Deuteronomy 18:8

Summary

The verse describes an entitlement of a portion "like a portion" — an equal share — to be eaten, in addition to whatever comes from sales connected to ancestral property. The exact scope of this additional income (from personal sales versus inherited land) is expressed through a compact Hebrew idiom that different versions interpret differently.

Key words

• Che.lek ("a portion", H2506A) — appears twice (חֵלֶק כְּחֵלֶק, "portion like portion"), an idiomatic doubling construction indicating equality or sameness of share.
• yo.Khe.lu ("they will eat", H0398) — qal imperfect, third person masculine plural; the plural subject (unstated in this fragment) receives the portion collectively.
• Vad ("besides", H0905J) — masculine singular construct, forming with the preceding le ("to") the idiom le-vad, "apart from" or "in addition to."
• mi.ka.Ra ("sales", H4465) — masculine plural construct with the 3ms suffix -av ("his"), meaning "his sales" or "things sold by him."
• 'a.Vot ("fathers", H0001G) — feminine plural noun with the definite article, here functioning idiomatically to denote ancestral or patrimonial property rather than literal "fathers."

What the text says

The Hebrew opens with the doubled noun construction Che.lek ke-Che.lek ("portion like portion"), a common Hebrew idiom for expressing equivalence — "an equal portion" — rather than a comparison between two different portions. The plural verb yo.Khe.lu ("they will eat") indicates a collective subject, consistent with a group (understood from broader context) receiving equal shares.

The second half of the verse, le-Vad mi-ka-Ra-yv 'al-ha-'a.Vot, is structurally dense. Le-vad functions as a compound preposition meaning "besides" or "apart from," governing the construct chain mimkarav ("his sales/things sold"). The phrase 'al-ha-'avot ("upon/concerning the fathers") modifies this sales-clause, with 'avot ("fathers") used idiomatically to denote inherited or patrimonial property rather than literal parents. The construct chain thus links "sales" to ancestral holdings, producing a sense along the lines of "besides [income from] his sales of patrimonial property."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the verb as singular (φάγεται, "he shall eat") where the Hebrew yo.Khe.lu is plural, shifting the subject from a group to an individual. The LXX also translates the sales-clause as πλὴν τῆς πράσεως τῆς κατὰ πατριάν ("except the sale according to family/patrimony"), preserving the "besides/except" sense of le-vad.

The Vulgate similarly uses a singular verb (accipiet, "he shall receive") and reinterprets the clause as excepto eo, quod in urbe sua ex paterna ei successione debetur ("except what is owed to him in his city from paternal succession") — introducing "in his city" and "succession," details not present in the Hebrew construct chain mimkarav 'al ha-avot.

The BSB departs further, rendering the clause concessively ("even though he has received money from the sale of his father's estate"), treating 'al as concessive rather than as marking an additional entitlement, which contrasts with the Hebrew idiom's more additive sense of "besides."