Leviticus 9:2

Summary

Someone (grammatically unmarked in the Hebrew, but clearly Moses from the narrative context) instructs Aaron to select two unblemished animals — a young bull and a ram — designating one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, then to bring both before Yehovah.

Key words

• kach ("take", H3947) — Qal imperative, masculine singular: a direct command addressed to Aaron.
• ben-bakar ("a young one of / the herd", H1121 + H1241) — a construct chain (ben + bakar) meaning literally "son of the herd," idiomatically denoting a young bovine.
• chatat ("a sin offering", H2403) — feminine singular noun preceded by le ("for"), marking the offering's purpose rather than its ritual name alone.
• temimim ("unblemished", H8549) — masculine plural adjective, agreeing collectively with the two preceding masculine singular nouns ('egel and 'ayil) taken together.
• haqrev ("present/bring near", H7126) — Hiphil (causative) imperative from the root meaning "to be near," so literally "cause to approach."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the narrative vav attached to yomer ("and he said," H0559), a Qal verb whose subject is not named in this verse itself — the third-person "he" is understood from the surrounding narrative rather than stated grammatically here. The core of the speech is a series of two imperative clauses: kach-lekha ("take for yourself") governs both animals, first 'egel ben-bakar ("a calf, a young one of the herd") marked le-chatat ("for a sin offering"), then 'ayil ("a ram") marked le-'olah ("for a burnt offering"). The adjective temimim ("unblemished") is plural, applying jointly to both animals even though each noun individually is singular — a common Hebrew agreement pattern when one attribute qualifies two preceding nouns treated as a set.

The final clause uses the Hiphil imperative haqrev, built on the root meaning "near" (qarab), so the instruction is literally to "cause [the animals] to draw near," rendered in translations as "present" or "offer." This is followed by lifnei Yehovah, literally "to the face of Yehovah" (from panim, "face," H6440, in construct plural form), a common idiom for ritual presence before the deity rather than a literal facial reference.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew leaves the speaker of yomer unnamed grammatically; the LXX makes the subject explicit by adding Μωυσῆς ("Moses"). The Vulgate omits the introductory speech formula altogether, beginning directly with "Tolle" ("Take"). The LXX also renders 'egel with the added qualifier ἁπαλόν ("tender"), a descriptive expansion not present as a separate word in the Hebrew, and translates the construct ben-bakar as ἐκ βοῶν ("from the oxen/cattle") rather than a literal "son of the herd."