| 4. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with a construct chain of ketonet-bad {כְּתֹֽנֶת־בַּד | kə-ṯō-neṯ baḏ} ‘linen tunic’ and kodesh {קֹ֜דֶשׁ | qō·ḏěš} ‘holiness’, framing the priestly attire, and repeats with bigdei-kodesh {בִּגְדֵי־קֹ֣דֶשׁ | biɡ·dê·qō·ḏěš} ‘garments of holiness’. The imperfect verbs yilbash {יִלְבָּ֗שׁ | yil·ḇāš} ‘he shall wear’, yachgor {יַחְגֹּ֔ר | yaḥ·gôr} ‘he shall gird’, and yitsnof {יִצְנֹ֑ף | yiṣ·nōp̄} ‘he shall wrap’ present sequential ritual commands, while yihyu {יִהְי֣וּ | yiḥ·yû} ‘they shall be’ links the garments to al-besaro {עַל־בְּשָׂרוֹ֒ | ʿal·bə·sārō} ‘upon his flesh’. The prefixed vav in u-mikhnesai-bad {וּמִֽכְנְסֵי־בַד֮ | wə·miẖ·nə·sē·ḇaḏ} marks continuation rather than simple conjunction, and the vav-consecutive in ve-rachats {וְרָחַץ | wə·ra·ḥaṣ} ‘and he shall wash’ shifts aspect to perfect, signaling the concluding purification act with ba-mayim {בַּמַּ֛יִם | ba·ma·yim} ‘in the water’ specifying the means. English preserves this structure by segmenting sequential instructions while maintaining the thematic focus on holiness and ritual progression. |