Exodus 23:32

Summary

Exodus 23:32 prohibits making a covenant (berit, "a covenant", H1285) with the inhabitants of the land and with their gods. The verse is built as a single negated verbal clause with two prepositional objects joined by "and."

Key words

• tikhRot ("you must make", H3772H) — qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular; literally "you shall cut." The verb karat combined with berit forms the standard idiom for making a covenant, referring to the physical act of "cutting" involved in ancient covenant ceremonies.
• lo' ("not", H3808) — simple negation preceding the verb, marking a prohibition rather than a simple negative statement.
• laHem ("to them", H9005+H9038) — preposition le with 3rd person masculine plural suffix, marking the first indirect object of the verb.
• veleloheiHem ("and to their gods", H9002+H9005+H0430J+H9028) — conjunction ve plus preposition le attached to elohei ("gods of", construct plural) with the suffix "their," forming the second indirect object.
• berit ("a covenant", H1285) — feminine singular noun, the direct object of the verb, placed at the very end of the clause.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence has the verb tikhRot near the front, immediately after the negation lo', while its object berit appears only at the end of the verse. Between them stand the two prepositional phrases laHem ("to/with them") and veleloheiHem ("and to/with their gods"), both governed by the preposition le. This word order means the verb and its object frame the sentence, with the two recipients of the prohibited covenant placed in the middle. The construction karat berit (verb + noun) is a fixed idiom in Biblical Hebrew for "to make a covenant," and here it is negated as a single prohibition covering both objects — the peoples and their gods — through one verb rather than two separate statements.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint uses συνθήσῃ ("you shall establish/put together") with διαθήκην ("covenant") governing both αὐτοῖς ("to them") and τοῖς θεοῖς αὐτῶν ("to their gods") in a single clause, paralleling the Hebrew's one-verb structure. The Vulgate, however, splits the Hebrew's single clause into two coordinate clauses: "Non inibis cum eis foedus, nec cum diis eorum" — the first clause states the prohibition with "foedus" ("covenant") explicit, and the second clause "nec cum diis eorum" ("nor with their gods") omits the noun "foedus," leaving it implied rather than repeated, unlike the Hebrew where berit stands once at the end covering both prepositional objects.