Leviticus 26:36

וְהַנִּשְׁאָרִים בָּכֶם וְהֵבֵאתִי מֹרֶךְ בִּלְבָבָם בְּאַרְצֹת אֹיְבֵיהֶם וְרָדַף אֹתָם קוֹל עָלֶה נִדָּף וְנָסוּ מְנֻֽסַת־חֶרֶב וְנָפְלוּ וְאֵין רֹדֵֽף׃

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וְהַנִּשְׁאָרִ֣ים בָּכֶ֔ם וְהֵבֵ֤אתִי מֹ֙רֶךְ֙ בִּלְבָבָ֔ם בְּאַרְצֹ֖ת אֹיְבֵיהֶ֑ם וְרָדַ֣ף אֹתָ֗ם ק֚וֹל עָלֶ֣ה נִדָּ֔ף וְנָס֧וּ מְנֻֽסַת־חֶ֛רֶב וְנָפְל֖וּ וְאֵ֥ין רֹדֵֽף׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ τοῖς καταλειφθεῖσιν ἐξ ὑμῶν ἐπάξω δουλίαν εἰς τὴν καρδίαν αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ γῇ τῶν ἐχθρῶν αὐτῶν, καὶ διώξεται αὐτοὺς φωνὴ φύλλου φερομένου, καὶ φεύξονται ὡς φεύγοντες ἀπὸ πολέμου, καὶ πεσοῦνται οὐθενὸς διώκοντος·

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

Latin (Vulgate)

Et qui de vobis remanserint, dabo pavorem in cordibus eorum in regionibus hostium, terrebit eos sonitus folii volantis, et ita fugient quasi gladium: cadent, nullo persequente,

Spanish

“‘A los que sobrevivan en las tierras enemigas, les infundiré tal cobardía en el corazón que el simple ruido de una hoja arrastrada por el viento los hará huir. Huirán como si los persiguieran con una espada, y caerán aunque nadie los persiga.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y á los que quedaren de vosotros infundiré en sus corazones tal cobardía, en la tierra de sus enemigos, que el sonido de una hoja movida los perseguirá, y huirán como de cuchillo, y caerán sin que nadie los persiga:

English

As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.

✦ What the text says

Summary

Leviticus 26:36 describes the psychological state of those who survive among the exiled people, scattered in enemy lands. Their hearts will be filled with a specific dread, so severe that they will flee even from the sound of a windblown leaf, falling as though pursued by a sword — even when no one pursues them.

Key words

nish.'a.Rim ("[who] remain", H7604) — niphal participle, masculine plural: those left over, the survivors, presented as a substantive group ("the remaining ones").
mo.rekh ("despair", H4816) — masculine singular noun, the object placed into the heart; describes an internal collapse or faintness rather than an external event.
l.va.Va ("heart", H3824) — construct form with 3mp suffix ("their heart"), the site where the morekh is placed, marking this as an internal, psychological affliction.
'a.Leh ("a leaf", H5929) with ni.Daf ("driven about", H5086, niphal participle) — together form "a driven leaf," the trivial stimulus that triggers flight.
ro.Def ("[is one who] pursues", H7291, qal participle) — closes the verse in the negated construction 'ein rodef ("there is no pursuer"), stating explicitly the absence of any actual pursuit.

What the text says

The verse opens with ve.ha.nish.'a.Rim ba.Khem ("and those who remain among you"), a nominal phrase introducing the subject before the main verb sequence begins. The narrative continues with a chain of sequential perfect verbs (ve.he.Ve.ti, "I will bring/cause," H0935; ve.ra.Daf, "it will pursue," H7291; ve.na.Su, "they will flee," H5127; ve.naf.Lu, "they will fall," H5307), each introduced by the narrative vav, producing a tightly linked cause-and-effect sequence: the divine act of placing morekh in the heart leads directly to pursuit by a mere sound, flight, and falling.

The grammar isolates the cause of the flight as internal: morekh ("despair", H4816) is placed bi.l.va.Vam ("in their heart"), not imposed by any external threat. The syntax then juxtaposes this internal state with an almost absurd external trigger — Kol 'a.Leh ni.Daf ("the sound of a driven leaf," construct chain H6963H + H5929 + H5086), a passive participle describing a leaf moved by wind, not by any agent. The final clause, ve.'Ein ro.Def ("and there is no pursuer"), uses the negative existential 'Ein (H0369) with the participle ro.Def (H7291) to state grammatically that the falling occurs without any actual pursuing subject — the fall is a direct consequence of the internal morekh, not of real external danger.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew noun mo.rekh ("despair", H4816) is rendered variously: the LXX uses δουλίαν ("servitude/slavery"), the Vulgate uses pavorem ("fear/terror"), while the Spanish and English translations (RV1909, BSB, SBLIBRE) render it as "cobardía"/"faintness" (cowardice/faintness). This shows a divergence particularly between the LXX's "servitude" and the Hebrew term describing an internal emotional collapse, which the Vulgate and modern translations render closer to fear or faintness.

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