Deuteronomy 10:9

Summary

The verse explains why the tribe of Levi received no territorial share among the other Israelite tribes: instead of land, Yehovah himself constitutes Levi's nachalah ("inheritance", H5159), fulfilling what Yehovah had spoken to them.

Key words

• Che.lek ("a portion", H2506A) — masculine singular noun denoting a share or allotment, here negated to state Levi's lack of a land portion.
• na.cha.Lah ("an inheritance", H5159) — feminine singular noun for inherited property; appears twice, first describing what Levi lacks (v9a) and then in construct form (na.cha.la.T + suffix "his") describing what Levi has instead (v9b), namely Yehovah.
• ha.Yah ("it belongs", H1961) — qal perfect third-person masculine verb, "to be/become," negated by lo' ("not", H3808) to assert a completed state of non-possession.
• hu' ("he", H1931) — independent personal pronoun placed after Yehovah, creating emphasis: "Yehovah — he [is] his inheritance," rather than simply "Yehovah is his inheritance."
• di.Ber ("he spoke", H1696G) — piel perfect of the verb "to speak," an intensive stem indicating a solemn or formal declaration, referring back to an earlier statement by Yehovah.

What the text says

The verse opens with the causal phrase 'al-ken ("there-fore", H5921A + H3651C), linking this statement to preceding material. The main clause uses lo'-ha.Yah ("it belongs... not", H3808 + H1961) with the preposition le- ("to", H9005) attached to Le.vi ("Levi", H3881), literally "there has not been to Levi a portion." The subject of the negated verb is Che.lek ve-na.cha.Lah ("a portion and an inheritance", H2506A + H5159), joined by the conjunction ve- ("and", H9002), followed by 'im-'e.Cha ("with brothers-his", H5973A + H0251I) specifying the comparison group — Levi's fellow tribes.

The second clause reverses the pattern: Yehovah hu' na.cha.la.To ("Yehovah he [is] inheritance-his"). The insertion of the independent pronoun hu' ("he", H1931) between the subject Yehovah and the predicate na.cha.la.To is grammatically unnecessary for basic meaning but adds identificatory force — it isolates and highlights Yehovah as the specific referent of the inheritance-noun, rather than merely stating a simple equative sentence. The final clause, introduced by ka'asher ("just as", H9004 + H0834D), anchors this arrangement to a prior spoken declaration (di.Ber, H1696G) by Yehovah 'e.lo.Hei.kha ("Yehovah God-your", H3068G + H0430G + H9021), with the phrase closing on lo ("to him", H9005 + H9033).

Differences between versions

The LXX renders Le.vi (singular proper name) as τοῖς Λευείταις ("to the Levites," plural, referring to the tribe collectively), where the Hebrew uses the singular personal name. The LXX also renders 'e.Cha ("brothers-his") as ἐν τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς αὐτῶν ("among their brothers," plural possessive), differing from the Hebrew's third-person singular suffix construction. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew more closely with the singular "Levi" and "fratribus suis," and, like the LXX, renders the emphatic hu' construction as a simple equative statement ("ipse Dominus possessio ejus est" / "Κύνριος αὐτὸς κλῆρος αὐτοῦ") without a distinct grammatical marker for the pronoun's emphatic function present in the Hebrew.