Leviticus 20:26

Summary

The verse commands the addressees to be holy because Yehovah is holy, and states that Yehovah has separated them from other peoples so that they belong to him. It combines a status declaration, a divine motive clause, and a statement of prior action with a resulting purpose.

Key words

• h.Yi.tem ("you will be", H1961) — qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural; continues the narrative sequence, expressing an ongoing state ("you shall be/become") rather than a single event.
• ke.do.Shim ("holy", H6918G) — adjective, masculine plural, agreeing with the plural subject "you"; describes the collective status being assigned.
• ka.Do.osh ("holy", H6918G) — same root adjective but masculine singular, applied to Yehovah; the singular/plural contrast between this word and ke.do.Shim marks the distinction between the one subject (Yehovah) and the many addressees.
• 'av.Dil ("I have separated", H0914) — hiphil (causative) verbal form, 1st person singular, narrative; the hiphil stem indicates that the subject actively causes the separation, rather than the separation happening by itself.
• h.Yot ("belong / to be", H1961) — qal infinitive, same root as h.Yi.tem; expresses purpose ("in order to belong"), linking the act of separation to its intended result.

What the text says

The verse opens with a narrative vav attached to h.Yi.tem, continuing a chain of instructions from what precedes. The sequential perfect here functions almost like a future/imperative in this legal-narrative context, projecting a state that is to hold: "and you will be... holy." The prepositional phrase li ("to me", built from H9005 + H9030) marks the relational directionality — holiness is defined in relation to Yehovah, not as an abstract quality.

The causal clause introduced by ki ("for/because", H3588A) gives the ground for the preceding statement: the plural adjective ke.do.Shim applied to the people is paired with the singular adjective ka.Do.osh applied to 'a.Ni Yehovah ("I, Yehovah"). The grammatical singular/plural pairing of the same root adjective visually and syntactically ties the people's status to Yehovah's own attribute, expressed through the personal pronoun 'a.Ni ("I", H0589) placed immediately before the name Yehovah, emphasizing the subject.

The second half shifts to another narrative vav plus 'av.Dil, a hiphil first-person form: Yehovah reports having caused separation of "you" (marked by the object marker 'et + suffix khem) min-ha'ammim ("from the peoples", H4480A + H5971A), using the preposition min to indicate the point of departure. The final infinitive clause lihyot li ("to belong to me", H1961 infinitive + H9005/H9030) repeats the li construction from the opening, forming an inclusio: the separation from peoples has as its stated purpose the same relational belonging announced at the start.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders Yehovah (H3068G) as κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν ("the Lord your God"), adding "your God" where the Hebrew has only the divine name. The LXX also renders ha'ammim ("the peoples", H5971A) as τῶν ἐθνῶν ("the nations"), and the Vulgate uses "ceteris populis" ("the other/remaining peoples"), adding the notion of "other/remaining" not explicit in the Hebrew ha'ammim.