ("", H0853) — marks kol-ha'edah as the direct object of the imperative that follows; untranslatable but signals grammatical focus on "the whole congregation" as what is to be gathered.
• kol ("all", H3605) — construct form linking to ha'edah, producing "all of the congregation," emphasizing totality/completeness of the group summoned.
• 'edah ("congregation", H5712) — feminine singular noun designating the assembled community as a collective body.
• hakhel ("assemble", H6950) — hiphil (causative) imperative: not "gather yourselves" but "cause [them] to assemble," placing the action of convening the people directly on the addressee (Moses).
• mo'ed ("meeting", H4150I) — completes the construct chain 'ohel mo'ed, "tent of meeting," naming the specific location.

What the text says

The Hebrew clause is built around a single imperative verb, hakhel ("assemble", H6950), in the hiphil stem. The hiphil is causative: the base sense of the root relates to gathering, but the causative form means the subject (Moses, addressed in the imperative) is to cause the congregation to assemble, rather than gathering being something the congregation does on its own. This grammatical nuance places responsibility for the convening squarely on Moses as agent.

The object of this causative action is marked by 'et (H0853) before the noun phrase kol-ha'edah, "all the congregation" — a construct chain where kol ("all", H3605) governs ha'edah ("the congregation", H5712), stressing the completeness of the group to be brought together, not a partial representation.

The locative phrase 'el-petach 'ohel mo'ed ("to the entrance of the tent of meeting") uses a chain of two construct nouns: petach ("entrance of", H6607) construct to 'ohel ("tent of", H0168G) construct to mo'ed ("meeting", H4150I). This triple-linked construct chain specifies a precise location — not simply "the tent" but "the entrance of the tent of meeting" — indicating the assembly point is at the threshold, not inside the tent itself.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (congregabis omnem cœtum, "you shall gather the whole assembly") renders the Hebrew causative imperative as a future-tense verb form, and omits any equivalent to 'ohel mo'ed in the phrase "ad ostium tabernaculi," giving only "at the entrance of the tabernacle" without specifying "of meeting." The LXX (ἐκκλησίασον, "assemble/convene") uses a Greek imperative verb corresponding to the Hebrew hiphil imperative, and translates the full locative phrase as "ἐπὶ τὴν θύραν τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου" ("at the door of the tent of the testimony"), rendering mo'ed as "testimony" (μαρτυρίου) rather than "meeting."