Numbers 32:18

Summary

The verse records a vow by certain tribes: they will not return to their homes until "the sons of Israel" have each taken possession of their own inheritance. The Hebrew expresses this as a temporal clause governed by 'ad ("until", H5704), linking the return home to the completion of the land distribution among the Israelites.

Key words

• lo' ("not", H3808) — simple negative particle preceding the verb, negating the action rather than using an emphatic construction.
• na.Shuv ("we will return", H7725G) — Qal imperfect, first person plural; the imperfect aspect conveys future or ongoing action, here a pledge about future behavior.
• hit.na.Chel ("have inherited", H5157) — Hithpael infinitive. The Hithpael stem carries a reflexive or reciprocal nuance, suggesting each person actively securing his own portion, not merely passively receiving one.
• 'ish ("everyone", H0376I) — masculine singular noun used distributively in apposition to benei Yisrael, marking that the inheritance is allotted individually, "each man his own."
• na.cha.la.T...o ("his inheritance", H5159 + H9023) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, tying the abstract term "inheritance" to each individual referenced by 'ish.

What the text says

The clause opens with lo' na.Shuv ("we will not return"), a straightforward negated imperfect verb expressing a future commitment. The prepositional phrase 'el- ba.Tei.nu ("to our houses") uses the construct form ba.Tei ("houses") bound to the suffix nu ("our"), a standard construct-plus-suffix construction rather than a true genitive phrase.

The temporal boundary of this vow is marked by 'Ad ("until"), followed by the Hithpael infinitive hit.na.Chel. The Hithpael form is significant: rather than a simple Qal "to inherit," it implies each Israelite personally securing or taking hold of his portion. The subject of this infinitive, be.Nei Yis.ra.'El ("sons of Israel"), is further specified by the distributive apposition 'ish na.cha.la.To ("each man his inheritance"), emphasizing that the process concerns every individual's own allotted portion, not a collective or partial distribution.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the negation with οὐ μὴ plus subjunctive (ἀποστραφῶμεν), an emphatic double-negative construction, where the Hebrew uses only the single particle lo' with the imperfect na.Shuv. The Vulgate's possideant ("they may possess") shifts the verbal nuance from the Hebrew Hithpael's reflexive "take inheritance for oneself" toward a more general "possess," without preserving the reflexive coloring present in hit.na.Chel.