Leviticus 9:3

Summary

Moses is instructed to speak to the people of Israel, commanding them to bring a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both one year old and unblemished, for a burnt offering. The verse lists the specific animals required for two distinct sacrificial categories.

Key words

• te.da.Ber ("you will speak", H1696G) — piel imperfect, second person masculine singular; the piel stem intensifies the act of speaking, and the imperfect aspect indicates an action to be carried out, functioning here as a directive.
• se.'ir- 'i.Zim ("a male goat of goats", H8163B / H5795) — construct chain specifying the type of animal; masculine singular construct followed by masculine plural absolute, meaning "a goat from among goats," i.e., a male goat.
• cha.Tat ("a sin offering", H2403H) — feminine singular noun designating the purpose/category of the offering, governed by the preposition le ("to/for").
• be.nei- sha.Nah ("sons of a year", H1121L / H8141) — construct phrase literally "sons of a year," idiomatically meaning "one year old," applied to the calf and lamb.
• te.mi.Mim ("unblemished", H8549G) — masculine plural adjective agreeing with the animals it describes, specifying the physical condition required.

What the text says

The verse opens with a conjunction plus a prepositional phrase (ve-'el-benei Yisra'el) marking the addressee, followed by the verb te.da.Ber ("you will speak") in the piel imperfect, second person masculine singular, addressed to Moses. This is followed by the infinitive le.mor ("saying"), a standard formula introducing direct speech in Hebrew narrative.

The direct speech itself begins with the imperative ke.Chu ("take"), plural masculine, addressed to the people of Israel collectively. The animals are specified through construct chains: se.'ir- 'i.Zim for the goat, designated le.chatat ("for a sin offering"). The calf ('E.gel) and lamb (Khe.ves) are joined by the conjunction va and share the qualifying phrase benei-shanah ("sons of a year," i.e., one year old) and the adjective temimim ("unblemished"), both grammatically plural agreeing with the two animals together. This shared phrase applies to both the calf and the lamb, which are together designated le.'olah ("for a burnt offering"), distinguishing their sacrificial category from the goat's.

The grammatical structure creates two groups: one animal (goat) for the sin offering, and two animals (calf and lamb) sharing qualifiers for the burnt offering, with the construct chains and prepositions marking both the type of animal and its ritual designation.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders benei Yisra'el ("sons/people of Israel") as τῇ γερουσίᾳ Ἰσραὴλ ("to the council of elders of Israel"), introducing a specific administrative body not present in the Hebrew text, which simply states "the people of Israel." The Vulgate follows the Hebrew more closely with "filios Israël" ("sons of Israel"). Additionally, the LXX inserts ἕνα ("one") after χίμαρον ("young goat"), an explicit numeral not present in the Hebrew construct phrase se'ir-'izim.