Leviticus 18:27

Summary

Leviticus 18:27 states that the people who inhabited the land before the addressees committed all "these abominations," and as a result the land became defiled. The verse functions as a causal explanation (introduced by ki) for a statement made earlier in the chapter.

Key words

• ki ("for", H3588A) — a subordinating particle introducing the reason/cause for what precedes; often translated "for" or "because."
• to'eVot ("abominations", H8441) — feminine plural noun, referring to the practices just enumerated in the chapter; the plural form indicates multiple distinct acts.
• 'anshei- ("men of / people of", H0582) — masculine plural construct form, meaning it must be followed by another noun ("men of [the land]") rather than standing alone.
• litzen tikMa' — specifically tit.Ma' ("it became unclean", H2930A) — qal narrative verb form, third person feminine singular, referring back to ha'Aretz ("the land"); the narrative vav (va-) links this clause sequentially to what came before ("...and then the land became unclean").
• 'a.Sher ("who/that", H0834A) — relative particle connecting "the men of the land" to the following phrase describing their temporal position ("who were before you").

What the text says

The verse opens with the particle ki (H3588A), which here functions causally, explaining the reasoning behind a preceding prohibition or warning. The direct object marker 'et (H0853) signals that "all the abominations" is the object of the verb 'a.Su ("they did", H6213A), a qal perfect form indicating a completed action attributed to "the men of the land" ('anshei-ha'Aretz).

The construct chain 'anshei-ha'Aretz ("men of the land") is further specified by the relative clause 'a.Sher lifneiChem ("who were before you"), using the preposition li (H9005) attached to fnei ("face/before", H6440G) plus the second-person plural suffix -Khem ("you"). This construction locates the subjects temporally/spatially relative to the addressees, rather than using a separate temporal adverb.

The final clause shifts to narrative sequence via the vav-consecutive on tit.Ma' ("it became unclean", H2930A), a qal verb agreeing in gender (feminine) with its subject ha'Aretz ("the land"). This grammatical construction presents the land's defilement as a direct narrative consequence of the abominations just described, rather than as a separate independent statement.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew to'eVot ("abominations", H8441) is rendered in the LXX simply as ταῦτα ("these things"), without a direct lexical equivalent for "abominations" in that specific clause (though πάντα... τὰ ταῦτα mirrors "all these"). The Vulgate uses execrationes ("execrations/cursed things"), a stronger term than the more neutral Greek phrasing. The Hebrew construct 'anshei-ha'Aretz ("men of the land") appears in the Vulgate as accolæ terræ ("inhabitants of the land"), a term emphasizing residency rather than the more generic "men" of the Hebrew and Greek (οἱ ἄνθρωποι τῆς γῆς).