Deuteronomy 2:12

וּבְשֵׂעִיר יָשְׁבוּ הַחֹרִים לְפָנִים וּבְנֵי עֵשָׂו יִֽירָשׁוּם וַיַּשְׁמִידוּם מִפְּנֵיהֶם וַיֵּשְׁבוּ תַּחְתָּם כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה יִשְׂרָאֵל לְאֶרֶץ יְרֻשָּׁתוֹ אֲשֶׁר־נָתַן יְהוָה לָהֶֽם׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וּבְשֵׂעִ֞יר יָשְׁב֣וּ הַחֹרִים֮ לְפָנִים֒ וּבְנֵ֧י עֵשָׂ֣ו יִֽירָשׁ֗וּם וַיַּשְׁמִידוּם֙ מִפְּנֵיהֶ֔ם וַיֵּשְׁב֖וּ תַּחְתָּ֑ם כַּאֲשֶׁ֧ר עָשָׂ֣ה יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל לְאֶ֙רֶץ֙ יְרֻשָּׁת֔וֹ אֲשֶׁר־נָתַ֥ן יְהוָ֖ה לָהֶֽם׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ ἐν Σηεὶρ ἐνεκάθητο ὁ Χορραῖος πρότερον, καὶ υἱοὶ Ἠσαὺ ἀπώλεσαν αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐξέτριψαν αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτῶν, καὶ κατῳκίσθησαν ἀντ’ αὐτῶν· ὃν τρόπον ἐποίησεν Ἰσραὴλ τὴν γῆν τῆς κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ, ἣν δέδωκεν κύριος αὐτοῖς.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

In Seir autem prius habitaverunt Horrhæi: quibus expulsis atque deletis, habitaverunt filii Esau, sicut fecit Israël in terra possessionis suæ, quam dedit illi Dominus.

Spanish

Los horeos también vivieron en Seir en el pasado, pero los hijos de Esaú los desalojaron. Los destruyeron de delante de ellos y vivieron en su lugar, como hizo Israel con la tierra de su posesión, que Yehová les dio).

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y en Seir habitaron antes los Horeos, á los cuales echaron los hijos de Esaú; y los destruyeron de delante de sí, y moraron en lugar de ellos; como hizo Israel en la tierra de su posesión que les dió Jehová.)

English

The Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land that the LORD gave them as their possession.)

✦ What the text says

Summary

Deuteronomy 2:12 states that the Horites formerly dwelt in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed and destroyed them, settling in their place. The verse then compares this action explicitly to what Israel did to the land Yehovah gave them as a possession.

Key words

yashevu ("they dwelt", H3427) — qal perfect, marking a completed past state: the Horites' prior dwelling in Seir.
yirashum ("they dispossessed them", H3423H) — qal imperfect with pronominal suffix m ("them", H9038); the imperfect here describes a process rather than a single completed act.
yashmidum ("they destroyed them", H8045) — hiphil (causative) form with narrative va- prefix, indicating a sequential action following the dispossession: causing destruction.
tachtam ("in place of them", H8478H) — construct noun with suffix, expressing spatial/positional substitution: settling where the Horites had been.
yerushato ("its possession", H3425) — construct noun with third-person suffix, referring to the land as Israel's designated possession, paired with natan ("he gave", H5414G).

What the text says

The verse opens with a background clause using the qal perfect yashevu ("they dwelt", H3427) to establish that the Chorim ("Horites", H2752) had lived in Se'ir ("Seir", H8165A) le-fanim ("before", H6440G) — a prior time. This sets the stage before the narrative shifts to the actions of the bene 'Esav ("descendants of Esau", H1121G + H6215H).

The verbal sequence yirashum (H3423H, qal imperfect) followed by va-yashmidum (H8045, hiphil narrative) presents two distinct actions: first a dispossession, then — marked by the narrative vav that "chains the story" — an act of destruction using the causative hiphil stem, which intensifies the verb's force compared to a simple qal. The phrase mi-penei-hem ("from before them", H6440G with suffix H9028) reinforces the notion of removal from presence. The narrative continues with va-yeshevu tachtam ("and they dwelt in their place", H3427 + H8478H), completing the substitution pattern: dwelling replaces dwelling.

The final clause introduces a comparison using the particle ka'asher ("just as", H0834D), linking the Esau-Horite episode to what Yisra'el ("Israel", H3478) did le-'eretz yerushato ("to the land of its possession", H0776G + H3425), a land asher natan Yehovah lahem ("which Yehovah gave to them", H0834A + H5414G + H3068G + H9038). The construct chain 'eretz yerushato ties the land directly to the concept of inherited possession, and the perfect verb natan marks Yehovah's giving as a completed act underlying that possession.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders yashevu ("they dwelt") with ἐνεκάθητο ("dwelt/settled"), a middle-passive imperfect, differing in aspect from the Hebrew qal perfect. The LXX also translates yirashum ("they dispossessed them", H3423H) as ἀπώλεσαν ("they destroyed/lost them"), a rendering closer in sense to the following verb yashmidum ("they destroyed them", H8045) than to a distinct dispossession action, effectively merging the two-stage Hebrew sequence into a more unified destruction. The Vulgate similarly compresses the sequence with "quibus expulsis atque deletis" ("who, having been expelled and destroyed"), using participial constructions rather than the two finite narrative verbs found in the Hebrew.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.