Leviticus 20:2

וְאֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל תֹּאמַר אִישׁ אִישׁ מִבְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וּמִן־הַגֵּר׀ הַגָּר בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר יִתֵּן מִזַּרְעוֹ לַמֹּלֶךְ מוֹת יוּמָת עַם הָאָרֶץ יִרְגְּמֻהוּ בָאָֽבֶן׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וְאֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֘ל תֹּאמַר֒ אִ֣ישׁ אִישׁ֩ מִבְּנֵ֨י יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל וּמִן־הַגֵּ֣ר׀ הַגָּ֣ר בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל אֲשֶׁ֨ר יִתֵּ֧ן מִזַּרְע֛וֹ לַמֹּ֖לֶךְ מ֣וֹת יוּמָ֑ת עַ֥ם הָאָ֖רֶץ יִרְגְּמֻ֥הוּ בָאָֽבֶן׃

Greek (Septuagint)

Καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ λαλήσεις Ἐάν τις ἀπὸ τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ ἢ ἀπὸ τῶν γεγενημένων προσηλύτων ἐν Ἰσραὴλ ὃς ἂν δῷ τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτοῦ ἄρχοντι, θανάτῳ θανατούσθω· τὸ ἔθνος τὸ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς λιθοβολήσουσιν αὐτὸν ἐν λίθοις.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Hæc loqueris filiis Israël: Homo de filiis Israël, et de advenis qui habitant in Israël, si quis dederit de semine suo idolo Moloch, morte moriatur: populus terræ lapidabit eum.

Spanish

“Diles también a los israelitas: ‘Cualquier israelita, o cualquier extranjero que viva en Israel, que entregue a uno de sus hijos como sacrificio a Moloc, deberá ser condenado a muerte. El pueblo del país lo matará a pedradas.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Dirás asimismo á los hijos de Israel: Cualquier varón de los hijos de Israel, ó de los extranjeros que peregrinan en Israel, que diere de su simiente á Moloch, de seguro morirá: el pueblo de la tierra lo apedreará con piedras.

English

“Tell the Israelites, ‘ Any Israelite or foreigner living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech must be put to death. The people of the land are to stone him.

✦ What the text says

Summary

Leviticus 20:2 records a command that Moses is to relay to the Israelites: any person — whether native Israelite or resident foreigner — who gives offspring to Molech must be put to death, executed specifically by stoning at the hands of "the people of the land."

Key words

'ish 'ish ("a person, a person", H0376G, doubled) — the repetition of the singular noun functions distributively, meaning "any person whatsoever," covering every individual without exception.
ger ("sojourner", H1616) with the participle gar ("sojourns", H1481A) — a noun paired with a participle from the same root, literally "the sojourner who sojourns," specifying a foreigner in ongoing residence, not a mere visitor.
zar'o ("his offspring", H2233H + H9023) — a construct noun with possessive suffix, indicating that what is given belongs to the giver, i.e., his own descendant.
mot yumat ("certainly he will be put to death", H4191 + H4191) — an infinitive absolute paired with the finite verb of the same root (hophal, causative-passive), a grammatical construction that intensifies certainty: the death is not merely possible but assured.
yirgemuhu ("they will stone him", H7275) — qal imperfect third-person plural with pronominal suffix "him" (H9033), specifying both the collective subject (the people) and the singular object (the offender) in one verb form.

What the text says

The verse opens with a direct speech command: ve'el-benei Yisra'el tomar ("and to the people of Israel you will say", H0559), an imperfect verb indicating an instruction Moses is to carry out. The content of the speech begins with the distributive phrase 'ish 'ish, doubling the noun H0376G to express "each and every person," explicitly extended by mibbenei Yisra'el ("from the people of Israel") and umin-hager hagar beYisra'el ("and from the sojourner who sojourns in Israel") — covering both native and resident-foreigner categories under the same legal provision.

The condition is introduced by the relative particle 'asher ("who", H0834A) followed by yitten mizzar'o laMolekh ("he will give from his offspring to Molech"), using the preposition min (H9006) attached to zera' ("offspring", H2233H) to indicate "some of/any of" his descendants given to Molech.

The consequence uses the infinitive absolute construction mot yumat, doubling the root H4191 in two grammatical forms (infinitive absolute + hophal imperfect) to intensify the certainty of the death sentence. The final clause names the executing agents, 'am ha'aretz ("the people of the land", H5971A + H0776G), with the verb yirgemuhu specifying stoning as the method, reinforced by ba'aven ("with the stone[s]", H0068G).

Differences between versions

The LXX renders laMolekh ("to the Molech", H4432) as ἄρχοντι ("to the ruler"), a rendering that differs from the Hebrew's proper name/title Molekh, whereas the Vulgate keeps idolo Moloch ("to the idol Moloch"), preserving the proper name as in the Hebrew.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.