Leviticus 24:22

Summary

The verse establishes that a single legal standard applies equally to the ger ("sojourner", H1616) and the ezrach ("native-born", H0249). This universal application of law is grounded in the closing formula identifying Yehovah as the God of the addressees.

Key words

• mishpat ("judgment", H4941) — masculine singular construct noun, here paired with 'echad to form "one judgment/law," the legal norm being declared.
• 'echad ("one", H0259) — cardinal number modifying mishpat, emphasizing singularity/uniformity of the legal standard.
• yihyeh ("it will be/belong", H1961) — qal imperfect, appearing twice in the verse (once with lakhem, once absolute), expressing durative or future application of the law.
• ger ("sojourner", H1616) — masculine singular noun preceded by comparative ka ("as the"), designating the non-native resident.
• ezrach ("native-born", H0249) — masculine singular noun likewise preceded by ka, designating the native inhabitant, paired structurally with ger.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence divides into two clauses joined by the causal particle ki ("for", H3588A). The first clause, mishpat 'echad yihyeh lakhem, states "one judgment will belong to you," using the qal imperfect yihyeh to indicate an ongoing or future state rather than a single event. The second clause repeats yihyeh independently — ka.Ger ka.'ezrach yihyeh — literally "as the sojourner, as the native-born, it will be," using the comparative preposition ka (H9004) twice to place ger and ezrach in parallel syntactic position. This doubling of yihyeh creates a structure where the law's application "to you" (lakhem) is first stated, then reinforced by a second declaration that binds sojourner and native under identical terms.

The final clause, ki 'ani Yehovah 'elohei-khem ("for I [am] Yehovah, God of you"), uses the independent pronoun 'ani (H0589) for emphasis, alongside 'elohei (H0430G), a masculine plural construct noun functioning as singular "God," bound to the second-person plural suffix -khem (H9026).

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the doubled Hebrew structure (lakhem... ka.Ger ka.'ezrach... yihyeh) as a single clause, δικαίωσις μία ἔσται τῷ προσηλύτῳ καὶ τῷ ἐνχωρίῳ ("one judgment will be for the sojourner and for the native"), collapsing the two Hebrew yihyeh occurrences into one Greek verb and shifting ger/ezrach from comparative datives with ka into direct dative objects.

The Vulgate adds sive peregrinus, sive civis peccaverit ("whether foreigner or citizen has sinned"), a phrase with no corresponding Hebrew term in this verse, introducing the notion of sinning that is absent from the Hebrew mishpat 'echad formula itself.