Leviticus 17:13
וְאִישׁ אִישׁ מִבְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וּמִן־הַגֵּר הַגָּר בְּתוֹכָם אֲשֶׁר יָצוּד צֵיד חַיָּה אוֹ־עוֹף אֲשֶׁר יֵאָכֵל וְשָׁפַךְ אֶת־דָּמוֹ וְכִסָּהוּ בֶּעָפָֽר׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְאִ֨ישׁ אִ֜ישׁ מִבְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל וּמִן־הַגֵּר֙ הַגָּ֣ר בְּתוֹכָ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֨ר יָצ֜וּד צֵ֥יד חַיָּ֛ה אוֹ־ע֖וֹף אֲשֶׁ֣ר יֵאָכֵ֑ל וְשָׁפַךְ֙ אֶת־דָּמ֔וֹ וְכִסָּ֖הוּ בֶּעָפָֽר׃
καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἄνθρωπος τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ καὶ τῶν προσηλύτων τῶν προσκειμένων ἐν ὑμῖν ὃς ἂν θηρεύσῃ θήρευμα θηρίον ἢ πετεινὸν ὃ ἔσθεται, καὶ ἐκχεεῖ τὸ αἷμα καὶ καλύψει αὐτὸ τῇ γῇ.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Homo quicumque de filiis Israël, et de advenis qui peregrinantur apud vos, si venatione atque aucupio ceperit feram, vel avem, quibus vesci licitum est, fundat sanguinem ejus, et operiat illum terra.
“‘Cualquier israelita, o cualquier extranjero que viva entre ustedes, que cace un animal o un ave que esté permitido comer, deberá derramar su sangre y cubrirla con tierra.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y cualquier varón de los hijos de Israel, ó de los extranjeros que peregrinan entre ellos, que cogiere caza de animal ó de ave que sea de comer, derramará su sangre y cubrirála con tierra:
And if any Israelite or foreigner living among them hunts down a wild animal or bird that may be eaten, he must drain its blood and cover it with dirt.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Leviticus 17:13 establishes an obligation for both Israelites and resident sojourners: anyone who hunts a wild animal or bird permitted for food must pour out its blood and cover it with dust. The verse addresses two groups equally and prescribes a specific two-step action regarding the blood of hunted game.
Key words
- 'ish 'ish ("a person, a person", H0376G) — the doubling of the same noun creates a distributive sense, meaning "any person whatsoever" or "each and every person," rather than referring to two distinct individuals.
- ha-Gar ("the one who sojourns", H1481A) — a qal participle used substantively; participles in Hebrew often function as ongoing states or characteristics, here describing someone in the continuous condition of "sojourning."
- yatzud ("he will hunt", H6679A) — qal imperfect, marking future or habitual action: the condition that triggers the rest of the verse's instructions.
- shafakh ("he will pour out", H8210G) and khisa ("he will cover", H3680) — both are sequential perfects (vav-consecutive), a Hebrew construction where a perfect form following a vav continues the logical/temporal sequence begun by the imperfect yatzud. This chains the actions: hunting leads to pouring out blood, which leads to covering it.
What the text says
The verse opens with the distributive construction 'ish 'ish ("a person, a person," H0376G), immediately followed by two parallel prepositional phrases: mi-bnei Yisra'el ("from the people of Israel," H1121G construct) and min ha-ger ha-gar be-tokham ("from the sojourner who sojourns in their midst," H1616 with participle H1481A). This structure places native Israelites and resident foreigners under the same grammatical subject, joined by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002), indicating that the following instruction applies identically to both categories without distinction in verb form or obligation.
The conditional clause is built with the relative particle 'asher ("who/that", H0834A) plus the qal imperfect yatzud ("he will hunt," H6679A), establishing a hypothetical or recurring scenario. The object is tzeid chayah 'o 'of ("hunted game of an animal or a bird," H6718A construct chain), further qualified by a second 'asher clause with the niphal imperfect ye'akhel ("it will be eaten," H0398) — a passive form indicating the animal must be of an edible kind.
The consequence is expressed through two sequential perfects (vav-consecutive): shafakh ("he will pour out," H8210G) governing 'et damo ("its blood," H1818 with suffix), and khisahu ("he will cover it," H3680, piel form) governing be-'afar ("with dust," H6083). The piel stem of khisa carries an intensive nuance, "to cover thoroughly," distinguishing it from a simple qal action.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders he-gar ha-gar be-tokham ("the sojourner who sojourns in their midst") as τῶν προσηλύτων τῶν προσκειμένων ἐν ὑμῖν ("the proselytes who are attached among you"), using ὑμῖν ("you," second person) where the Hebrew tokham ("their midst," H8432 with third-person suffix H9028) uses third person. The Vulgate similarly shifts to second person with "apud vos" ("among you"), diverging from the Hebrew's third-person suffix.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.