Leviticus 26:40

Summary

The verse describes a future act of confession: the people will acknowledge their own avon ("iniquity", H5771G) and that of their ancestors, specifically naming the unfaithfulness and hostile conduct that characterized their relationship with God. The sentence links confession explicitly to two prior offenses — acting treacherously and "walking" in opposition.

Key words

• hitvaddu ("they will confess", H3034) — hithpael (reflexive/self-involving) verb, sequential perfect, continuing a narrative chain; the reflexive stem frames confession as an act done to or upon oneself, not merely stating facts to another.
• avonam ("their iniquity", H5771G) — masculine singular construct with 3rd person plural suffix "their"; construct form ties it directly to the following object marker structure, marking whose iniquity is confessed.
• ma'alam ("their unfaithfulness", H4604) — masculine singular construct with suffix "their"; introduced by the preposition be ("by/in"), it specifies the manner or content of the iniquity just mentioned.
• ma'alu ("they acted unfaithfully", H4603) — qal perfect, completed action, same root as ma'alam, creating a repetition (cognate accusative-like structure) that intensifies the unfaithfulness described.
• qeri ("contrariness", H7147) — masculine singular noun, paired with be ("in"), describing the manner of "walking" (halekhu, H1980I) — a completed qal perfect action of habitual opposition.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with a narrative vav on hitvaddu ("and they will confess", H3034), continuing a sequence of prior verses. The object of confession is doubled: "their iniquity" (avonam, H5771G) and "the iniquity of their fathers" (avon avotam, H5771G + H0001G), both marked by the direct object particle 'et (H0853), which itself carries no independent meaning but signals the grammatical object.

The phrase be-ma'alam 'asher ma'alu-vi ("by their unfaithfulness which they acted unfaithfully against me") uses the noun ma'al (H4604) and its cognate verb ma'al (H4603) together, a construction that in Hebrew repeats the root to underscore the nature of the offense — unfaithfulness enacted unfaithfully. The preposition bi ("against me", H9003 + H9030) attaches the offense directly to the divine "I" as its object.

The second clause, introduced by ve'af ("and also", H0637), adds a further completed action: halekhu 'immi be-qeri ("they walked with me in contrariness", H1980I + H5973A + H7147). The noun qeri (H7147) describes the manner of the walking — a settled, completed pattern (perfect aspect) rather than a single event.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders avon ("iniquity", H5771G) as ἁμαρτίας ("sins"), a different semantic domain than the Hebrew "iniquity/guilt." Where the Hebrew uses the cognate pair ma'alam...ma'alu ("unfaithfulness...they acted unfaithfully"), the LXX splits this into two verbs, παρέβησαν ("they transgressed") and ὑπερεῖδόν με ("they disregarded me"), losing the root repetition. The Vulgate's prævaricati sunt ("they have dealt treacherously") corresponds more closely to the Hebrew ma'al root than the LXX's rendering. The Hebrew qeri ("contrariness", H7147) becomes πλάγιοι ("crooked/oblique") in the LXX and ex adverso ("opposite/against") in the Vulgate, both conveying opposition but with different image—LXX suggesting deviation, Vulgate suggesting direct confrontation.