Deuteronomy 19:5
וַאֲשֶׁר יָבֹא אֶת־רֵעֵהוּ בַיַּעַר לַחְטֹב עֵצִים וְנִדְּחָה יָדוֹ בַגַּרְזֶן לִכְרֹת הָעֵץ וְנָשַׁל הַבַּרְזֶל מִן־הָעֵץ וּמָצָא אֶת־רֵעֵהוּ וָמֵת הוּא יָנוּס אֶל־אַחַת הֶעָרִים־הָאֵלֶּה וָחָֽי׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
Tap a word to see its entry
✦ The same verse in five languages
וַאֲשֶׁר֩ יָבֹ֨א אֶת־רֵעֵ֥הוּ בַיַּעַר֮ לַחְטֹ֣ב עֵצִים֒ וְנִדְּחָ֨ה יָד֤וֹ בַגַּרְזֶן֙ לִכְרֹ֣ת הָעֵ֔ץ וְנָשַׁ֤ל הַבַּרְזֶל֙ מִן־הָעֵ֔ץ וּמָצָ֥א אֶת־רֵעֵ֖הוּ וָמֵ֑ת ה֗וּא יָנ֛וּס אֶל־אַחַ֥ת הֶעָרִים־הָאֵ֖לֶּה וָחָֽי׃
καὶ ὃς ἂν εἰσέλθῃ μετὰ τοῦ πλησίον εἰς τὸν δρυμὸν συναγαγεῖν ξύλα, καὶ ἐκκρουσθῇ ἡ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ τῇ ἀξίνῃ κόπτοντος τὸ ξύλον, καὶ ἐκπεσὸν τὸ σιδήριον ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου τύχῃ τοῦ πλησίον, καὶ ἀποθάνῃ, οὗτος καταφεύξεται εἰς μίαν τῶν πόλεων τούτων καὶ ζήσεται·
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
sed abiisse cum eo simpliciter in silvam ad ligna cædenda, et in succisione lignorum securis fugerit manu, ferrumque lapsum de manubrio amicum ejus percusserit, et occiderit: hic ad unam supradictarum urbium confugiet, et vivet:
como cuando un hombre va al bosque con su vecino a cortar leña y su mano mueve el hacha para cortar el árbol, y la cabeza se resbala del mango y golpea a su prójimo de modo que este muere, deberá huir a una de estas ciudades y vivir.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Como el que fué con su prójimo al monte á cortar leña, y poniendo fuerza con su mano en el hacha para cortar algún leño, saltó el hierro del cabo, y encontró á su prójimo, y murió; aquél huirá á una de aquestas ciudades, y vivirá;
If he goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut timber and swings his axe to chop down a tree, but the blade flies off the handle and strikes and kills his neighbor, he may flee to one of these cities to save his life.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse describes an accidental killing: a man goes with his companion into a forest to cut wood, his hand swings the axe, the iron head slips off the handle from the tree, strikes his companion, and kills him. The text states that the killer may flee to one of the designated cities and live.
Key words
- niddechah ("it will be impelled", H5080) — niphal (passive) sequential perfect; the hand is the grammatical subject but the verb form marks the motion as something that happens to the hand, not an action the hand initiates.
- nashal ("it will slip off", H5394) — qal sequential perfect; continues the narrative chain begun by niddechah, describing the iron separating from the wood.
- matza ("it will find", H4672) — qal sequential perfect; the subject is the iron (implied from the previous clause), which "finds" the companion — the verb of accidental encounter rather than intentional action.
- re'ehu ("his companion", H7453 + H9023) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, repeated twice (lines 5-6 and 32-33), naming both the one who goes to the forest and the one who is struck.
- chai ("he will live", H2421) — qal sequential perfect, closing the narrative chain; states the outcome for the one who flees to the city.
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain of sequential perfect verbs (vav + perfect) following an initial imperfect verb yavo ("he will go", H0935G). This chain — niddechah, nashal, matza, met, chai — narrates one continuous sequence of events: going, swinging, slipping, striking, dying, fleeing, living. Each verb depends grammatically on the one before it, giving the impression of a single unbroken chain of cause and effect rather than isolated statements.
A notable grammatical feature is the niphal form niddechah applied to yad ("hand", H3027G). Although "hand" is the subject of the verb, the niphal stem casts the hand's motion as something that occurs to it, rather than an action the hand performs on its own. The subject of matza ("it will find", H4672) is not explicitly named but is understood from the preceding clause to be the iron head (habarzel, H1270) that separated from the tree — it is this iron that "finds" the companion, using the same verb elsewhere used for discovering or encountering something.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders the moment of impact differently: instead of the iron "finding" (matza) the companion, it says the iron "τύχῃ" (happens upon/meets) the neighbor. The Vulgate frames the axe's motion as "securis fugerit manu" ("the axe fled from the hand"), differing from the Hebrew image of the hand itself being impelled (niddechah). The Hebrew's double repetition of re'ehu ("his companion") for both the one going to the forest and the one struck is preserved in the LXX's use of τοῦ πλησίον in both instances, and in the Vulgate's "eo" and "amicum ejus."
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.