Leviticus 26:23

Summary

This verse describes a conditional continuation of the preceding warnings: if the addressees still refuse correction after "these things," their conduct will be described as walking with qeri ("contrariness", H7147) toward God. It functions as a hinge clause linking prior punishments to further, more severe ones that follow in the passage.

Key words

• 'Im ("if", H0518A) — introduces the conditional clause, paired with the negation lo' to form "if not."
• tivvasru ("you will let yourself be disciplined", H3256) — niphal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural; the niphal stem marks a passive or reflexive nuance, so the subject is not merely disciplined by an outside force but is depicted as failing to accept/submit to correction.
• li ("to/by me", H9005+H9030) — preposition with 1st person suffix, marking God as the source/agent of the discipline referenced by tivvasru.
• halakhtem ("you will walk", H1980I) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain begun by the conditional; it describes ongoing behavior rather than a single act.
• qeri ("contrariness", H7147) — masculine singular noun used adverbially, characterizing the manner of "walking" rather than functioning as a direct object.

What the text says

The clause opens with the compound conditional ve-'im... lo, "and if... not," governing the niphal verb tivvasru. The niphal form allows the verb to be read as passive ("you are not disciplined") or reflexive-tolerative ("you do not let yourselves be disciplined"), a nuance not distinguished in the English gloss "let yourself be disciplined." The prepositional phrase li attaches this discipline to God as its source.

The vav-consecutive perfect va-halakhtem continues the same conditional sequence begun with tivvasru, presenting "walking" as the resulting or accompanying action rather than a separate clause. The final word, qeri, is a noun functioning adverbially — literally "walk with me [in] contrariness" — rather than an adjective modifying the subject directly, as in some target-language renderings.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the manner-noun qeri with the adjective πλάγιοι ("crooked/oblique"), describing the people themselves as "crooked" rather than describing their manner of walking, as the Hebrew noun does. The Vulgate expands tivvasru ("you let yourselves be disciplined") into "volueritis recipere disciplinam" ("you will want to receive discipline"), introducing the verb "to want" not present in the Hebrew verb form. The Vulgate also renders qeri with the idiomatic phrase "ex adverso mihi" ("contrary to me"), a prepositional construction rather than a noun of manner as in the Hebrew.