Leviticus 27:33

Summary

The verse prohibits examining a tithed animal to judge whether it is good or bad, and forbids exchanging it for another. If an exchange is nevertheless made, both the original animal and its substitute become holy and cannot be redeemed.

Key words

• ye.va.Ker ("he will scrutinize", H1239) — piel imperfect, an intensive stem indicating careful, deliberate inspection or evaluation, not mere casual looking.
• bein ("between", H0996G) — construct form introducing the paired contrast tov / ra' ("good" / "bad"), forming the idiom "to distinguish between good and bad."
• ye.mi.Re.nu ("he will exchange it", H4171) — hiphil imperfect with 3ms pronominal suffix ("it"), causative stem: the subject actively causes a substitution to occur.
• ha.Mer ("ever ", H4171) — hiphil absolute infinitive, paired with the following finite verb ye.mi.Re.nu to intensify the action ("if he indeed/surely exchanges it").
• yi.ga.'El ("it will be redeemed", H1350A) — niphal imperfect, passive/reflexive stem: the animal is not the one acting but is the one that would be redeemed — and this is negated.

What the text says

The verse opens with two parallel negative clauses built on imperfect verbs: lo' ye.va.Ker ("he will not scrutinize") and ve.lo' ye.mi.Re.nu ("and he will not exchange it"). The first negation concerns evaluation — the piel stem of ye.va.Ker conveys a deliberate, careful act of inspection, here forbidden regarding the distinction bein tov la-ra' ("between good and bad"). The second negation concerns action — the hiphil of ye.mi.Re.nu denotes causing a substitution, with the object suffix -nu ("it") referring back to the animal in question.

The conditional clause ve-'im hamer ye.mi.re.nu uses the construction of an infinitive absolute (hamer) followed by the same verb in finite form (ye.mi.re.nu), a grammatical pattern that intensifies or emphasizes certainty of the action ("if he does indeed exchange it"). This sets up the consequence introduced by the sequential perfect ve-hayah ("and it will be"): both hu' ("it," the original animal) and temuratо ("its substitute," a construct noun with pronominal suffix) become qodesh ("a holy thing"). The final clause returns to negation with the niphal yi.ga.'El ("it will be redeemed"), the passive stem marking the animal as the entity that would undergo redemption — an action here excluded.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the first clause as ouk allaxeis kalon ponērō ("you shall not exchange good for bad"), using a form of "exchange" where the Hebrew ye.va.Ker denotes "scrutinize/inspect," not exchange. The Vulgate's non eligetur ("it shall not be chosen") also diverges from "scrutinize," framing the prohibition as one of selection rather than examination. The Hebrew's two distinct actions (inspecting, then exchanging) are thus represented differently: the LXX collapses the first clause into another exchange statement, while the Vulgate frames it as a prohibition on choosing.