Leviticus 20:4

Summary

Leviticus 20:4 addresses a hypothetical scenario in which the community ("the people of the land") deliberately looks away from a man who has given one of his offspring to Molech, instead of executing him as required. The verse describes the community's potential failure to act, setting up the divine response that follows in verse 5.

Key words

• ha'.Lem ("certainly hide", H5956) — hiphil absolute infinitive; placed before the finite verb to intensify the action, emphasizing the deliberateness of the concealment.
• ya'.li.Mu ("they will hide", H5956) — hiphil imperfect, same root as above; the paired construction (infinitive + imperfect) is a common Hebrew intensifying pattern, here rendered by the doubled root "hide, they hide."
• 'ei.nei.Hem ("their eyes", H5869A + H9028) — feminine dual noun in construct with a possessive suffix; the idiom "hide the eyes from" denotes willful avoidance or refusal to see/act.
• bilTi ("not", H1115) — a noun functioning here as a negating particle before the infinitive, forming the purpose clause "so as not to put him to death."
• ha.Mit ("to put to death", H4191) — hiphil infinitive of the causative root, denoting the act of causing death, i.e., executing the death penalty.

What the text says

The verse opens with the conditional particle 'Im ("if", H0518A), introducing a hypothetical situation. The core of the sentence is built on the intensifying construction ha'.Lem yaʿlimu — an infinitive absolute followed by the finite hiphil imperfect of the same root H5956 ("to hide/conceal"). This doubling pattern in Biblical Hebrew grammar underscores the certainty or deliberateness of an action; here it stresses that the concealment is intentional and thorough, not accidental.

The subject is 'am ha'Aretz ("the people of the land"), a construct phrase functioning as a collective noun. The object of their concealment is expressed idiomatically: they hide "their eyes" ('eineihem) "from" (min-) the man in question, meaning they avert attention or refuse to take notice of his action.

The circumstances of the man's offense are given in a temporal clause introduced by be. ("when") plus the infinitive ti.T ("gives") — "when he gives... of his offspring to Molech." The final clause uses le.vilTi ("so as not to") plus the infinitive ha.Mit ("to put to death"), stating the outcome of the people's concealment: failure to execute the prescribed penalty.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'am ha'Aretz ("people of the land") as hoi autochthones tēs gēs ("the natives of the land"), a more specific ethnic term than the Hebrew construct phrase. Where the Hebrew has la.Molekh ("to Molech", a proper name), the LXX reads archonti ("to a ruler/prince"), differing from the Hebrew's specific reference to the deity name. The Vulgate's imperium meum ("my command/authority") introduces an interpretive phrase not present in the Hebrew's 'eineihem ("their eyes"), reframing the idiom of averted eyes as neglect of divine command.