Leviticus 23:29

Summary

The verse establishes a conditional consequence: any person (nefesh, H5315I) who does not humble/afflict themselves "on the substance/bone of this day" will be cut off from their kinspeople. The syntax links a negated passive verb to a severe social-religious penalty expressed through the niphal of karat ("to cut off", H3772I).

Key words

• nefesh ("person/soul", H5315I) — feminine singular noun, the grammatical subject; the verse addresses any individual person, not a collective.
• te'unneh ("she will be humbled/afflicted", H6031B) — pual (intensive passive) imperfect, third feminine singular, agreeing with nefesh. The pual stem indicates the action is done to the subject, not by their own initiative in a strict sense, though it is often rendered reflexively.
• 'etzem ("substance/bone of", H6106H) — feminine singular construct, here used idiomatically with "the day" to intensify the exact point of the day itself.
• nikhretah ("she will be cut off", H3772I) — niphal (passive/reflexive) sequential perfect, third feminine singular, continuing the syntactic chain from the imperfect verb via the narrative vav (H9001).
• 'ammeyha ("her kinspeople", H5971B + H9024) — masculine plural construct with third feminine singular suffix referring back to nefesh; the person is severed from "her" own people group.

What the text says

The verse opens with the conditional particle ki (H3588A), introducing a legal-style protasis: "if any nefesh who lo-te'unneh..." The negation lo (H3808) plus the pual imperfect te'unneh creates a negated passive condition — the person does not undergo the humbling/affliction. The phrase be'etzem hayyom hazzeh ("on the substance of this day, H6106H + H3117G + H2088) uses 'etzem not in its literal sense of "bone" but idiomatically to mark the precise day, an emphatic temporal construction.

The apodosis begins with the vav-conjunction (H9001) attached to nikhretah, a niphal sequential perfect that grammatically continues the imperfect condition, producing a consequence: "and she will be cut off." The niphal stem here expresses a passive result — the person is acted upon (cut off) rather than performing the cutting. The final phrase me'ammeyha (H9006 + H5971B + H9024) specifies the source of separation: "from her kinspeople," using a plural construct noun with a feminine singular suffix, maintaining grammatical agreement with nefesh throughout the verse.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders te'unneh with tapeinōthēsetai ("will be humbled"), a passive verb corresponding closely to the Hebrew pual. The Vulgate uses afflicta... fuerit ("will have been afflicted"), also passive. The Spanish SBLIBRE translates with "ayune" ("fasts"), introducing a specific ritual action (fasting) not explicitly present in the Hebrew te'unneh ("will be humbled/afflicted"), which is more general in semantic range than "fasting."