Deuteronomy 21:22

Summary

The verse sets up a legal scenario: if a man has a sin punishable by death and is executed, the subsequent action is that his body is hung on a tree. It is a conditional/sequential clause establishing procedure after execution.

Key words

• chet' ("a sin of", H2399) — masculine singular noun in construct state, meaning it must be followed by another noun to complete its meaning ("sin of...").
• mishpat- ("a sentence of", H4941G) — also construct state, linking to mavet to form the phrase "a sentence of death."
• huMat ("he will be put to death", H4191) — hophal (causative passive) verb, meaning the subject undergoes an action caused by another; it is in sequential perfect form, continuing the narrative chain begun by the initial condition.
• taLita ("you will hang", H8518) — qal sequential perfect, second person masculine singular, showing a shift from passive event (his death) to an action performed by "you" (the addressee).
• ve (narrative vav, H9001) — appears twice (positions 9 and 11), each time chaining a new clause onto the previous one, marking a sequence of events rather than separate independent statements.

What the text says

The sentence opens with the conditional particle khi- ("if", H3588A) combined with yihYeh ("it will be", H1961), a qal imperfect verb, setting up a hypothetical or future scenario: "if it will be/happen." The condition is specified as being be'Ish ("in anyone", H0376I) — a general term for a man, not a specific individual.

The construct chain chet' mishpat-mavet ("a sin of a sentence of death") stacks two construct nouns to form a compound legal phrase. Both chet' (H2399) and mishpat- (H4941G) are in construct state, meaning neither stands alone grammatically; they depend on the following noun to complete their sense, resulting in the idea of "a sin [carrying] a sentence of death."

After the condition is stated, the narrative vav ve (H9001) attaches twice, first to huMat ("he will be put to death", H4191) — a hophal form indicating the man undergoes death caused by external judgment — and then to taLita ("you will hang", H8518), a qal verb where the grammatical subject shifts to "you" (masculine singular). This shift from passive third-person action (his execution) to active second-person action (your hanging of him) reflects a change in narrative role: the outcome of judgment is followed by a distinct procedural act performed by the addressee. The object marker 'oT (H0853) plus suffix o ("him", H9033) marks the pronoun object of the hanging, referring back to the man previously executed. The final phrase 'al-'Etz ("on a tree", H6086H) specifies the location of the hanging.