Deuteronomy 3:7

Summary

The verse states that all the livestock and the plundered goods of the conquered cities were taken by the Israelites for themselves. It closes the account of the conquest of the region east of the Jordan, specifying that the movable wealth of the cities became their own possession.

Key words

• khol ("all", H3605) — construct form linking to "the livestock," expressing totality: every single animal.
• behemah ("livestock", H0929) — feminine singular collective noun referring to domestic animals as a class.
• shelal ("booty of", H7998) — construct form meaning "plunder/spoil," grammatically bound to "the cities," i.e., "the plunder belonging to the cities."
• bazonu ("we plundered", H0962) — qal perfect, first person plural, marking completed collective action: "we plundered/took as spoil."
• lanu ("for ourselves", H9035 with H9005) — preposition plus pronominal suffix, reinforcing that the action benefits the subject itself ("for us," "for ourselves").

What the text says

The verse opens with two coordinated noun phrases joined by ve ("and", H9002): "all the livestock" (khol ha-behemah) and "the booty of the cities" (shelal he-'arim). Both phrases function as the direct objects of the verb that follows, bazonu ("we plundered", H0962), a qal perfect first-person plural form. The perfect aspect marks the action as completed, consistent with the narrative summarizing a finished military campaign.

The construct chains are significant: khol ha-behemah ("all of the livestock") treats livestock as a single collective mass rather than individual animals, while shelal he-'arim ("booty of the cities") ties the plundered goods specifically to the cities as their source, distinguishing this movable wealth from the cities themselves, which are not stated here to have been taken.

The closing phrase lanu ("for ourselves", H9035 + H9005) uses the preposition le ("for", H9005) with a first-person plural suffix, reinforcing that the plundering was done for the benefit of the acting group itself. This reflexive-benefactive construction is common in Biblical Hebrew to mark that an action's outcome accrues to the subject.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders bazonu ("we plundered", H0962) as ἐπρονομεύσαμεν ("we despoiled/plundered"), matching the Hebrew's sense of forceful seizure. The Vulgate uses diripuimus ("we tore away/plundered"), similarly compatible. No significant divergence in meaning appears among the Hebrew, LXX, and Vulgate for this verse; differences are stylistic rather than substantive.