Exodus 22:26

Summary

Exodus 22:26 establishes a conditional case: if someone takes a neighbor's cloak as a pledge (collateral for a loan), that cloak must be returned before the sun goes down. The verse uses an emphatic Hebrew construction to underline the certainty of the action of taking the pledge, followed by a time-bound obligation to return it.

Key words

• chaVol ("certainly [to] take as pledge", H2254A) — infinitive absolute preceding the finite verb; this doubling construction intensifies or confirms the verbal action, here rendered in English versions simply as "if you take."
• tachBol ("you will take as pledge", H2254A) — qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular; paired with the infinitive absolute above, together forming the emphatic "if you indeed take as pledge."
• salMat ("cloak of", H8008) — feminine singular noun in construct state, meaning it must be joined to the following noun ("cloak of...").
• re'E ("neighbor", H7453) + kha ("your", H9021) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, completing the construct chain: "the cloak of your neighbor."
• teshiVe ("you will return", H7725G) — hiphil (causative) imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular, from a root meaning "to turn back/return," here causative: "cause it to return" = "give it back."

What the text says

The verse opens with the conditional particle 'im ("if", H0518A) governing the emphatic construction chaVol tachBol — an infinitive absolute followed by the same verb in the imperfect. This doubling is a common Hebrew device to stress that the action, if it occurs, is real and certain; it does not add a second nuance of meaning but reinforces the verb "to take as pledge." The object taken is specified through a construct chain: salMat re'ekha, "the cloak of your neighbor," where salMat ("cloak of") cannot stand alone grammatically but requires the following noun to complete its sense.

The time limit is expressed with 'ad ("until", H5704) plus the infinitive bo' ("to come/enter", H0935G) governing hashemesh ("the sun", H8121): literally "until the coming of the sun," an idiom for sunset. The final clause uses the causative (hiphil) imperfect teshiVenu ("you will return it") with the pronominal suffix nu ("it") attached, followed by lo ("to him") — a doubled reference to the recipient (object suffix "it" plus separate "to him"), which is typical of Hebrew syntax when specifying both what is returned and to whom.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew phrase 'ad bo' hashemesh ("until the sun's coming/entering") is rendered by the LXX as πρὸ δυσμῶν ἡλίου ("before the setting of the sun") and by the Vulgate as ante solis occasum ("before the sunset"). Both Greek and Latin versions specify "before" the sunset, while the Hebrew construction speaks of a point "until" the sun's arrival (at evening), a slightly different temporal framing of the same practical deadline.