Deuteronomy 2:35

Summary

The verse concludes the account of the conquest of Heshbon, stating that the Israelites kept the livestock and the plunder from the captured cities for themselves. It uses two parallel direct objects — the livestock and the booty of the cities — both governed by the same verb of taking.

Key words

• rak ("only", H7535) — restrictive adverb narrowing the scope of what follows; signals that this is the sole exception to a prior statement (implied destruction of the population).
• behemah ("livestock", H0929) — feminine singular noun with definite article, functioning as the first direct object of the verb bazaznu.
• bazaznu ("we plundered", H0962) — qal perfect, 1st person plural; a completed action verb whose subject is the collective "we" (Israel), governing both the livestock and, by conjunction, the booty of the cities.
• shelal ("booty of", H7998) — masculine singular noun in construct state, linking directly to "the cities" that follows; construct form shows a possessive relationship ("booty belonging to the cities").
• lakhadnu ("we had captured", H3920) — qal perfect, 1st person plural, introduced by the relative particle asher ("which", H0834A), forming a relative clause describing the cities.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built around a single main verb, bazaznu ("we plundered", H0962), which takes two objects joined by the conjunction u- ("and", H9002): first ha-behemah ("the livestock", H0929), and second shelal he'arim ("the booty of the cities", H7998 construct + H5892B). The particle rak ("only", H7535) at the head of the clause restricts the action described, marking the livestock and the cities' plunder as the sole items taken, following (in the wider narrative) a report of destruction of the population. The relative clause asher lakhadnu ("which we had captured", H0834A + H3920) modifies "the cities," specifying that this booty comes only from the cities previously seized in the same military action.

The suffixed preposition lanu ("for ourselves", H9005+H9035) attaches to bazaznu and applies to the whole clause, indicating that both the livestock and the city-booty were taken for the benefit of the subject "we," not distributed elsewhere.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew uses one verb, bazaznu, governing both objects (livestock and booty) through the conjunction "and." The LXX (Swete) splits this into two separate verbs — ἐπρονομεύσαμεν ("we plundered") for the livestock and ἐλάβομεν ("we took") for the spoils of the cities — producing two parallel clauses rather than one verb with two objects. The Vulgate renders the opening differently, using "absque" ("except/apart from"), framing the livestock clause as an exception ("quæ in partem venere prædantium," "which came into the portion of the plunderers") rather than as a direct statement that "we" plundered them, a construction not present in the Hebrew syntax.