Deuteronomy 15:21

Summary

The verse states a conditional case: if a blemish is found in it — specifically lameness, blindness, or any bad blemish — the animal in question must not be sacrificed to Yehovah. The construction is a legal conditional clause followed by a negative prohibition.

Key words

• mum ("a blemish", H3971B) — masculine singular noun, used twice (lines 6 and 11), naming the general category of physical defect.
• pisseach ("lame", H6455) — masculine singular adjective, specifying one type of blemish.
• 'ivver ("blind", H5787) — masculine singular adjective, joined to pisseach by 'o ("or", H0176A), giving two concrete examples.
• kol mum ra' — kol ("any", H3605) in construct with mum ("blemish") and the adjective ra' ("bad", H7451A), forming the phrase "any bad blemish," a general closing category after the two specific examples.
• tizbachennu ("you will sacrifice it", H2076) — qal imperfect, second person masculine singular, with the pronominal suffix -nu ("it") attached, preceded by the negation lo' ("not", H3808), forming the prohibition "you will not sacrifice it."

What the text says

The sentence opens with the compound conjunction ve-khi ("and if", H9002 + H3588A), marking a conditional clause dependent on prior legal context. The verb yihyeh ("it will be", H1961) is a qal imperfect of the verb "to be," used here to express a hypothetical state — "if there will be [a blemish] in it." The prepositional phrase bo ("in it") carries a third-person masculine suffix referring back to an antecedent not repeated in this verse itself.

The blemish is first named generically as mum, then specified through two adjectives, pisseach ("lame") and 'ivver ("blind"), joined by the disjunctive 'o ("or"). The text then broadens the scope with kol mum ra', a construct phrase meaning literally "any blemish of bad [quality]," which functions to include blemishes beyond the two examples given. This structure — specific example, specific example, general category — is a common feature of Hebrew legal style, moving from particular cases to a comprehensive closing clause.

The main clause states the prohibition: lo' tizbachennu, "you will not sacrifice it," with the object suffix -nu attached directly to the verb rather than expressed as a separate pronoun. The recipient of the (prohibited) sacrifice is named as layhovah 'eloheikha, "to Yehovah your God," using the construct phrase 'elohei-kha ("God of you" / "your God").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders mum ra' ("bad blemish") as μῶμον πονηρόν ("evil/bad blemish"), closely matching the Hebrew construct structure. The Vulgate expands the phrasing further, adding "aut in aliqua parte deforme vel debile" ("or deformed or weak in any part"), which is a more explanatory rendering than the Hebrew's compact kol mum ra'. The BSB and RV1909 supply the word "animal," which is not present as an explicit noun in this verse's Hebrew text but is implied through the pronominal suffixes bo and -nu.