Leviticus 24:10

Summary

The verse introduces a man who is described as "son of" an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father, who went out among the Israelites. A conflict then breaks out in the camp between this man (identified by his mother's ethnicity) and an Israelite man.

Key words

• yetze ("he went out", H3318G) — qal narrative verb form, marking the opening action of the episode.
• ben ("son of", H1121A) — construct noun, used twice to define the man by parentage: son of an Israelite woman, son of an Egyptian man.
• yisre'elit ("Israelite", H3481H) — feminine gentilic used for the mother; the same root appears later as a masculine construct form (ha-yisre'eli) to describe "the Israelite man."
• yinnatzu ("they struggled together", H5327A) — niphal narrative verb, denoting mutual/reciprocal action ("they struggled with each other") rather than a one-sided act.
• be-tokh ("among", H8432) — construct noun functioning as a preposition, placing the action spatially "in the midst of the sons of Israel."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence structure identifies the man twice through parental descent before naming any action he takes: he is ben-ishah yisre'elit ("son of a woman, an Israelite", H1121A + H0802G + H3481H) and ben-ish mitzri ("son of a man, an Egyptian", H1121A + H0376G + H4713). This double construct phrasing places the ethnic identity of both parents in the foreground, syntactically prior to the narrative verbs describing his actions. The independent pronoun hu ("he", H1931) reinforces the parallel structure between the two parentage clauses.

The second half of the verse repeats the identification pattern but shifts syntax: instead of naming the man directly, it uses ben ha-yisre'elit ("the son of the Israelite [woman]", H1121A + H3481H construct with article) opposite ish ha-yisre'eli ("the man, the Israelite", H0376G + H3481H). Here the same root yisre'elit/yisre'eli (H3481H) appears both as an epithet for the mother (feminine form) and as an epithet for the opposing man (masculine form), a wordplay visible only in Hebrew: the conflict is framed as being between "the son of the Israelite woman" and "the Israelite man," using cognate terms for both parties despite their different status implied by the parentage clause.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) adds interpretive material not present in the Hebrew word list: quem pepererat ("whom she had borne"), making explicit a birth-relationship that the Hebrew states only through the construct chain ben-ishah. The LXX (LXXSWETE) renders the final clause with ho ek tēs Israēleitidos ("the one from the Israelite woman") rather than repeating "son," compressing the Hebrew's parallel ben ha-yisre'elit / ish ha-yisre'eli construction into a slightly different asymmetrical phrasing.