Exodus 21:33

Summary

The verse presents a legal case in two parallel conditions: a man who yiftach ("he will open", H6605A) a bor ("a pit", H0953A), or one who yikhreh ("he will dig", H3738B) a pit, and fails to cover it, so that an ox or a donkey falls into it. The Hebrew sets up the circumstances (opening/digging a pit, not covering it) that lead to the animal's fall.

Key words

• yiftach ("he will open", H6605A) — qal imperfect, third person masculine singular, introducing the first possible cause of the case (opening a pit).
• bor ("a pit", H0953A) — masculine singular noun, the object acted upon, repeated with slightly different vocalization (Bor/bor) across the two clauses.
• yekhassennu ("he will cover it", H3680 + H9033) — piel imperfect with third person masculine singular suffix ("it"); the piel stem marks a deliberate, effortful action (covering), and the negation lo' ("not", H3808) preceding it makes this the omission that creates liability.
• venafal ("and it will fall", H5307G) — qal sequential perfect (vav-consecutive), continuing the narrative sequence after the conditional setup; this form links the outcome (the animal's fall) grammatically to the preceding conditions.
• shammah ("there", H8033G + H9011) — adverb with directional he suffix, meaning "into it/thither," specifying the destination of the fall relative to the pit already mentioned.

What the text says

The sentence structure uses two parallel conditional clauses introduced by khi ("if", H3588A) and ki ("for/if", H3588A), each governing a verb of qal imperfect form: yiftach ("he will open") and yikhreh ("he will dig"). Both clauses share the same subject, 'ish ("anyone", H0376I) and the same object, bor/bor ("a pit", H0953A), suggesting two ways the case may arise — opening an existing pit or digging a new one. These conditions are joined by 'o ("or", H0176A).

The negated piel verb ve-lo' yekhassennu ("and he will not cover it") shifts the grammatical construction from imperfect conditional clauses to a stated omission, marking the point of failure. The narrative then shifts to a vav-consecutive (sequential) perfect form, venafal ("and it will fall"), which in Biblical Hebrew narrative syntax indicates the resulting event following the stated conditions, rather than a separate hypothetical. The directional he on shammah ("there/into it") ties the falling action spatially back to the pit already introduced. The final clause names the animals affected, shor ("an ox", H7794) 'o chamor ("or a donkey", H2543), joined again by 'o ("or").

Differences between versions

The Vulgate text explicitly names the object as cisternam ("cistern") for the opening and treats "foderit" (digging) as a separate clause without repeating the object, differing from the Hebrew's repetition of bor ("pit") in both clauses. The provided LXX text ("Ἐὰν δέ τις ἀνοίξῃ ἢ ὄνος") appears fragmentary relative to the Hebrew, omitting the digging clause, the covering clause, and the falling clause, retaining only the opening condition and the mention of a donkey.