Leviticus 26:41

Summary

The verse describes God stating that he himself will act against the people with contrariness and bring them into the land of their enemies. It then introduces a conditional turning point: if their uncircumcised heart humbles itself, and if they accept the punishment for their iniquity.

Key words

• Keri ("contrariness", H7147) — a rare noun describing the manner of God's opposition, paired with the verb "I will walk" ('elekh, H1980I) to express hostile conduct rather than literal walking.
• yikkana' ("it will humble itself", H3665) — niphal (passive/reflexive) imperfect of the root meaning "to bow down/be subdued"; the reflexive form indicates the heart's own act of submission rather than an external force humbling it.
• le-vavam he-'arel ("their uncircumcised heart", H3824 + H6189) — construct noun with adjective in construct chain, using "uncircumcised" metaphorically to describe the heart's resistant state.
• yirtzu ("they will accept", H7521) — qal imperfect, third person plural, governing the direct object "their iniquity" ('avonam, H5771G); the verb carries the sense of accepting or satisfying a debt/penalty.
• 'o ("or", H0176A) — conjunction linking the two conditional clauses ("then... or then..."), structuring the verse's two-part hypothetical outcome.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the emphatic construction 'af-'ani ("also I", H0637 + H0589), placing the divine subject in contrastive focus before the verb 'elekh ("I will walk", H1980I). This is followed by a sequential perfect verb, heveti ("I will bring", H0935P), which continues the narrative action begun by the imperfect, a common Hebrew pattern for describing a sequence of future events. The phrase 'eretz 'oyeveihem ("land of their enemies", H0776G + H0341) uses a construct chain to specify whose land is meant.

The second half of the verse shifts to a conditional structure marked twice by 'az ("then", H0227A), preceded by 'o ("or", H0176A). The niphal form yikkana' presents the heart's humbling as a reflexive or passive process, while the adjective he-'arel ("uncircumcised", H6189) modifies "heart" (levav, H3824) to describe its resistant condition using the definite article H9009. The final clause uses yirtzu ("they will accept", H7521) with the direct object marker 'et (H0853) governing 'avonam ("their iniquity", H5771G), indicating an action of accepting or satisfying the consequence of that iniquity.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders keri ("contrariness", H7147) as ἐν θυμῷ πλαγίῳ ("in crooked/oblique wrath"), a different image than the Hebrew's noun for contrariness. Where the Hebrew has heveti ("I will bring", H0935P), the LXX reads ἀπολῶ ("I will destroy"), a divergent verb. The Vulgate's donec erubescat ("until it is ashamed") interprets yikkana' as shame rather than the niphal sense of humbling/bowing found in the Hebrew. For yirtzu 'et-'avonam ("they will accept their iniquity", H7521 + H5771G), the Vulgate has orabunt pro impietatibus suis ("they will pray for their impieties"), while the LXX has εὐδοκήσουσιν τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν ("they will be well-pleased with their sins"), both differing from the Hebrew's sense of accepting or satisfying the penalty for iniquity.