Deuteronomy 27:25

Summary

This verse pronounces a curse on anyone who accepts a bribe in order to kill an innocent person. It is one of a series of curses recited in Deuteronomy 27, ending with the people's collective affirmation "amen."

Key words

• 'aRur ("[is] cursed", H0779) — qal passive participle, describing a state imposed on the subject rather than an action he performs.
• loKeach ("[one who] takes", H3947G) — qal active participle, functioning as a noun ("the taker/one who takes"), identifying the class of person cursed.
• Shochad ("a bribe", H7810) — masculine singular noun, the direct object of loKeach, specifying what is taken.
• haKot ("to strike down", H5221) — hiphil infinitive, causative form indicating the purpose ("in order to cause death") for which the bribe is taken.
• Nefesh ("a person of", H5315J) — feminine singular noun in construct state, linking to dam naki ("blood of an innocent one") to form the phrase describing the victim.

What the text says

The sentence opens with 'aRur ("[is] cursed"), a passive participle that places the pronouncement of doom before its subject is even named — a pattern shared with the other curses in this chapter. The subject is loKeach shochad ("one who takes a bribe"), itself a participle used substantively, so the curse targets not a single past act but a type of agent characterized by this behavior. The purpose clause le-haKot nefesh dam naki ("to strike down a person of innocent blood") uses the infinitive haKot in the hiphil stem, marking the causative sense "to cause death" rather than a simple "to hit." The construct chain nefesh dam naki piles three nouns together — "person," "blood," "innocent" — to describe the victim through an idiom combining "life/person" with "blood," reinforcing that the killing targets someone without guilt.

The clause then shifts from the curse formula to narrative sequence with the vav on 'aMar ("it will say"), a sequential perfect that continues the ritual action: kol-ha'Am ("all the people") respond with the single word 'aMen ("amen"), marking communal ratification of the curse just spoken.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders loKeach shochad ("one who takes a bribe") as ὃς ἂν λάβῃ δῶρα ("whoever takes gifts"), using the plural δῶρα ("gifts") where the Hebrew has the singular Shochad ("a bribe"). The LXX's ἐροῦσιν πᾶς ὁ λαός Γένοιτο ("all the people will say 'let it be'") interprets 'aMen as Γένοιτο, a Greek optative expressing wish, rather than transliterating the Hebrew interjection directly. The Vulgate keeps Amen as a loanword, matching the Hebrew form rather than translating it.