Deuteronomy 28:40

Summary

The verse describes a condition in which olive trees grow throughout the territory of the addressee, yet the oil produced from them will not be available for anointing, because the olives fall off before they can be used. It forms part of a series of futility statements describing agricultural failure.

Key words

• zeitim ("olive trees", H2132H) — masculine plural noun, subject of the first clause; refers to the trees themselves, not the fruit.
• yihyu ("they will belong / will be", H1961) — qal imperfect, third person masculine plural of the verb "to be," expressing a future state of possession ("olive trees will be to you").
• gevulekha ("your territory", H1366H) — construct singular noun with second-person suffix, denoting the whole bounded land area, paired with be-khol ("in all of").
• tasukh ("you will anoint yourself", H5480) — qal imperfect second-person masculine singular, referring to the personal application of oil, negated by lo' ("not", H3808).
• yishal ("it will drop off", H5394) — qal imperfect third-person masculine singular, describing the premature falling of the olive fruit, introduced by the causal particle ki ("for/because", H3588A).

What the text says

The verse divides into two parallel clauses joined by ki ("for," H3588A), which gives the reason for the failure described in the second clause. The first clause, zeitim yihyu lekha bekhol gevulekha, uses the verb yihyu ("they will be," H1961) with the preposition le- ("to," H9005) plus suffix, a common Hebrew construction expressing possession — literally "olive trees will be to you in all your territory." The second clause negates a different verb, tasukh ("you will anoint yourself," H5480), a qal imperfect referring to self-application of oil rather than the noun shemen ("oil," H8081) itself being absent — the oil is not simply lacking, but the second-person subject fails to use it. The final clause explains this failure: yishal zeitekha, "your olive[s] will drop off," using yishal (H5394), a verb describing premature falling before ripening or harvest, with zeitekha in construct singular form referring to the fruit collectively rather than plural trees.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) adds et peribunt ("and they will perish"), an additional clause not present in the Hebrew text, the LXX, or the other cited translations, which end simply with the falling of the olives. The LXX renders yishal ("it will drop off," H5394) with ἐκρυήσεται ("will flow away/drop off"), matching the sense of premature loss, while the Hebrew singular zeitekha ("your olive," construct) is rendered as singular ἡ ἐλαία σου ("your olive[s]") in Greek, consistent with the Hebrew form.