יְהוָ֛ה רָ֥מָה יָדְךָ֖ בַּל־יֶחֱזָי֑וּן יֶחֱז֤וּ וְיֵבֹ֙שׁוּ֙ קִנְאַת־עָ֔ם אַף־אֵ֖שׁ צָרֶ֥יךָ תֹאכְלֵֽם׃ (ס)
גאָט, אױפֿגעהױבן איז דײַן האַנט, אָבער זײ זעען ניט; זאָלן זײ זען און זיך שעמעןדײַן אָננעמען זיך פֿאַרן פֿאָלק; יאָ, אַ פֿײַער זאָל דײַנע פֿײַנט פֿאַרצערן.
Rabbeinu Bahya
אדם כי יקריב מכם, “when a man amongst you wants to bring an offering, etc.” According to the grammar of our verse it could be inferred that a human sacrifice is theoretically permissible. If G’d had wanted to rule out such a possibility the Torah should have written אדם מכם שיקריב קרבן, “a man amongst you who wants to offer a sacrifice.” [We have already precluded the suggestion made by the author when we translated the text as we did. Ed.] A closer look at the text will convince even the doubter that such a translation (and meaning) would have been quite impossible. The meaning of the verse is: “if someone amongst yourselves feels the urge to sacrifice himself to the Lord, you are to do this by means of offering a domestic animal such as a specimen from the cattle or the flock. You are not to take a human being as a sacrifice to the Lord.”
In the event that anyone entertained a doubt about this, this is spelled out beyond the possibility of any doubt in Jeremiah 19,5: where the prophet chastises the people for offering human sacrifices including their children to the Baal, something G’d says: “I have never commanded, never decreed, and which never came to My mind.”
In view of all that we have said, the Torah was careful to commence the legislation with the word אדם כי יקריב, “a man who will offer an offering,” as opposed to; “becoming the victim of a sacrifice.” Grammarians (such as Ibn Ezra) have viewed the meter of the verse as follows: “אדם מכם שיקריב,“ ”a man amongst you who offers a sacrifice.” We would have a parallel verse in Isaiah 26,11: אף אש צריך תאכלם, “fire will also consume Your adversaries.” Here too one might have imagined that the subject was “Your adversaries” rather than G’d. The correct translation reverses the relative position of the words אש and צריך. Another example of a similar construction is found in Hoseah 8,2 לי יזעקו אלו-הי ידענוך ישראל, the correct meaning of which is “Israel cries out to Me: ‘O my G’d we are devoted to You.’” The translation assumes that the prophet had meant: לי יזעקו ישראל אלו-הי ידענוך, the prophet refers to the impudence of the Jewish people, who, though unrepentant, claim that they were devoted to the Lord. A similar inverted verse is found in Exodus 22,8 אשר יאמר כי הוא זה, “concerning which one party says ‘this is it.’” Instead of writing כי זה הוא, the Torah in its wisdom chose to write כי הוא זה. There are numerous other examples in Scripture of what appear to be inverted constructions.
In the event that anyone entertained a doubt about this, this is spelled out beyond the possibility of any doubt in Jeremiah 19,5: where the prophet chastises the people for offering human sacrifices including their children to the Baal, something G’d says: “I have never commanded, never decreed, and which never came to My mind.”
In view of all that we have said, the Torah was careful to commence the legislation with the word אדם כי יקריב, “a man who will offer an offering,” as opposed to; “becoming the victim of a sacrifice.” Grammarians (such as Ibn Ezra) have viewed the meter of the verse as follows: “אדם מכם שיקריב,“ ”a man amongst you who offers a sacrifice.” We would have a parallel verse in Isaiah 26,11: אף אש צריך תאכלם, “fire will also consume Your adversaries.” Here too one might have imagined that the subject was “Your adversaries” rather than G’d. The correct translation reverses the relative position of the words אש and צריך. Another example of a similar construction is found in Hoseah 8,2 לי יזעקו אלו-הי ידענוך ישראל, the correct meaning of which is “Israel cries out to Me: ‘O my G’d we are devoted to You.’” The translation assumes that the prophet had meant: לי יזעקו ישראל אלו-הי ידענוך, the prophet refers to the impudence of the Jewish people, who, though unrepentant, claim that they were devoted to the Lord. A similar inverted verse is found in Exodus 22,8 אשר יאמר כי הוא זה, “concerning which one party says ‘this is it.’” Instead of writing כי זה הוא, the Torah in its wisdom chose to write כי הוא זה. There are numerous other examples in Scripture of what appear to be inverted constructions.