ספורנו — אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן לה'

Q — The pasuk reads "אדם כי יקריב מכם קרבן לה'" — but "מכם" sits in an awkward place. Ibn Ezra offered three readings; Ramban followed: re-order it to "אדם מכם כי יקריב." Or "מכם" qualifies the korban (must be your property). Is there a peshat reading that takes "מכם" in its actual location and gives it independent force?

A — For Sforno, "מכם" qualifies the verb "יקריב" — but it means "מעצמכם" — *from your inner selves*. Hakrava is not the external act of bringing an animal; it is the internal movement of vidui and hach'na'a that the animal embodies — "ונשלמה פרים שפתינו" (Hoshea 14:3), "זבחי אלקים רוח נשברה" (Tehillim 51:19). Sforno states the principle sharply: "אין חפץ בכסילים המקריבים בלתי הכנעה קודמת." And on this reading, Chazal's derashah "מכם ולא כולכם — להוציא את המומר" reveals its conceptual root: the מומר is precisely the figure whose hakrava is external-only, lacking the internal "מעצמכם." Sforno's reading rescues both the verse's word order and the depth of the derashah in one move.