Exodus 21:10

Summary

The verse states a legal condition: if a man takes another woman (in addition to one he already has), he must not diminish three specific provisions owed to her — her food, her clothing, and her marital right. The sentence is structured as a conditional clause followed by a prohibition.

Key words

• 'im ("if", H0518A) — introduces the conditional clause that frames the entire legal case.
• yiqqach ("he will take", H3947I) — qal imperfect, describing the future/hypothetical act of taking a wife; the subject "he" is embedded in the verb form.
• she'erah ("her food", H7607) — construct noun with 3rd person feminine singular suffix -ah ("her"), literally "food of her."
• 'onatah ("her right to intercourse", H5772) — construct noun with the same suffix pattern, denoting a specific marital obligation.
• yigra' ("he will reduce", H1639) — qal imperfect of the verb "to diminish," negated by lo' ("not", H3808), forming the prohibition.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence divides into two parts: a conditional clause ('im... yiqqach lo, "if he takes for himself") and a main clause containing the prohibition (lo' yigra', "he shall not reduce"). The object of the verb yigra' is a series of three nouns, each in construct form with the pronominal suffix -ah ("her"): she'erah ("her food"), kesutah ("her covering/clothing"), and 'onatah ("her right to intercourse"). This grammatical structure — three parallel construct nouns sharing the same suffix — creates a tight listing of obligations owed to "her," the first woman implied by the earlier context of the passage, though she is not named again in this verse; the referent is carried entirely by the suffix -ah.

The verb yigra' ("he will reduce", H1639) governs all three nouns at once, meaning the single negation lo' yigra' ("he shall not reduce") applies distributively to food, clothing, and the marital right. The Hebrew does not repeat "not" for each item; the syntax compresses three prohibitions into one negated verb with three objects.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders she'erah ("her food") as ta deonta ("the necessary things"), a broader term than the Hebrew's specific reference to food. The Vulgate diverges further: instead of listing "food, clothing, marital right," it speaks of "nuptias" ("wedding provisions/dowry") and "pretium pudicitiae" ("price of chastity"), which do not correspond directly to the Hebrew kesutah ("her clothing") or 'onatah ("her right to intercourse"). The Hebrew term 'onatah is rendered by the LXX as ten homilian autes ("her company/intercourse"), while the Vulgate's "pretium pudicitiae" introduces a different concept not present in the Hebrew construct noun itself.