Leviticus 25:43

Summary

The verse prohibits ruling over "him" (referring back to a fellow Hebrew in the surrounding context of Leviticus 25) with harshness, and instead commands fearing God. The sentence is structured as a negative prohibition followed by a positive counter-command joined by the narrative vav.

Key words

• tir.Deh ("you will rule", H7287A) — qal imperfect, second person masculine singular; the imperfect here carries prohibitive force when combined with the negation lo' ("not", H3808), producing a durative sense of "you shall not rule" rather than a single instance.
• Fa.rekh ("harshness", H6531) — masculine singular noun, functioning adverbially through the preposition be ("with", H9003) to describe the manner of ruling that is forbidden.
• ya.Re.ta ("you will fear", H3372H) — qal sequential perfect (vav-consecutive), second person masculine singular; this form continues the logical sequence begun by the prohibition, shifting from what must not be done to what must be done instead.
• 'e.lo.Hei.kha ("your God", H0430G + H9021) — masculine plural noun in construct state with the second person singular suffix; the plural form is grammatically fixed and does not indicate multiple deities, following standard Hebrew usage for this noun.

What the text says

The verse opens with the negation lo' ("not", H3808) directly attached to the verb tir.Deh ("you will rule", H7287A), an imperfect form that in this negated construction functions as a prohibition addressed to a singular "you." The object of this ruling is marked by the preposition be ("in/over", H9003) fused with a third-person masculine singular suffix, rendered "over him." The manner of the forbidden rule is specified by a second phrase using the same preposition be ("with", H9003) plus the noun Fa.rekh ("harshness", H6531), so the prohibition is not against ruling as such but against ruling accompanied by this particular quality.

The second half of the verse is connected by the vav prefixed to ya.Re.ta ("you will fear", H3372H). Grammatically this is a sequential perfect, a form that continues the flow of instruction from the prohibition into a positive command. The object of fearing is introduced by the preposition me ("from", H9006) followed by 'e.lo.Hei.kha ("your God", H0430G), a construct noun with pronominal suffix meaning "God of you." The preposition me here functions within the idiom "to fear from," which in Biblical Hebrew conveys the object of fear rather than physical distance.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'e.lo.Hei.kha ("your God") as κύριον τὸν θεόν σου ("the Lord your God"), adding the divine name κύριον not present as a separate lexical item in the Hebrew construct phrase. The Vulgate's per potentiam ("through power") for be.Fa.rekh ("with harshness") shifts the semantic field from harsh treatment toward power or force, differing slightly from the Hebrew's specific term for harsh, oppressive treatment.