Exodus 13:5
וְהָיָה כִֽי־יְבִֽיאֲךָ יְהוָה אֶל־אֶרֶץ הַֽכְּנַעֲנִי וְהַחִתִּי וְהָאֱמֹרִי וְהַחִוִּי וְהַיְבוּסִי אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע לַאֲבֹתֶיךָ לָתֶת לָךְ אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבָשׁ וְעָבַדְתָּ אֶת־הָעֲבֹדָה הַזֹּאת בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּֽה׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְהָיָ֣ה כִֽי־יְבִֽיאֲךָ֣ יְהוָ֡ה אֶל־אֶ֣רֶץ הַֽ֠כְּנַעֲנִי וְהַחִתִּ֨י וְהָאֱמֹרִ֜י וְהַחִוִּ֣י וְהַיְבוּסִ֗י אֲשֶׁ֨ר נִשְׁבַּ֤ע לַאֲבֹתֶ֙יךָ֙ לָ֣תֶת לָ֔ךְ אֶ֛רֶץ זָבַ֥ת חָלָ֖ב וּדְבָ֑שׁ וְעָבַדְתָּ֛ אֶת־הָעֲבֹדָ֥ה הַזֹּ֖את בַּחֹ֥דֶשׁ הַזֶּֽה׃
καὶ ἔσται ἡνίκα ἐὰν εἰσαγάγῃ σε κύριος ὁ θεός σου εἰς τὴν γῆν τῶν Χαναναίων καὶ Χετταίων καὶ εὐαίων καὶ Αμορραίων καὶ Ἀμορραίων καὶ Φερεζαίων καὶ Ἰεβουσαίων, ἢν ὤμοσεν τοῖς πατράσιν σου δοῦναί σοι, γῆν ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι, καὶ ποιήσεις τὴν λατρίαν ταύτην ἐν τῷ μηνὶ τούτῳ.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Cumque introduxerit te Dominus in terram Chananæi, et Hethæi, et Amorrhæi, et Hevæi, et Jebusæi, quam juravit patribus tuis ut daret tibi, terram fluentem lacte et melle, celebrabis hunc morem sacrorum mense isto.
Cuando Yehová los lleve a la tierra de los cananeos, de los hititas, de los amorreos, de los heveos y de los jebuseos, esa tierra que promete abundancia y que él juró darles a sus antepasados, deberán celebrar esta ceremonia en este mismo mes.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y cuando Jehová te hubiere metido en la tierra del Cananeo, y del Hetheo, y del Amorrheo, y del Hebeo, y del Jebuseo, la cual juró á tus padres que te daría, tierra que destila leche y miel, harás este servicio en aqueste mes.
And when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites — the land He swore to your fathers that He would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey — you shall keep this service in this month.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse anticipates Israel's future entry into Canaan, describing the land promised to the ancestors through the sequence of its five/six inhabiting peoples, characterized as "flowing with milk and honey." It concludes with a command that, upon arrival, the addressee must perform "this service" in "this month."
Key words
- ve.ha.Yah ("it will be", H1961) — vav-consecutive perfect; converts a completed-action form into future sequence, opening the temporal clause ("and it shall be, when...").
- ye.vi.'a.kha ("he will bring you", H0935P) — hiphil imperfect, causative: Yehovah is the causal agent who brings the addressee into the land, with the object suffix -kha ("you", H9031) attached directly to the verb.
- nish.Ba' ("he swore", H7650) — niphal perfect of the oath-verb, marking a completed prior action (the swearing to the ancestors) that grounds the present promise.
- za.Vat ("flowing of", H2100G) — qal participle in construct state; describes the land not with a finite verb but with an ongoing descriptive action, "flowing of milk and honey."
- 'a.vad.Ta ("you will serve", H5647H) — vav-consecutive perfect, second person; continues the narrative sequence begun by ve.ha.Yah, shifting from Yehovah's action (bringing in) to the addressee's required action (serving/performing).
What the text says
The verse opens with the sequential construction ve.ha.Yah... ki ("and it will be, when..."), a common Hebrew pattern for introducing a future temporal-conditional clause. The subject of the bringing-in is Yehovah (H3068G), acting causatively via the hiphil ye.vi.'a.kha, with the destination marked by 'el ("into", H0413) followed by a chain of construct/apposition phrases naming five peoples, each preceded by the definite article and joined by the conjunction ve-, giving the land its identity by listing its inhabitants rather than through geography.
The relative clause 'asher nish.Ba' la.'avo.Tei.kha ("which he swore to your fathers") uses a niphal perfect to anchor the promise in a completed past event, followed by the infinitive La.tet ("to give", H5414G) expressing the content of the oath. The land is then redescribed, no longer via the peoples but via the participial phrase za.Vat cha.Lav u.de.Vash ("flowing of milk and honey"), a construct phrase functioning adjectivally.
The final clause resumes the narrative vav-sequence with ve.'avad.Ta, syntactically parallel to ve.ha.Yah at the verse's opening — both are converted perfects continuing a single chain — linking Yehovah's future action (bringing in) directly to the addressee's resulting obligation (serving), specified by the demonstrative phrases ha.'avo.Dah ha.Zot ("this service") and ba.Cho.desh ha.Zeh ("in this month").
Differences between versions
The Hebrew lists five peoples (Canaanite, Hittite, Amorite, Hivite, Jebusite). The LXX text given lists six terms, including Φερεζαίων ("Perizzites"), not present in this Hebrew list, and appears to repeat an Amorite term (Αμορραίων... Ἀμορραίων). The LXX also renders Yehovah (H3068G) as "κύριος ὁ θεός σου" ("the Lord your God"), adding a possessive/divine-title element not explicit in the Hebrew's bare divine name. The Vulgate renders ha.'avo.Dah ha.Zot ("this service") as "hunc morem sacrorum" ("this rite of sacred things"), an interpretive expansion beyond the Hebrew noun 'avo.Dah ("service", H5656G).
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.