Leviticus 25:47

וְכִי תַשִּׂיג יַד גֵּר וְתוֹשָׁב עִמָּךְ וּמָךְ אָחִיךָ עִמּוֹ וְנִמְכַּר לְגֵר תּוֹשָׁב עִמָּךְ אוֹ לְעֵקֶר מִשְׁפַּחַת גֵּֽר׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

Tap a word to see its entry

✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וְכִ֣י תַשִּׂ֗יג יַ֣ד גֵּ֤ר וְתוֹשָׁב֙ עִמָּ֔ךְ וּמָ֥ךְ אָחִ֖יךָ עִמּ֑וֹ וְנִמְכַּ֗ר לְגֵ֤ר תּוֹשָׁב֙ עִמָּ֔ךְ א֥וֹ לְעֵ֖קֶר מִשְׁפַּ֥חַת גֵּֽר׃

Greek (Septuagint)

Ἐὰν δὲ εὕρῃ ἡ χεὶρ τοῦ προσηλύτου ἢ τοῦ παροίκου τοῦ παρὰ σοί, καὶ ἀπορηθεὶς ὁ ἀδελφός σου πραθῇ τῷ προσηλύτῳ ἢ τῷ παροίκῳ τῷ παρὰ σοὶ ἐκ γενετῆς προσηλύτῳ,

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Si invaluerit apud vos manus advenæ atque peregrini, et attenuatus frater tuus vendiderit se ei, aut cuiquam de stirpe ejus:

Spanish

“‘Si un extranjero o huésped que vive entre ustedes se enriquece, y uno de tus compatriotas se empobrece y se vende a ese extranjero o a algún pariente de él,

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y si el peregrino ó extranjero que está contigo, adquiriese medios, y tu hermano que está con él empobreciere, y se vendiere al peregrino ó extranjero que está contigo, ó á la raza de la familia del extranjero;

English

If a foreigner residing among you prospers, but your countryman dwelling near him becomes destitute and sells himself to the foreigner or to a member of his clan,

✦ What the text says

Summary

The verse presents a legal case (a casuistic "if... then" construction) describing a situation where a foreign resident living among the Israelites becomes prosperous, while a fellow Israelite becomes poor and sells himself into servitude to that foreigner or to a member of the foreigner's clan.

Key words

ta.Sig ("it will reach", H5381) — hiphil (causative) imperfect of the verb, used idiomatically with yad ("hand") to mean "attains" or "acquires sufficient means"; the imperfect marks this as a hypothetical future condition.
ger ("a sojourner", H1616) — masculine singular noun designating a non-Israelite residing among the people; appears three times in the verse, each time paired or associated with to.Shav ("a resident alien", H8453A).
Makh ("he will become impoverished", H4134) — qal sequential perfect (vav-consecutive), continuing the narrative chain begun by the conditional clause; describes the reversal of fortune for the Israelite.
nim.Kar ("he will sell himself", H4376) — niphal (passive/reflexive) sequential perfect, indicating the subject undergoes or performs the action of selling upon himself rather than being sold by another agent explicitly named.
'E.ker ("a member of", H6133) construct with mish.Pa.chat ("the clan of", H4940) — a construct chain meaning "an offshoot/member of the clan," specifying an extended relation to the foreigner beyond the foreigner himself.

What the text says

The verse opens with the conditional particle Khi ("if", H3588A), introducing a legal scenario built through a chain of verbs connected by the narrative vav (H9001), a syntactic feature common in Hebrew case law: first the imperfect ta.Sig sets up the hypothetical, then two sequential perfects (Makh, nim.Kar) carry the narrative forward as consequences. This vav-consecutive chain creates a temporal and logical sequence: the foreigner acquires means → the Israelite becomes poor → the Israelite sells himself.

The phrase yad ger ("hand of a sojourner", H3027I construct + H1616) uses "hand" idiomatically to denote means or resources, a construct relationship where "hand" governs "sojourner." The repeated pairing of ger and to.Shav throughout the verse (twice as a fixed pair, once split by the construct chain with "clan") describes the same category of non-Israelite resident using two terms, without the data indicating a distinction in legal status between them within this verse. The final construct chain 'E.ker mish.Pa.chat ger ("a member of the clan of a sojourner") extends the scope of the law from the foreigner himself to his broader kin group.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ta.Sig yad ("hand reaches/attains") as εὕρῃ ἡ χεὶρ ("the hand finds"), a close structural parallel. However, the LXX adds ἐκ γενετῆς προσηλύτῳ ("a proselyte from birth") at the end, a phrase not present in the Hebrew's 'E.ker mish.Pa.chat ger ("a member of the clan of a sojourner"), introducing the concept of birth-status into the description of the clan member. The Vulgate's cuiquam de stirpe ejus ("to anyone of his stock") corresponds more directly to the Hebrew construct chain without this added qualifier.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.