Leviticus 23:42

Summary

The verse instructs that all Israelites, specifically those native-born, are to dwell in booths for a period of seven days. The instruction is stated twice, first as a direct command and then as a description applying to "every native-born" person in Israel.

Key words

• su.Kot ("booths", H5521) — feminine plural noun, appearing twice, framing the command at both the start and end of the verse.
• te.she.Vu ("you will dwell", H3427) — qal imperfect, second person masculine plural, expressing an ongoing or future action directed at the addressed group ("you all").
• shiv.'At ("seven", H7651) — cardinal number in construct form, linking to ya.Mim ("days", H3117G) to specify the duration.
• 'ez.Rach ("native-born", H0249) — masculine singular noun, marked by the definite article ha ("the", H9009) and the construct kol ("every", H3605), producing "every the native-born" — a phrase specifying the class of people addressed.
• ye.she.Vu ("they will dwell", H3427) — qal imperfect, third person masculine plural, the same root as te.she.Vu but shifting from second to third person.

What the text says

The verse divides into two parallel clauses, both built around the root yashab ("to dwell", H3427) in the qal imperfect. The first clause, ba-sukkot teshevu shiv'at yamim ("in the booths you will dwell, seven days"), uses second person plural, addressing the audience directly. The second clause, kol-ha'ezrach be-yisra'el yeshevu ba-sukkot ("every the native-born in Israel, they will dwell in the booths"), shifts to third person plural, but the antecedent is the singular noun 'ezrach ("native-born", H0249) governed by kol ("every", H3605). This grammatical construction — a singular noun governed by kol but paired with a plural verb (yeshevu) — treats "every native-born" as a collective group, and the shift from second to third person moves from direct address to a general description of a class.

The number phrase shiv'at yamim ("seven of days") uses the construct form of shiv'at ("seven", H7651) to bind the number to the following plural noun yamim ("days", H3117G), a standard construction for specifying quantities in Biblical Hebrew.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'ezrach ("native-born", H0249) with autochthōn ("one sprung from the land itself"), a Greek term for indigenous origin, while the Vulgate uses qui de genere est Israël ("who is of the lineage of Israel"), shifting the emphasis from land-origin to genealogical descent. The Hebrew term itself denotes a native or one rooted in the land, without specifying whether by birth or lineage, so these renderings represent two different ways of interpreting the same underlying term.