Leviticus 26:27

Summary

Leviticus 26:27 states a conditional clause: if, despite everything before ("in this"), the people still do not listen to God, they will continue walking with him be-qeri ("in contrariness/hostility", H7147). The verse marks an escalation in a sequence of conditional warnings within the chapter.

Key words

• 'Im ("if", H0518A) — conditional particle introducing the protasis; combined with be-zot ("in this", H2063) it points back to prior warnings already given, so the condition is cumulative ("if even after this...").
• tish.me.'U ("you will listen", H8085G) — qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural; the imperfect aspect marks the verb as referring to an ongoing or future failure to listen, not a single completed act.
• ha.lakh.Tem ("you will walk", H1980I) — qal sequential (waw-consecutive) perfect, 2nd person masculine plural; this form continues the narrative sequence begun by the imperfect tishme'u, presenting the "walking" as the direct consequence that follows from the failure to listen.
• Ke.ri ("contrariness", H7147) — masculine singular noun, functioning adverbially with the preposition be ("in"); it describes the manner of the "walking" — walking "in" a state of opposition rather than through a separate verb of rebelling.

What the text says

The verse is built as a conditional sentence with two main verbal actions joined by the narrative vav. The protasis opens with ve-'im-be-zot ("and if in this"), where zot ("this", H2063) refers deictically to the preceding material in the chapter, making the condition explicitly cumulative rather than a fresh, isolated hypothesis. The negated imperfect lo tishme'u li ("you will not listen to me") expresses the core failure — an unfulfilled or continuing lack of obedience toward the divine voice (li, "to me", formed by preposition + 1st person suffix).

The apodosis-like continuation uses the sequential perfect ha.lakh.Tem ("you will walk"), a grammatical form that in Biblical Hebrew narrative typically continues the temporal or logical sequence of a preceding imperfect. Here it links the "not listening" directly to "walking with me be-qeri." The phrase be-qeri uses the noun H7147 governed by the preposition be ("in"), so the grammar frames the walking itself as occurring "in" a condition of contrariness — the noun functions as a manner-adverbial rather than as an independent predicate of rebellion.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew noun qeri (H7147) is rendered differently across versions: the LXX uses the adjective πλάγιοι ("crooked/oblique," modifying an implied "you"), the Vulgate uses the prepositional phrase "contra me" ("against me"), and the BSB translates it as "in hostility toward Me." Each version captures a different nuance of the abstract Hebrew noun — LXX treating it as a description of character/path, Vulgate and BSB treating it as an oppositional relation — but none directly reproduces the Hebrew's use of a noun of manner governed by be.