Leviticus 7:30 - On the gender of worshipers

יָדָ֣יו תְּבִיאֶ֔ינָה אֵ֖ת אִשֵּׁ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה אֶת־הַחֵ֤לֶב עַל־הֶֽחָזֶה֙ יְבִיאֶ֔נּוּ אֵ֣ת הֶחָזֶ֗ה לְהָנִ֥יף אֹת֛וֹ תְּנוּפָ֖ה לִפְנֵ֥י יְהֹוָֽה׃

their own hands shall present GOD’s offerings by fire. They shall present the fat with the breast, the breast to be elevated as an elevation offering before GOD;

(The above rendering and its footnote come from the RJPS translation—an adaptation of the NJPS translation—as per a correction in May 2024.)


Women are in view throughout this passage as worshipers, by virtue of both the non-specific language employed and the nature of the activities involved. See further my comment at 1:3.

To refer to worshipers, the Hebrew employs two forms of reference: the third-person singular in verse 29, yet the second-person plural in verse 32. As Adele Berlin pointed out (pers. comm., 2004), the text thereby distinguishes between the responsibility of the worshiper (to present one’s own offering: couched in the singular, vv. 29–30) and that of the community (to make sure that the priests receive certain portions: couched in the plural, v. 32).


As for translation into English, the NJPS rendering “his own hands … He” is nowadays construed as making male-only reference. There is no warrant for a gendered rendering.

For the first printing of RJPS, I recast this verse in the second person, considering that it was justified by the usage in v. 32. However, that similarity collapses the text’s distinction discussed above; in English, a reader cannot distinguish the singular “you” from the plural “you.” A third-person rendering is therefore best in this verse, contra NRSV.