Leviticus 19:24

Summary

The verse specifies that in the fourth year of a tree's growth, all its fruit is designated as qodesh ("a holy thing", H6944) consisting of hilulim ("praise offerings", H1974) dedicated to Yehovah ("Yehovah", H3068G). The clause structures this as a state of being rather than an action performed on the fruit.

Key words

• yihyeh ("it will be", H1961) — Qal imperfect, third masculine singular; expresses future/ongoing state, functioning as the main verb of the clause with no separate action verb.
• pir.Y ("fruit", H6529) — masculine singular noun in construct state, paired with the suffix o ("its", H9023) to form "its fruit," the subject of the clause.
• Ko.desh ("a holy thing", H6944G) — masculine singular noun, standing as predicate nominative after yihyeh.
• hi.lu.Lim ("praise offerings", H1974) — masculine plural noun, appears immediately after qodesh without a stated grammatical link (no conjunction or preposition marked in the word-by-word data).
• re.vi.'It ("fourth", H7243) — feminine singular ordinal number, agreeing with shanah ("year", H8141) to specify the year in question.

What the text says

The clause opens with a temporal phrase, u-va-shanah ha-reviit ("and in the fourth year"), setting the time frame. The subject follows: kol-piryo ("all its fruit"), built as a construct chain (kol + piryo) meaning "all of its fruit." The verb yihyeh ("it will be") governs this subject and introduces a nominal predicate rather than describing an action—the fruit's identity or status changes, not something done to it.

The predicate itself consists of two nouns placed side by side: qodesh ("a holy thing") and hilulim ("praise offerings"). The word-by-word data does not mark these as a construct pair or connect them with a conjunction, so the Hebrew presents them as adjacent nouns in apposition, describing the fruit's classification. The clause closes with la-Yehovah ("to Yehovah"), a prepositional phrase indicating the recipient or reference point of this consecrated status.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint (LXXSWETE) renders the two Hebrew nouns qodesh and hilulim as two adjectives, hagios ("holy") and ainetos ("praiseworthy"), both modifying karpos ("fruit") directly—shifting the Hebrew's noun-based predicate into an adjectival description of the fruit itself.

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) uses a passive verb, sanctificabitur ("will be sanctified"), followed by the adjective laudabilis ("praiseworthy"), converting the Hebrew's stative "will be" + noun structure into an explicit passive action performed upon the fruit, with "praiseworthy" as a resulting quality.