Deuteronomy 21:4

Summary

The verse describes the elders of a city bringing a heifer down to a wadi that has never been plowed or sown, and there breaking its neck. The action continues a sequence of ritual steps initiated in the preceding verses.

Key words

• ho.Ridu ("they will bring down", H3381) — hiphil causative, sequential perfect; the elders cause the heifer to go down, marking continuation of the ritual procedure begun earlier.
• zikNei ("elders of", H2205G) — construct plural, linking the elders directly to "the city," identifying the group formally responsible for the act.
• Nachal eiTan ("ever-flowing wadi", H5158N + H0386) — noun + adjective; eiTan describes the wadi as perpetually flowing or enduring, a specific qualifier for the location chosen.
• ye'aVed ("it is tilled", H5647I) — niphal imperfect, passive; describes ongoing/potential state of the land rather than a completed action, paired with yizaRea' ("it is sown", H2232) in the same grammatical form.
• 'areFu ("they will break the neck of", H6202) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the same narrative chain as ho.Ridu; a direct, non-passive action performed by the elders.

What the text says

The sentence is built as a chain of sequential perfect verbs (ve-ho.Ridu ... ve-'areFu) that carry forward the narrative begun in the previous verse, meaning the actions are understood as consecutive steps in a single procedure rather than isolated statements. The elders (zikNei, construct plural tied to "the city") are the grammatical subject of both main verbs, framing them as the responsible agents throughout.

The location is defined by a relative clause: 'aSher lo'-ye'aVed bo velo' yizaRea' ("which is not tilled in it and not sown"), using two niphal imperfect verbs. The niphal form presents these as ongoing characteristics of the wadi — a place inherently unworked — rather than a one-time historical fact. The qualifier eiTan ("ever-flowing") further specifies the type of wadi, describing its constant flow of water as opposed to a seasonal or dry channel. The final clause repeats 'et-ha'egLah ("the heifer") and banNachal ("in the wadi"), reinforcing the location established earlier and closing the sequence with the qal verb 'areFu ("they will break the neck of").

Differences between versions

The Hebrew Nachal eiTan ("ever-flowing wadi") is rendered in the LXX as φάραγγα τραχεῖαν ("rough/rugged ravine") and in the Vulgate as vallem asperam atque saxosam ("rough and stony valley") — both versions emphasize the terrain's ruggedness rather than the continuous water flow indicated by eiTan. The BSB and SBLIBRE translations ("valley with running/corriente water") follow the Hebrew nuance more closely than the LXX or Vulgate. Additionally, the Hebrew verb 'areFu ("break the neck of") is translated in the LXX as νευροκοπήσουσιν ("they will cut the sinews/hamstring"), a different specific action than the Hebrew's neck-breaking, while the Vulgate's cædent... cervices ("they will strike the neck") aligns with the Hebrew sense.