Leviticus 20:24
וָאֹמַר לָכֶם אַתֶּם תִּֽירְשׁוּ אֶת־אַדְמָתָם וַאֲנִי אֶתְּנֶנָּה לָכֶם לָרֶשֶׁת אֹתָהּ אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבָשׁ אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר־הִבְדַּלְתִּי אֶתְכֶם מִן־הָֽעַמִּֽים׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וָאֹמַ֣ר לָכֶ֗ם אַתֶּם֮ תִּֽירְשׁ֣וּ אֶת־אַדְמָתָם֒ וַאֲנִ֞י אֶתְּנֶ֤נָּה לָכֶם֙ לָרֶ֣שֶׁת אֹתָ֔הּ אֶ֛רֶץ זָבַ֥ת חָלָ֖ב וּדְבָ֑שׁ אֲנִי֙ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם אֲשֶׁר־הִבְדַּ֥לְתִּי אֶתְכֶ֖ם מִן־הָֽעַמִּֽים׃
καὶ εἶπα ὑμῖν Ὑμεῖς κληρονομήσατε τὴν γῆν αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐγὼ δώσω ὑμῖν αὐτὴν ἐν κτήσει, γῆν ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι· ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν, ὃς διώρισα ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Vobis autem loquor. Possidete terram eorum, quam dabo vobis in hæreditatem, terram fluentem lacte et melle. Ego Dominus Deus vester, qui separavi vos a ceteris populis.
A ustedes les he dicho: “Ustedes tomarán posesión de la tierra de ellos. Yo se la daré a ustedes como herencia, una tierra donde abundan la leche y la miel”. Yo soy Yehová, su Dios, que los ha separado de las demás naciones.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Empero á vosotros os he dicho: Vosotros poseeréis la tierra de ellos, y yo os la daré para que la poseáis por heredad, tierra que fluye leche y miel: Yo Jehová vuestro Dios, que os he apartado de los pueblos.
But I have told you that you will inherit their land, since I will give it to you as an inheritance — a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the peoples.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Yehovah declares that he has said to the addressees that they will take possession of the land of the peoples mentioned earlier, that he himself will give them that land, described as flowing with milk and honey, and that he is Yehovah their God, who has separated them from the other peoples.
Key words
- tirshu ("you will take possession of", H3423) — qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural, expressing an ongoing or future action of taking the land.
- ettenennah ("I will give it", H5414) — qal imperfect, 1st person singular, with the pronominal suffix nah ("it/her") attached, marking Yehovah as the explicit agent of the giving.
- zavat ("flowing of", H2100) — qal participle feminine singular construct, describing the land in an ongoing state ("the one flowing"), linked to chalav ("milk", H2461) and devash ("honey", H1706).
- hivdalti ("I have separated", H0914) — hiphil (causative) perfect, 1st person singular, marking a completed causative action performed by Yehovah.
- 'elohei ("God of", H0430) construct with suffix khem ("your", H9036) — forms "your God," tying the divine name to the addressed group.
What the text says
The verse is built around two parallel first-person declarations by Yehovah, each introduced by an independent pronoun for emphasis: 'atem ("you", H0859D) before tirshu ("you will take possession of", H3423) and 'ani ("I", H0589) before ettenennah ("I will give it", H5414). This doubling of pronoun plus verb underlines a contrast between the addressees who will possess and Yehovah who gives. The object of possession, 'admatam ("their ground", H0127), refers back to the peoples mentioned in the wider passage; the direct object marker 'et (H0853) marks it grammatically without adding lexical content.
The phrase 'erets zavat chalav u-devash ("a land flowing of milk and honey") uses a participle, zavat (H2100), in construct with chalav (H2461) and devash (H1706), describing the land as continuously producing these goods rather than simply possessing them as a fixed quality.
The closing clause uses hivdalti ("I have separated", H0914), a hiphil perfect, indicating a completed causative act by Yehovah, followed by min ha-'amim ("from the peoples", H4480/H5971), specifying the group from which the addressees have been separated. The self-identification 'ani Yehovah 'elohekhem ("I am Yehovah your God") frames both the land-giving and the separation as actions attributed to the same speaker.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders lareshet 'otah ("to take possession of it") with the phrase ἐν κτήσει ("in possession/property"), a nominal rendering rather than the Hebrew infinitive construction la-reshet ("to take possession of", H3423). The Vulgate renders hivdalti ("I have separated") with separavi, and min ha-'amim ("from the peoples") with a ceteris populis ("from the other peoples"), adding the qualifier "other," which is not explicit in the Hebrew ha-'amim ("the peoples", H5971).
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.