Leviticus 26:37
וְכָשְׁלוּ אִישׁ־בְּאָחִיו כְּמִפְּנֵי־חֶרֶב וְרֹדֵף אָיִן וְלֹא־תִֽהְיֶה לָכֶם תְּקוּמָה לִפְנֵי אֹֽיְבֵיכֶֽם׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְכָשְׁל֧וּ אִישׁ־בְּאָחִ֛יו כְּמִפְּנֵי־חֶ֖רֶב וְרֹדֵ֣ף אָ֑יִן וְלֹא־תִֽהְיֶ֤ה לָכֶם֙ תְּקוּמָ֔ה לִפְנֵ֖י אֹֽיְבֵיכֶֽם׃
καὶ ὑπερόψεται ὁ ἀδελφὸς τὸν ἀδελφὸν ὡσεὶ ἐν πολέμῳ οὐθενὸς κατατρέχοντος, καὶ οὐ δυνήσεσθε ἀντιστῆναι τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ὑμῶν.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
et corruent singuli super fratres suos, quasi bella fugientes, nemo vestrum inimicis audebit resistere.
Tropezarán unos con otros como si huyeran de una batalla, aunque no haya nadie persiguiéndolos. No tendrán fuerzas para hacerles frente a sus enemigos.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y tropezarán los unos en los otros, como si huyeran delante de cuchillo, aunque nadie los persiga; y no podréis resistir delante de vuestros enemigos.
They will stumble over one another as before the sword, though no one is behind them. So you will not be able to stand against your enemies.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse describes people stumbling over each other in panic, fleeing as if from a sword even though no one is chasing them, and being unable to stand their ground before their enemies. The imagery emphasizes irrational terror rather than an actual external threat.
Key words
- kha.she.Lu ("they will stumble", H3782) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the chain of prior verbs describing consequences that will unfold in sequence.
- 'ish ("each", H0376I) paired with 'achi ("his brother", H0251I, construct) — a distributive construction, "each one against his brother," indicating mutual, disordered collision rather than an organized retreat.
- ke.mi.pnei ("as from before", compound of H9004 + H6440G) governing Cherev ("a sword", H2719) — a simile comparing the stumbling to flight before an actual weapon, though no weapon is present.
- ro.def ("pursuer", H7291) — qal participle, "one who pursues," negated immediately by 'Ayin ("there is not", H0369), producing the existential clause "a pursuer there is not."
- te.ku.Mah ("power to stand", H8617) — abstract feminine noun, the capacity to hold one's ground, negated by lo' ("not", H3808) and framed by tih.Yeh ("it will belong", H1961, qal imperfect).
What the text says
The sentence opens with a sequential perfect verb kha.she.Lu ("they will stumble"), continuing a chain of future consequences. The distributive phrase 'ish be-'achiv ("each over his brother") depicts mutual collision among the people themselves, not a fall caused by an outside force. This stumbling is compared, through the compound preposition ke-mi-pnei ("as from before"), to fleeing before a Cherev ("sword", H2719) — the comparison marker ke signals a simile, not a literal weapon.
The clause ve-ro.def 'Ayin ("and a pursuer there is not") uses the participle ro.def ("one who pursues") together with the negative existential particle 'Ayin ("there is not") to state plainly that no one is actually chasing them — the panic is self-generated. The second half of the verse shifts to a separate imperfect clause, lo' tih.Yeh lakhem teku.Mah ("there will not be to you power to stand"), where teku.Mah names the abstract capacity to hold a position, negated outright, before 'oye.veikhem ("your enemies", H0341 + suffix).
Differences between versions
The LXX renders the first verb as ὑπερόψεται ("will look down on / disregard"), where the Hebrew kha.she.Lu means "stumble" — a notably different verb choice. The LXX also gives ὡσεὶ ἐν πολέμῳ ("as in war") for the Hebrew's "as from before a sword" (ke-mi-pnei Cherev). The Vulgate's corruent ("they will fall/collapse") is closer to the Hebrew "stumble" than the LXX's "disregard," though its quasi bella fugientes ("as though fleeing wars," plural) diverges from the Hebrew's singular "sword" image.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.