Genesis 34:10

Summary

Hamor invites Jacob's family to settle among his people, offering free access to the land for dwelling, trade, and acquiring property. The verse consists of four short clauses, moving from a permissive statement to a series of direct commands.

Key words

• teShevu ("you will dwell", H3427) — qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural; here functioning less as a strict future and more as a permissive statement ("you may dwell/settle").
• tihyeh ("it will be", H1961) — qal imperfect, 3rd feminine singular, referring back to ha'aretz ("the land", H0776G); forms the idiom with lifneikhem.
• lifneikhem — the noun fenei ("before", H6440G) in construct with the suffix -khem ("your", H9026), producing the idiom "before your face," i.e., at your disposal or open to you.
• sechru ("go about in / trade", H5503) — qal imperative, 2nd masculine plural, with the object suffix -ha ("her/it", H9034) attached, directly commanding commercial activity "in it" (the land).
• he'achazu ("have possessions", H0270) — niphal imperative, 2nd masculine plural; the niphal stem gives a reflexive/passive nuance, "cause yourselves to be held/rooted" — i.e., establish landholding for yourselves, rather than a simple active "take."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain of four short clauses without heavy subordination. The first two — ve'ittanu teshevu ("and with us you will dwell") and veha'aretz tihyeh lifneikhem ("and the land will be before your face") — use imperfect verb forms, which can carry a permissive or promissory sense rather than a flat future prediction; together they announce a general condition of openness. The following three imperatives — shevu ("dwell"), sechru ("trade in it"), he'achazu ("acquire holdings in it") — shift from description to direct command, listing in sequence the activities Hamor authorizes: residence, commerce, and land tenure. The niphal form of he'achazu is notable: rather than an active "seize" or "take," it frames the acquisition of property as something that happens to the subject, softening the directness of the invitation to landholding.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew idiom tihyeh lifneikhem ("will be before your face") is rendered by the LXX as ἡ γῆ πλατεῖα ἐναντίον ὑμῶν ("the land is broad/wide before you"), adding the adjective "broad" (πλατεῖα) and the interjection ἰδοὺ ("behold"), neither present in the Hebrew clause. The Vulgate instead renders the same idiom as terra in potestate vestra est ("the land is in your power"), interpreting "before your face" as a statement of control or authority rather than mere availability. Both versions thus reformulate the spatial Hebrew idiom into more explicit statements (breadth, or power) not literally present in the Masoretic wording.