Leviticus 25:18
וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֶת־חֻקֹּתַי וְאֶת־מִשְׁפָּטַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם וִֽישַׁבְתֶּם עַל־הָאָרֶץ לָבֶֽטַח׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
Tap a word to see its entry
✦ The same verse in five languages
וַעֲשִׂיתֶם֙ אֶת־חֻקֹּתַ֔י וְאֶת־מִשְׁפָּטַ֥י תִּשְׁמְר֖וּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֣ם אֹתָ֑ם וִֽישַׁבְתֶּ֥ם עַל־הָאָ֖רֶץ לָבֶֽטַח׃
Καὶ ποιήσετε πάντα τὰ δικαιώματά μου καὶ πάσας τὰς κρίσεις μου, καὶ φυλάξασθε καὶ ποιήσετε αὐτά, καὶ κατοικήσετε πεποιθότες·
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Facite præcepta mea, et judicia custodite, et implete ea: ut habitare possitis in terra absque ullo pavore,
“‘Por lo tanto, pongan en práctica mis reglamentos y cumplan mis leyes. Así vivirán seguros en su tierra.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Ejecutad, pues, mis estatutos, y guardad mis derechos, y ponedlos por obra, y habitaréis en la tierra seguros;
You are to keep My statutes and carefully observe My judgments, so that you may dwell securely in the land.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse instructs the addressees to do God's statutes and keep his judgments, to do them, and as a result to dwell on the land in security. The Hebrew presents a chain of four sequential verbs culminating in the promise of secure dwelling.
Key words
- chu.ko.Tai ("statutes", H2708) — feminine plural construct with 1st-person suffix "my," referring to a set of fixed decrees belonging to the speaker.
- mish.pa.Tai ("judgments", H4941G) — masculine plural construct with 1st-person suffix "my," paired with chu.ko.Tai as a standard word-pair for legal/ethical norms.
- tish.me.Ru ("you will keep", H8104G) — qal imperfect, denoting ongoing or habitual observance, distinct from the perfect verbs surrounding it.
- 'a.si.Tem ("you will do", H6213A) — qal sequential perfect, appearing twice (once for the statutes/judgments generally, once for "them" specifically), marking successive stages of action in the narrative chain.
- la.Ve.tach ("in security", H0983) — noun with prefixed preposition la ("to/in"), expressing the manner or state of dwelling, not a separate verb.
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence is built as a sequence of four verbs joined by the narrative vav (H9001): 'a.si.Tem ("you will do"), tish.me.Ru ("you will keep"), 'a.si.Tem again ("you will do"), and yashavtem ("you will dwell"). The first 'a.si.Tem governs the compound object chu.ko.Tai and mish.pa.Tai ("my statutes and my judgments"), each marked by the object particle 'et (H0853) and linked by ve ("and"). Between the two occurrences of 'a.si.Tem, the verb tish.me.Ru is inserted, creating a structure where "doing" surrounds "keeping" the same referents, before 'a.si.Tem recurs with the pronominal object 'otam ("them", H0853+H9038), summarizing the previous statutes and judgments.
The final clause, introduced by vi.shavtem ("and you will dwell"), uses a sequential perfect as well, placing the dwelling as the last link in the chain of four actions. The phrase 'al-ha-'aretz ("on the land") specifies location, and la.Ve.tach describes the manner of that dwelling — not through a verb of trusting, but through a noun denoting the state of security, attached by the preposition la.
Differences between versions
The LXX inserts πάντα ("all") before "statutes" and πάσας ("all") before "judgments," terms with no equivalent in the Hebrew text as given. The LXX also renders the final state with the participle πεποιθότες ("having been confident/trusting"), which reflects a verbal notion of trust, whereas the Hebrew la.Ve.tach is a nominal expression of "security." The Vulgate's absque ullo pavore ("without any fear") conveys the same general sense of safety but phrases it negatively (absence of fear) rather than the Hebrew's positive noun "security."
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.