Leviticus 9:14

Summary

The verse describes Aaron washing the entrails (qerev, H7130) and legs (keraayim, H3767) of the offering, and then causing them to go up in smoke (yaqter, H6999A) on top of the burnt offering (olah, H5930A) that is on the altar (mizbeach, H4196). The action is presented as two sequential steps joined by narrative vav.

Key words

• yirchatz ("he washed", H7364) — qal verb with narrative vav, placing the washing as the first event in the sequence: "and he washed."
• qerev ("entrails", H7130H) — masculine singular noun marked with the direct object marker 'et, indicating it is the direct object of the washing.
• keraayim ("legs", H3767) — feminine dual noun, grammatically marking that the legs are counted as a paired set (the two legs), joined to qerev by ve ("and").
• yaqter ("he made [them] smoke", H6999A) — hiphil (causative) verb with narrative vav, indicating Aaron causes the parts to burn/smoke, distinct from a simple qal "he burned."
• mizbecha ("toward the altar", H4196 + H9011) — the noun mizbeach with a directional he suffix, indicating motion or orientation "to/on the altar."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built from two narrative-vav clauses in sequence: first va-yirchatz ("and he washed") with its compound object et-ha-qerev ve-et-ha-keraayim ("the entrails and the legs"), then va-yaqter ("and he made [them] smoke") with the prepositional phrase 'al-ha-olah ("on the burnt offering") followed by ha-mizbecha with the directional he, literally "the altar-ward." The directional he on mizbecha suggests orientation toward or upon the altar, reinforcing that the burnt offering itself is located there and that the smoking action happens on top of it.

The hiphil form yaqter is causative: Aaron does not merely burn the entrails and legs, but causes them to ascend as smoke, a nuance that a flat translation "he burned" does not always carry. The feminine dual form of keraayim ("legs") marks that a pair is referenced, information not visible in an English plural "legs."

Differences between versions

The LXX adds ὕδατι ("with water") after ἔπλυνεν τὴν κοιλίαν καὶ τοὺς πόδας ("he washed the entrails and the feet"), a detail not present in the Hebrew clause, which does not specify the washing medium. The LXX also renders yaqter with ἐπέθηκεν ("he placed/put"), a verb of placement, where the Hebrew hiphil yaqter denotes causing to smoke/burn. The Vulgate fragment given ("lotis aqua prius intestinis et pedibus" — "having first washed with water the intestines and feet") likewise inserts "aqua" ("water") and "prius" ("first"), elements absent from the Hebrew text as presented, and does not include the second clause about the smoking/burning on the altar.