Deuteronomy 12:24

Summary

The verse instructs that a certain substance (referring back to blood, mentioned in the preceding context) must not be eaten. Instead, it is to be poured out on the ground, in the same manner that water is poured.

Key words

• lo' ("not", H3808) — negation placed before the verb, producing a direct prohibition rather than a simple statement.
• to.khe.Le.nu ("you must eat it", H0398 + H9033) — qal imperfect second person masculine singular with the pronominal suffix "it" (nu, H9033) attached, referring to a feminine antecedent (the blood) mentioned earlier in the passage.
• 'al-ha.'A.retz ("on the ground", H5921A + H9009 + H0776H) — preposition plus a definite noun, marking the location where the action of pouring must take place.
• tish.pe.Khe.nu ("you will pour it out", H8210G + H9033) — qal imperfect second person masculine singular, again carrying the "it" suffix, parallel in form to to.khe.Le.nu.
• ka.Ma.yim ("like the water", H9004 + H4325G) — preposition ka ("like/as") attached to the plural noun mayim ("water"), forming the comparison that closes the verse.

What the text says

The verse is built as two parallel imperfect verb forms, each carrying the same pronominal suffix nu ("it", H9033), which points back to a feminine singular referent — the blood — established earlier in the passage. The first clause, lo' to.khe.Le.nu ("you must not eat it"), opens with the negation lo' (H3808) directly before the verb, giving the sentence the force of a prohibition rather than a mere future statement, even though the verb form itself is imperfect and could otherwise describe ongoing or future action.

The second clause, 'al-ha.'A.retz tish.pe.Khe.nu ("on the ground you will pour it out"), places the prepositional phrase 'al-ha.'A.retz ("on the ground") before the verb tish.pe.Khe.nu ("you will pour it out"), fronting the location for emphasis. The final phrase, ka.Ma.yim ("like the water"), uses the comparative preposition ka (H9004) with the plural noun mayim (H4325G) to describe the manner of pouring — treating the substance as one would treat ordinary water, without any special ritual handling implied by the comparison itself.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the second clause with an explicit pronoun, ἐκχεεῖτε αὐτὸ ("you will pour it out"), matching the Hebrew suffix nu. The Vulgate's fundes ("you will pour") does not carry an explicit object pronoun corresponding to nu, leaving the referent implicit through context rather than a separate word.