Leviticus 25:46
וְהִתְנַחֲלְתֶּם אֹתָם לִבְנֵיכֶם אַחֲרֵיכֶם לָרֶשֶׁת אֲחֻזָּה לְעֹלָם בָּהֶם תַּעֲבֹדוּ וּבְאַחֵיכֶם בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל אִישׁ בְּאָחִיו לֹא־תִרְדֶּה בוֹ בְּפָֽרֶךְ׃ ס
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְהִתְנַחֲלְתֶּ֨ם אֹתָ֜ם לִבְנֵיכֶ֤ם אַחֲרֵיכֶם֙ לָרֶ֣שֶׁת אֲחֻזָּ֔ה לְעֹלָ֖ם בָּהֶ֣ם תַּעֲבֹ֑דוּ וּבְאַ֨חֵיכֶ֤ם בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ אִ֣ישׁ בְּאָחִ֔יו לֹא־תִרְדֶּ֥ה ב֖וֹ בְּפָֽרֶךְ׃ ס
καὶ καταμεριεῖτε αὐτοὺς τοῖς τέκνοις ὑμῶν μεθ’ ὑμᾶς, καὶ ἔσονται ὑμῖν κατόχιμοι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα· τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὑμῶν τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ, ἕκαστος τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ οὐ κατατενεῖ αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς μόχθοις.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
et hæreditario jure transmittetis ad posteros, ac possidebitis in æternum: fratres autem vestros filios Israël ne opprimatis per potentiam.
Podrán dejarlos como herencia para sus hijos, y serán sus esclavos para siempre. Pero ninguno de ustedes deberá tratar con dureza a sus compatriotas israelitas.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y los poseeréis por juro de heredad para vuestros hijos después de vosotros, como posesión hereditaria; para siempre os serviréis de ellos; empero en vuestros hermanos los hijos de Israel, no os enseñorearéis cada uno sobre su hermano con dureza.
You may leave them to your sons after you to inherit as property; you can make them slaves for life. But as for your brothers, the Israelites, no man may rule harshly over his brother. Redemption of Servants
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse instructs that foreign slaves may be passed on as an inheritance to one's sons to be possessed permanently, with continuous labor drawn from them. It then contrasts this with fellow Israelites, over whom no one is to exercise dominion with harshness.
Key words
- hitnachaltem ("you will give as an inheritance", H5157) — hithpael sequential perfect; the hithpael stem often carries reflexive or self-benefiting nuance, here meaning "cause [them] to become an inheritance for yourselves."
- le'olam ("forever", H5769G) — noun functioning adverbially, marking the permanence of the possession being described.
- ta'avodu ("you will labor [them]", H5647G) — qal imperfect, denoting ongoing or repeated future action, distinct from a completed act.
- tirdeh ("you will rule", H7287A) — qal imperfect, second person singular (shifting from the plural "you all" used earlier), directed at "each man" individually regarding "his brother."
- befarekh ("with harshness", H6531) — noun in construct-like prepositional phrase, specifying the manner of rule that is prohibited.
What the text says
The sentence opens with a narrative ve- ("and", H9001) attached to hitnachaltem, continuing a sequence of instructions. The object marker 'otam ("them", H0853 + H9038) refers back to persons discussed earlier in the passage, redirected "to your sons" (livneikhem, H1121A + H9026) "after you" ('achareikhem, H0310A + H9036) — establishing multi-generational transfer. The purpose clause lareshet 'achuzzah le'olam ("to take possession of a possession forever") uses an infinitive construct (lareshet, H3423G) paired with the cognate-adjacent noun 'achuzzah ("possession", H0272), reinforcing permanence with le'olam. The clause bahem ta'avodu ("by them you will labor") uses the imperfect ta'avodu, signaling ongoing action.
The second half pivots with u-ve'acheikhem ("but over your brothers", H9002+H9003+H0251G), narrowing focus to bnei Yisra'el ("sons/people of Israel", H1121G+H3478). The construction shifts to distributive singular: 'ish be'achiv ("each man over his brother", H0376I + H0251I), followed by the negated imperfect lo-tirdeh ("you will not rule", H3808+H7287A). The final phrase befarekh ("with harshness", H6531) qualifies the manner of rule being restricted, not rule itself.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders hitnachaltem as καταμεριεῖτε ("you shall divide"), a distributive sense rather than the Hebrew's inheritance-focused hithpael. Where the Hebrew has a separate clause bahem ta'avodu ("by them you will labor"), the LXX instead states ἔσονται ὑμῖν κατόχιμοι ("they shall be your possessions"), folding the labor concept into a noun of ownership rather than a verb of ongoing action. For befarekh ("with harshness", H6531), the LXX uses ἐν τοῖς μόχθοις ("in toils/labors"), shifting the semantic field from manner-of-treatment to type-of-work. The Vulgate's per potentiam ("through power/force") also diverges from "harshness," emphasizing coercive power rather than the specific harshness the Hebrew noun denotes.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.