Exodus 30:21

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they not die: and it shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his descendants throughout their generations."

World English Bible · Public Domain

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וְרָחֲצ֛וּ

râchats

H7364

“and · to wash”

Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural

Appears 72× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 18:4

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 2150

to wash, wash off, wash away, bathe - (Qal) - to wash, wash off, wash away - to wash, bathe (oneself) - (Pual) to be washed - (Hithpael) to wash oneself

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

12: words
10: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
6 nouns
2 prepositions
1 particle

Verb forms

וְרָחֲצ֛וּ Qal · Sequential Perfect
יָמֻ֑תוּ Qal · Imperfect
וְהָיְתָ֨ה Qal · Sequential Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 32 words from the Hebrew and 44 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Exodus 30:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Exodus 28:43 They shall be on Aaron, and on his sons, when they go in to the tent of meeting, or when they come near to the altar to minister in the holy place; that they don't bear iniquity, and die: it shall be a statute forever to him and to his descendants after him.
Exodus 27:21 In the tent of meeting, outside the veil which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall keep it in order from evening to morning before Yahweh: it shall be a statute forever throughout their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Exodus 30:21 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְרָחֲצ֛וּ יְדֵיהֶ֥ם וְרַגְלֵיהֶ֖ם וְלֹ֣א יָמֻ֑תוּ וְהָיְתָ֨ה לָהֶ֧ם חָק עוֹלָ֛ם ל֥וֹ וּלְזַרְע֖וֹ לְדֹרֹתָֽם

So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they not die: and it shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his descendants throughout their generations."

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Exodus 30:21 Septuagint · lemma form

νίπτω ὁ χείρ καί ὁ πούς ὕδωρ ὅταν εἰςπορεύομαι εἰς ὁ σκηνή ὁ μαρτύριον νίπτω ὕδωρ ἵνα μή ἀποθνήσκω καί εἰμί αὐτός νόμιμος αἰώνιος αὐτός καί ὁ γενεά αὐτός μετά αὐτός

They shall wash their hands and feet with water, whenever they shall go into the tabernacle of witness; they shall wash themselves with water, that they die not; and it shall be for them a perpetual statute, for him and his posterity after him.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וִיקַדְשׁוּן יְדֵיהוֹן וְרַגְלֵיהוֹן וְלָא יְמוּתוּן וּתְהֵי לְהוֹן קְיָם עָלָם לֵהּ וְלִבְנוֹהִי לְדָרֵיהוֹן:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וִיקַדְשׁוּן יְדֵיהוֹן וְרִיגְלֵיהוֹן וְלָא יְמוּתוּן וּתְהֵי לְהוֹן קְיַים עֲלַם לֵיהּ וְלִבְנוֹי לְדָרֵיהוֹן

____ and it shall be to them an everlasting statute, to him and to his sons in their generations.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Exodus 30:21 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Exo 30:21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, [even] to him and to his seed throughout their generations.

Ver. 21. That they die not.] Come not to an untimely end, as Nadab and Abihu did. {Lev 10:1-2}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

So long as the Priesthood shall last.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 21. And it shall be a statute for ever] To continue, in its literal meaning, as long as the Jewish economy lasted, and, in its spiritual meaning, to the end of time. What an important lesson does this teach the ministers of the Gospel of Christ! Each time they minister in public, whether in dispensing the WORD or the SACRAMENTS, they should take heed that they have a fresh application of the grace and spirit of Christ, to do away past transgressions or unfaithfulness, and to enable them to minister with the greater effect, as being in the Divine favour, and consequently entitled to expect all the necessary assistances of the Divine unction, to make their ministrations spirit and life to the people. See Clarke on Ex 29:20.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(21) A statute for ever.—Comp. Exo_27:21; Exo_28:43; Exo_29:9. The external act was to continue so long as the dispensation lasted; the internal purity, which it symbolised, would be required of those who entered the Divine Presence for ever. (See Heb_12:14.)

THE COMPOSITION OF THE HOLY OIL.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

21. a statute for ever, &c.] see on Exo_12:14, and Exo_28:43.

22–33 (cf. Exo_37:29 a). The holy Anointing Oil. An aromatic oil to be prepared, by mixing, in stated proportions, olive oil with (probably) the essences of myrrh, cinnamon, sweet-smelling cane, and cassia; and the Tent of Meeting, with its appurtenances, as also Aaron and his sons, to be anointed with it, as a mark of consecration to Jehovah. The oil thus prepared to be reserved exclusively for sacred purposes.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not,.... By the immediate hand of God, who would so greatly resent such a neglect of his command; and by how much easier it was to perform it, by so much the more were they inexcusable, and to be treated with greater severity; and this is repeated, that they might carefully observe it, lest they perish:

and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed, throughout their generations; to be observed by Aaron and his descendants in all ages, as long as their priesthood lasted, until the Messiah should come, and wash all his people, his priests, with his own blood, from all their sins, Rev 1:5.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Pulpit Commentary

It shall be a statute for ever. Compare Exo_27:21 Exo_28:43 Exo_29:9: etc. Even to himi.e. , to Aaron.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

ולא ימתו THAT THEY DIE NOT — This statement is intended to declare subject to the death penalty anyone who ministers at the outer altar without having washed his hands and his feet, because from the first mention of “death” (v. 20) we can only infer that one is subject to death for entering the Sanctuary under these circumstances.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Exodus, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 12 words (10 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is râchats (“to wash”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word râchats carries the sense “to wash.” How does it shape the verse?
Exodus 28:43 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «וְרָחֲצ֛וּ» is Qal Sequential Perfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 7 words in this verse.
10 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 12 words in this verse.