Leviticus 9:4

Summary

Leviticus 9:4 lists the sacrificial animals and offering that Aaron's household must bring: an ox and a ram for peace offerings, together with a grain offering mixed with oil, all to be brought before Yehovah. The verse closes with the announcement that Yehovah will appear to the people that same day.

Key words

• shelamim ("peace offerings", H8002) — masculine plural noun naming the sacrificial category into which the ox and ram fall; the plural form reflects the general category name rather than a specific count.
• zevoach ("sacrifice", H2076) — qal infinitive, expressing purpose ("in order to sacrifice"), linking the animals to the act performed "before Yehovah."
• beluláh ("mixed", H1101A) — qal passive participle, feminine singular, agreeing with minchah ("grain offering", H4503G); it describes the offering as something already prepared, mixed with oil.
• nir'ah ("he will appear", H7200G) — niphal perfect of the root meaning "to see/appear"; the perfect form describes a completed or certain future event, here rendered by translations as future tense ("will appear").
• hayom ("the day", H3117G + H9009) — noun with definite article, marking the specific day on which the appearance is to occur, tying the ritual instructions to that particular moment.

What the text says

The verse combines two grammatical elements: a list of required offerings and a causal clause explaining why they are needed. The first part names the objects — shor ("ox", H7794), 'ayil ("ram", H0352A), and minchah ("grain offering", H4503G) — connected by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002) repeated across items, giving the list a cumulative, itemized character. The purpose of these offerings is expressed through two prepositional infinitive constructions: li-shelamim ("for peace offerings") and li-zevoach lifnei Yehovah ("to sacrifice before Yehovah"), both using the preposition li (H9005) to indicate goal or function rather than location alone.

The causal clause introduced by ki ("for/because", H3588A) shifts from instruction to explanation. The subject-verb order is inverted from typical Hebrew syntax: Yehovah nir'ah places the divine name before the niphal perfect verb, giving prominence to Yehovah as the one who "appears." The niphal form indicates that the action is undergone by the subject (Yehovah is seen/appears) rather than performed on an object, and the perfect aspect, though grammatically referring to a completed action, functions here to express near-certain future occurrence — a use common in prophetic or performative statements in Biblical Hebrew.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text reads lifnei Yehovah ("before Yehovah", H6440G + H3068G), but the LXX text provided renders this phrase as ἔναντι Τυρίου ("before Tyrios"), differing from the expected Κυρίου ("Lord") found in most Greek witnesses and reflected in the Vulgate's coram Domino ("before the Lord"). The Vulgate also adds singulorum ("of each one") when describing the grain offering, a detail not present in the Hebrew minchah beluláh vashamen ("a grain offering mixed with oil").