Deuteronomy 20:6

Summary

Deuteronomy 20:6 asks rhetorically about a man who has planted a vineyard but has not yet made ordinary use of its fruit. Such a man is granted exemption from military service and sent home, so that he does not die in battle before another man takes over that first use of the vineyard.

Key words

• chi.le.L ("he has put to use", H2490I) — piel perfect. The root more broadly means "to profane" or "to treat as common"; here in the piel it describes the act of removing a vineyard's restricted status by putting its fruit to ordinary use for the first time.
• ye.chal.le.Le. + nu ("he will put to use" + "it", H2490I + H9033) — piel imperfect with pronominal suffix, mirroring word 10 but projected into the future: another man performing this same act of first use.
• ye.Lekh ("let him go", H1980G) — qal imperfect functioning with jussive force, granting permission rather than issuing a command.
• ya.Sho ("let him return", H7725G) — qal jussive proper, paired with ye.Lekh to form the double directive "let him go and return."
• pen ("lest", H6435) — subordinating particle introducing the rationale for the exemption: the danger of dying before completing the vineyard's first use.

What the text says

The verse opens with the interrogative mi ("who?", H4310) combined with the article on 'Ish ("man", H0376G), forming the rhetorical question pattern "who is the man who...?" This is followed by a relative clause introduced by 'a.Sher ("who", H0834A) describing the action: na.Ta' kerem ("he has planted a vineyard"). The negated piel verb chi.le.L...o ("he has not put it to [common] use") describes an incomplete state — the vineyard exists, but its fruit has not yet been used in the ordinary, non-restricted way the root chalal (H2490I) implies. The consequence is expressed through two verbs in sequence, ye.Lekh ("let him go") and ya.Sho ("let him return"), both carrying permissive/jussive force despite differing grammatical forms (imperfect vs. jussive), directing the man back le-veito ("to his house", H1004B + H9023).

The pen clause states the reason: so that he does not die ba-milchamah ("in the battle", H4421) before another man ('Ish 'a.Cher, H0376G + H0312) performs the same act — expressed by the piel imperfect ye.chal.le.Le.nu, grammatically parallel to the earlier perfect chi.le.L.o, contrasting completed non-action with a future potential action performed by someone else.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew verb chalal (H2490I) carries the sense of removing a restricted/sacred status through first ordinary use. The LXX renders this with εὐφράνθη ("was glad, enjoyed"), shifting the emphasis toward emotional enjoyment of the fruit rather than the technical sense of first use. The Vulgate's "necdum fecit eam esse communem" ("has not yet made it common") stays closer to the Hebrew root's sense of transitioning from a restricted to a common/ordinary status.