Deuteronomy 22:6
כִּי יִקָּרֵא קַן־צִפּוֹר׀ לְפָנֶיךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּכָל־עֵץ׀ אוֹ עַל־הָאָרֶץ אֶפְרֹחִים אוֹ בֵיצִים וְהָאֵם רֹבֶצֶת עַל־הָֽאֶפְרֹחִים אוֹ עַל־הַבֵּיצִים לֹא־תִקַּח הָאֵם עַל־הַבָּנִֽים׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
Tap a word to see its entry
✦ The same verse in five languages
כִּ֣י יִקָּרֵ֣א קַן־צִפּ֣וֹר׀ לְפָנֶ֡יךָ בַּדֶּ֜רֶךְ בְּכָל־עֵ֣ץ׀ א֣וֹ עַל־הָאָ֗רֶץ אֶפְרֹחִים֙ א֣וֹ בֵיצִ֔ים וְהָאֵ֤ם רֹבֶ֙צֶת֙ עַל־הָֽאֶפְרֹחִ֔ים א֖וֹ עַל־הַבֵּיצִ֑ים לֹא־תִקַּ֥ח הָאֵ֖ם עַל־הַבָּנִֽים׃
Ἐὰν δὲ συναντήσῃς νοσσιᾷ ὀρνέων πρὸ προσώπου σου ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ ἢ ἐπί παντὶ δένδρει ἢ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, νοσσοῖς ἢ ὠοῖς, καὶ ἡ μήτηρ θάλπη ἐπὶ τῶν νοσσῶν ἢ ἐπὶ τῶν ὠῶν , οὐ λήμψῃ τὴν μητέρα μετὰ τῶν τέκνων·
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Si ambulans per viam, in arbore vel in terra nidum avis inveneris, et matrem pullis vel ovis desuper incubantem: non tenebis eam cum filiis,
Si en el camino encuentras un nido de pájaros, en cualquier árbol o en el suelo, con crías o huevos, y la madre está sentada sobre las crías o sobre los huevos, no te llevarás la madre con las crías.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Cuando topares en el camino algún nido de ave en cualquier árbol, ó sobre la tierra, con pollos ó huevos, y estuviere la madre echada sobre los pollos ó sobre los huevos, no tomes la madre con los hijos:
If you come across a bird ’s nest with chicks or eggs, either in a tree or on the ground along the road, and the mother is sitting on the chicks or eggs, you must not take the mother along with the young.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Deuteronomy 22:6 describes a scenario: a bird's nest is encountered along the road, in a tree or on the ground, containing either chicks or eggs, with the mother bird sitting on them. The verse states the initial condition that triggers the following legal instruction, which appears in the next verse.
Key words
- yikkare ("it will be met", H7122I) — niphal imperfect, a passive/impersonal form: literally "it will be encountered," with no explicit human subject stated grammatically; the nest is the one "met," not "you" who meet it.
- qan ("nest of", H7064) — construct singular noun, linking directly to tzipor ("bird") to form "a nest of a bird."
- rovetzet ("[is] lying", H7257) — qal participle, feminine singular, describing the mother's ongoing posture (sitting/crouching) rather than a completed or punctual action.
- 'em ("mother", H0517) — feminine singular noun, repeated in the apodosis as the object that must not be taken.
- banim ("young ones", H1121H) — masculine plural noun, literally "sons," here used generically for the offspring in the nest.
What the text says
The verse opens with the conditional particle ki ("if", H3588A) followed by yikkare ("it will be met", H7122I), a niphal imperfect. The niphal stem here produces a passive/impersonal construction: the nest is grammatically the subject of "being met," rather than a human agent actively finding it. This differs from a simple active verb like "you find," since the Hebrew grammar frames the encounter as something that happens to the observer, using lefaneicha ("before you", H6440G + H9021) to locate the event relative to the addressee.
The location is specified through two prepositional phrases joined by 'o ("or", H0176A): bekhol-'etz ("in any tree", H3605+H6086H) or 'al ha'aretz ("on the ground", H5921A+H0776H). The contents of the nest are given as 'efrochim ("young ones", H0667) or beitzim ("eggs", H1000), again joined by 'o.
The final clause introduces the mother's position with rovetzet ("[is] lying", H7257), a qal participle. Participles in Biblical Hebrew express ongoing or continuous states rather than single completed actions, so the verse presents the mother as being in the act of sitting on the young or eggs at the moment of encounter. The clause structure 'al ha'efrochim 'o 'al habeitzim ("on the young ones or on the eggs") mirrors the earlier 'o construction, maintaining parallel phrasing between the two verses' components.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders yikkare ("it will be met", H7122I) with the active verb συναντήσῃς ("you meet"), supplying an explicit second-person subject where the Hebrew niphal leaves the construction impersonal/passive.
For rovetzet ("[is] lying", H7257), the LXX has θάλπη ("warms/broods"), and the Vulgate has incubantem ("brooding/incubating"), both specifying a warming action, whereas the Hebrew participle denotes simply a posture of lying or crouching without specifying incubation.
The Hebrew banim ("young ones", H1121H, literally "sons") is rendered by the LXX as τέκνων ("children") and by the Vulgate as filiis ("sons/children"), both preserving the generic "offspring" sense present in the Hebrew term.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.