Grammar Analysis: Leviticus 18:24–30 (The "Land Vomited Them Out" Paradigm)

Overview

Lev 18:24–30 is the paraenetic coda (epilogue) to the Holiness-Code catalogue of sexual and cultic ʿervôt (Lev 18:6–23). It is the locus classicus for the land-as-active-agent of covenant-judgment topos in the Pentateuch: the land (הָאָרֶץ), not YHWH directly, is the grammatical subject that defiles itself (Qal), is visited (Qal), and vomits out (Hiphil) its inhabitants. The pericope is near-identical in architecture to its twin Lev 20:22–24, and it is presupposed by Ezra 9:10–12, Jer 2:7, Ps 106:38, and 2 Kgs 17:7–23.

The paragraph is built on four load-bearing grammatical devices that together encode a corporate-ecological theology of land-defilement:

1. The קיא verb-pair (vv. 25, 28) — a Hiphil wayyiqtol / Hiphil yiqtol / Qal qatal triad, morphologically distinguishing prior-nation action, causative expulsion, and the threatened repetition against Israel.
2. The טמא concentric spiral (vv. 24, 25, 27, 28, 30) — the same root in five different stems and forms (Hithpael impf., Niphal perf., Qal wayyiqtol, Piel infCon, Hithpael impf.) marking the contagion-logic of impurity.
3. The corporate-ecological subject switch — human-agent plural verbs (vv. 26–27: "you … they") yielding to a feminine-singular land-agent (vv. 25, 28), then to the Niphal passive (v. 29 — "souls shall be cut off") and the plenary command (v. 30 — "you shall keep").
4. The prohibitive infinitive construct with בִּלְתִּי (v. 30) — לְבִלְתִּי עֲשׂוֹת, the negative-purpose construction binding "keep my charge" to "not-doing" the abominations.

The rhetorical effect of the grammatical architecture is to displace the expected grammar of divine punishment onto the land itself: the covenant is not enforced by an external deity smiting the transgressor but by an animate-construed ecology that expels the defiler as a body rejects emetic poison. This is the grammatical-theological template for the Exile, read back into Israel's proleptic placement at Sinai.

Text

Verse 24

Hebrew: אַל־תִּֽטַּמְּא֖וּ בְּכָל־אֵ֑לֶּה כִּ֤י בְכָל־אֵ֨לֶּה֙ נִטְמְא֣וּ הַגֹּויִ֔ם אֲשֶׁר־אֲנִ֥י מְשַׁלֵּ֖חַ מִפְּנֵיכֶֽם׃ KJV: Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:

Verse 25

Hebrew: וַתִּטְמָ֣א הָאָ֔רֶץ וָאֶפְקֹ֥ד עֲוֹנָ֖הּ עָלֶ֑יהָ וַתָּקִ֥א הָאָ֖רֶץ אֶת־יֹשְׁבֶֽיהָ׃ KJV: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.

Verse 26

Hebrew: וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֣ם אַתֶּ֗ם אֶת־חֻקֹּתַי֙ וְאֶת־מִשְׁפָּטַ֔י וְלֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֔וּ מִכֹּ֥ל הַתֹּועֵבֹ֖ת הָאֵ֑לֶּה הָֽאֶזְרָ֔ח וְהַגֵּ֖ר הַגָּ֥ר בְּתֹוכְכֶֽם׃ KJV: Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:

Verse 27

Hebrew: כִּ֚י אֶת־כָּל־הַתֹּועֵבֹ֣ת הָאֵ֔ל עָשׂ֥וּ אַנְשֵֽׁי־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֣ר לִפְנֵיכֶ֑ם וַתִּטְמָ֖א הָאָֽרֶץ׃ KJV: (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)

Verse 28

Hebrew: וְלֹֽא־תָקִ֤יא הָאָ֨רֶץ֙ אֶתְכֶ֔ם בְּטַֽמַּאֲכֶ֖ם אֹתָ֑הּ כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר קָאָ֛ה אֶת־הַגֹּ֖וי אֲשֶׁ֥ר לִפְנֵיכֶֽם׃ KJV: That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.

Verse 29

Hebrew: כִּ֚י כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר יַעֲשֶׂ֔ה מִכֹּ֥ל הַתֹּועֵבֹ֖ות הָאֵ֑לֶּה וְנִכְרְת֛וּ הַנְּפָשֹׁ֥ות הָעֹשֹׂ֖ת מִקֶּ֥רֶב עַמָּֽם׃ KJV: For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.

Verse 30

Hebrew: וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֣ם אֶת־מִשְׁמַרְתִּ֗י לְבִלְתִּ֨י עֲשֹׂ֜ות מֵחֻקֹּ֤ות הַתֹּֽועֵבֹת֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר נַעֲשׂ֣וּ לִפְנֵיכֶ֔ם וְלֹ֥א תִֽטַּמְּא֖וּ בָּהֶ֑ם אֲנִ֖י יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃ KJV: Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.

Word-by-Word Parsing

Lev 18:24

#	Word	Lemma	Parsing	Gloss
1	אַל	אל	Neg particle	not (volitive)
2	תִּֽטַּמְּאוּ	טמא	Verb.Hithpael.Impf.2mp	defile yourselves
3	בְּ	ב	Prep	in
4	כָל	כל	Noun.ms.Cst	any of
5	אֵלֶּה	אלה	DemPron.p	these
6	כִּי	כי	Conj	for
7	בְ	ב	Prep	in
8	כָל	כל	Noun.ms.Cst	any of
9	אֵלֶּה	אלה	DemPron.p	these
10	נִטְמְאוּ	טמא	Verb.Niphal.Perf.3p	were defiled
11	הַ	ה	Art	the
12	גֹּויִם	גוי	Noun.mp.Abs	nations
13	אֲשֶׁר	אשׁר	Rel particle	which
14	אֲנִי	אני	PersPron.1s	I
15	מְשַׁלֵּחַ	שׁלח	Verb.Piel.Ptcp.ms.Abs	am casting out
16	מִ	מן	Prep	from
17	פְּנֵיכֶם	פנה	Noun.mp.Abs.+2mp	before you (face)

Lev 18:25

#	Word	Lemma	Parsing	Gloss
1	וַ	ו	Conj (wayyiqtol)	and
2	תִּטְמָא	טמא	Verb.Qal.Wayq.3fs	it (land) became defiled
3	הָ	ה	Art	the
4	אָרֶץ	ארץ	Noun.s.Abs	land
5	וָ	ו	Conj (wayyiqtol)	and
6	אֶפְקֹד	פקד	Verb.Qal.Wayq.1s	I visited/reckoned
7	עֲוֹנָהּ	עון	Noun.ms.Abs.+3fs	its iniquity
8	עָלֶיהָ	על	Prep.+3fs	upon it
9	וַ	ו	Conj (wayyiqtol)	and
10	תָּקִא	קיא	Verb.Hiphil.Wayq.3fs	it (land) vomited out
11	הָ	ה	Art	the
12	אָרֶץ	ארץ	Noun.s.Abs	land
13	אֶת	את	dir.obj marker	—
14	יֹשְׁבֶיהָ	ישׁב	Verb.Qal.Ptcp.mp.Abs.+3fs	her inhabitants (subst.)

Lev 18:26

#	Word	Lemma	Parsing	Gloss
1	וּ	ו	Conj	and
2	שְׁמַרְתֶּם	שׁמר	Verb.Qal.Perf.2mp (weqatal)	you shall keep
3	אַתֶּם	אתם	PersPron.2mp	you yourselves
4	אֶת	את	dir.obj marker	—
5	חֻקֹּתַי	חקה	Noun.fp.Abs.+1s	my statutes
6	וְ	ו	Conj	and
7	אֶת	את	dir.obj marker	—
8	מִשְׁפָּטַי	משׁפט	Noun.mp.Abs.+1s	my judgments
9	וְ	ו	Conj	and
10	לֹא	לא	Neg	not
11	תַעֲשׂוּ	עשׂה	Verb.Qal.Impf.2mp	you shall do
12	מִ	מן	Prep	from (partitive)
13	כֹּל	כל	Noun.ms.Cst	any of
14	הַ	ה	Art	the
15	תֹּועֵבֹת	תועבה	Noun.fp.Abs	abominations
16	הָ	ה	Art	the
17	אֵלֶּה	אלה	DemPron.p	these
18	הָ	ה	Art	the
19	אֶזְרָח	אזרח	Noun.ms.Abs	native
20	וְ	ו	Conj	and
21	הַ	ה	Art	the
22	גֵּר	גר	Noun.ms.Abs	sojourner
23	הַ	ה	Art (rel)	the-one-who
24	גָּר	גור	Verb.Qal.Ptcp.ms.Abs	dwelling
25	בְּ	ב	Prep	in
26	תֹוכְכֶם	תוך	Noun.ms.Abs.+2mp	your midst

Lev 18:27

#	Word	Lemma	Parsing	Gloss
1	כִּי	כי	Conj	for
2	אֶת	את	dir.obj marker	—
3	כָּל	כל	Noun.ms.Cst	all of
4	הַ	ה	Art	the
5	תֹּועֵבֹת	תועבה	Noun.fp.Abs	abominations
6	הָ	ה	Art	the
7	אֵל	אל	DemPron.p (archaic)	these
8	עָשׂוּ	עשׂה	Verb.Qal.Perf.3p	did
9	אַנְשֵׁי	אישׁ	Noun.mp.Cst	men of
10	הָ	ה	Art	the
11	אָרֶץ	ארץ	Noun.s.Abs	land
12	אֲשֶׁר	אשׁר	Rel	who
13	לִ	ל	Prep	to
14	פְנֵיכֶם	פנה	Noun.mp.Abs.+2mp	before you
15	וַ	ו	Conj (wayyiqtol)	and
16	תִּטְמָא	טמא	Verb.Qal.Wayq.3fs	it (land) became defiled
17	הָ	ה	Art	the
18	אָרֶץ	ארץ	Noun.s.Abs	land

Lev 18:28

#	Word	Lemma	Parsing	Gloss
1	וְ	ו	Conj	and
2	לֹא	לא	Neg	not
3	תָקִיא	קיא	Verb.Hiphil.Impf.3fs	shall it (land) vomit out
4	הָ	ה	Art	the
5	אָרֶץ	ארץ	Noun.s.Abs	land
6	אֶתְכֶם	את	dir.obj marker.+2mp	you
7	בְּ	ב	Prep	in / when
8	טַמַּאֲכֶם	טמא	Verb.Piel.InfCon.+2mp	your defiling (it)
9	אֹתָהּ	את	dir.obj marker.+3fs	it (fem., = land)
10	כַּ	כ	Prep	as
11	אֲשֶׁר	אשׁר	Rel	which
12	קָאָה	קיא	Verb.Qal.Perf.3fs	it (land) vomited out
13	אֶת	את	dir.obj marker	—
14	הַ	ה	Art	the
15	גֹּוי	גוי	Noun.ms.Abs	nation
16	אֲשֶׁר	אשׁר	Rel	who
17	לִ	ל	Prep	to
18	פְנֵיכֶם	פנה	Noun.mp.Abs.+2mp	before you

Lev 18:29

#	Word	Lemma	Parsing	Gloss
1	כִּי	כי	Conj	for
2	כָּל	כל	Noun.ms.Cst	whosoever (lit. "all of")
3	אֲשֶׁר	אשׁר	Rel	who
4	יַעֲשֶׂה	עשׂה	Verb.Qal.Impf.3ms	shall do
5	מִ	מן	Prep	from (partitive)
6	כֹּל	כל	Noun.ms.Cst	any of
7	הַ	ה	Art	the
8	תֹּועֵבֹות	תועבה	Noun.fp.Abs	abominations
9	הָ	ה	Art	the
10	אֵלֶּה	אלה	DemPron.p	these
11	וְ	ו	Conj	and
12	נִכְרְתוּ	כרת	Verb.Niphal.Perf.3p (weqatal)	shall be cut off
13	הַ	ה	Art	the
14	נְּפָשֹׁות	נפשׁ	Noun.fp.Abs	souls
15	הָ	ה	Art (rel)	the-ones
16	עֹשֹׂת	עשׂה	Verb.Qal.Ptcp.fp.Abs	doing
17	מִ	מן	Prep	from
18	קֶּרֶב	קרב	Noun.ms.Cst	midst of
19	עַמָּם	עם	Noun.ms.Abs.+3mp	their people

Lev 18:30

#	Word	Lemma	Parsing	Gloss
1	וּ	ו	Conj	and
2	שְׁמַרְתֶּם	שׁמר	Verb.Qal.Perf.2mp (weqatal)	you shall keep
3	אֶת	את	dir.obj marker	—
4	מִשְׁמַרְתִּי	משׁמרת	Noun.fs.Abs.+1s	my charge / guard-post
5	לְ	ל	Prep	to
6	בִלְתִּי	בלת	Neg particle (cst)	not
7	עֲשֹׂות	עשׂה	Verb.Qal.InfCon	do(ing)
8	מֵ	מן	Prep (partitive)	from
9	חֻקֹּות	חקה	Noun.fp.Cst	statutes of
10	הַ	ה	Art	the
11	תֹּועֵבֹת	תועבה	Noun.fp.Abs	abominations
12	אֲשֶׁר	אשׁר	Rel	which
13	נַעֲשׂוּ	עשׂה	Verb.Niphal.Perf.3p	were done
14	לִ	ל	Prep	to
15	פְנֵיכֶם	פנה	Noun.mp.Abs.+2mp	before you
16	וְ	ו	Conj	and
17	לֹא	לא	Neg	not
18	תִֽטַּמְּאוּ	טמא	Verb.Hithpael.Impf.2mp	you shall defile yourselves
19	בָּהֶם	ב	Prep.+3mp	in them
20	אֲנִי	אני	PersPron.1s	I (am)
21	יְהוָה	יהוה	PropN	YHWH
22	אֱלֹהֵיכֶם	אלהים	Noun.mp.Abs.+2mp	your God

Clause Structure (from BHSA via hebrew_parser.py)

Lev 18:24

Clause	Type	Domain	Function	Text
1	xYq0 (neg + yiqtol)	Q	Vetitive prohibition	אַל תִּטַּמְּאוּ בְּכָל אֵלֶּה
2	xQtX (כי + qatal + subj)	Q	Causal-ground	כִּי בְכָל אֵלֶּה נִטְמְאוּ הַגֹּויִם
3	Ptcp (asher-clause)	Q	Relative modifier	אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מְשַׁלֵּחַ מִפְּנֵיכֶם

Lev 18:25

Clause	Type	Domain	Function	Text
1	WayX (wayyiqtol + subj)	N (narrative)	Past-narrative: land defiled	וַתִּטְמָא הָאָרֶץ
2	Way0 (wayyiqtol)	N	Past-narrative: YHWH reckoned	וָאֶפְקֹד עֲוֹנָהּ עָלֶיהָ
3	WayX (wayyiqtol + subj)	N	Past-narrative: land vomited	וַתָּקִא הָאָרֶץ אֶת יֹשְׁבֶיהָ

Lev 18:26

Clause	Type	Domain	Function	Text
1	WQtX (weqatal + emphatic subj)	Q	Positive command (keep)	וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אַתֶּם אֶת חֻקֹּתַי וְאֶת מִשְׁפָּטַי
2	WxY0 (waw-neg-yiqtol)	Q	Negative command (do not do)	וְלֹא תַעֲשׂוּ מִכֹּל הַתֹּועֵבֹת הָאֵלֶּה
3	Ptcp	Q	Rel modifier (the sojourner)	הַגָּר בְּתֹוכְכֶם

Lev 18:27

Clause	Type	Domain	Function	Text
1	xQtX (כי + obj-fronted qatal)	Q	Causal-ground: prior-nation action	כִּי אֶת כָּל הַתֹּועֵבֹת הָאֵל עָשׂוּ אַנְשֵׁי הָאָרֶץ
2	NmCl (nominal)	Q	Rel modifier	אֲשֶׁר לִפְנֵיכֶם
3	WayX (wayyiqtol + subj)	N (narrative)	Past-narrative: land defiled (reprise of v. 25a)	וַתִּטְמָא הָאָרֶץ

Lev 18:28

Clause	Type	Domain	Function	Text
1	WxYX (waw-neg-yiqtol + subj)	Q	Purpose/result: lest land vomit you	וְלֹא תָקִיא הָאָרֶץ אֶתְכֶם
2	InfC (b- + infCon.+2mp)	Q	Temporal-causal ("when you defile it")	בְּטַמַּאֲכֶם אֹתָהּ
3	xQt0 (ka-asher + qatal)	Q	Comparative clause ("as it vomited")	כַּאֲשֶׁר קָאָה אֶת הַגֹּוי
4	NmCl	Q	Rel modifier	אֲשֶׁר לִפְנֵיכֶם

Lev 18:29

Clause	Type	Domain	Function	Text
1	CPen (casus pendens)	Q	Fronted protasis-topic	כִּי כָּל
2	xYq0 (asher + yiqtol)	Q	Protasis (indefinite offender)	אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשֶׂה מִכֹּל הַתֹּועֵבֹות הָאֵלֶּה
3	WQtX (weqatal + subj)	Q	Apodosis: karet-formula	וְנִכְרְתוּ הַנְּפָשׁוֹת … מִקֶּרֶב עַמָּם
4	Ptcp (asher-clause)	Q	Rel modifier (the doers)	הָעֹשֹׂת

Lev 18:30

Clause	Type	Domain	Function	Text
1	WQt0 (weqatal)	Q	Positive command (keep my charge)	וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אֶת מִשְׁמַרְתִּי
2	InfC (לְבִלְתִּי + InfCon)	Q	Negative purpose ("in order not to do")	לְבִלְתִּי עֲשׂוֹת מֵחֻקֹּות הַתֹּועֵבֹת
3	xQt0 (asher + qatal)	Q	Rel clause (prior commission)	אֲשֶׁר נַעֲשׂוּ לִפְנֵיכֶם
4	WxY0 (waw-neg-yiqtol)	Q	Parallel negative command	וְלֹא תִטַּמְּאוּ בָּהֶם
5	NmCl	Q	Self-introduction formula	אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם

Key Grammatical Features

1. קיא "vomit" — The Rare Verb and its Morphological Triad (vv. 25, 28)

The root קיא occurs only 11 times in the Hebrew Bible (9 verbal + 2 nominal; parser count via --lemma "קיא"), distributed across Lev 18:25, 28; Lev 20:22; Isa 19:14; 28:8; Jer 48:26; Jon 2:11; Job 20:15; Prov 23:8; 25:16. In the verbal domain it has only two active stems: Qal (intransitive "vomit") and Hiphil (causative / transitive "cause to vomit → spew out"). Lev 18 deploys all three morphological forms:

Verse	Form	Parsing	Force
25b	וַתָּקִא	Hiphil Wayq.3fs	narrative-past: land spewed out prior nations
28a	תָקִיא	Hiphil Impf.3fs	prospective-negative: land might spew out Israel
28b	קָאָה	Qal Perf.3fs	comparative-past: land vomited (intrans.) the nation

The Hiphil is morphologically unambiguous: pre-formative tāqîʾ (3fs) preserves the -î- vowel under Ia-Aleph / III-Aleph conditioning, and the wayyiqtol wat-tāqīʾ shows the expected shortened form. The Hiphil in Lev 18 is transitive-causative: the land is the grammatical subject and the displaced people are the direct object (אֶת־יֹשְׁבֶיהָ, אֶתְכֶם, אֶת־הַגּוֹי).

The Qal qatal in v. 28b (קָאָה) appears to be used interchangeably with the Hiphil of v. 25b (both 3fs; both take אֶת + object) — but BHSA parses it as Qal Perfect. This is the rare Qal-transitive of an emetic verb: the land "vomits" (Qal) with the displaced-nation as a secondary-accusative object, grammatically parallel to Prov 23:8 qēʾaḵā ʾăšer-ʾāḵaltā təqîʾennâ where the Hiphil also takes a direct object. The interchange underscores that the grammatical distinction here is not causative-vs-simple but rather tense-aspect alternation for stylistic variation between the two comparison-members (was vomited / will be vomited on the Hiphil future vs. vomited on the Qal past-comparative).

Subject animacy: הָאָרֶץ "the land" is feminine singular; the 3fs verb-forms (תָּקִא / תָקִיא / קָאָה / תִּטְמָא) bind the verbs to the land itself as the agent. This is the load-bearing grammatical choice — not "God cast them out" but "the land vomited them out." YHWH's only 1cs verb in the pericope is וָאֶפְקֹד ("I reckoned," v. 25a) — a juridical act (setting the accounts) — but the expulsion itself is carried out by the land. The grammar encodes a mediated agency: YHWH reckons, the land expels.

Semantic field: The verb belongs to the semantic field of involuntary bodily rejection — the same verb is used for Jonah spewed out by the fish (Jon 2:11, Hiphil), the drunkard's vomit (Isa 19:14; 28:8; Jer 48:26; Prov 25:16; Job 20:15), and the rich man's ill-gotten-wealth-regurgitation (Job 20:15). The ecological metaphor thus construes the land as a stomach that cannot tolerate abominations and involuntarily expels them by physiological necessity, not by moral deliberation.

2. טמא "defile" — The Five-Stem Concentric Spiral (vv. 24, 25, 27, 28, 30)

The same root טמא appears seven times in this pericope in five different morphological forms, creating a concentric spiral that tracks the contagion-logic:

Verse	Form	Parsing	Subject → Object	Voice-diathesis
24a	תִּטַּמְּאוּ	Hithpael Impf.2mp	Israel → themselves	Reflexive-self-defiling
24b	נִטְמְאוּ	Niphal Perf.3p	nations (past)	Passive-have-been-defiled
25a	תִּטְמָא	Qal Wayq.3fs	land (past-narrative)	Stative/ingressive "became unclean"
27b	תִּטְמָא	Qal Wayq.3fs	land (past-narrative, reprise)	Stative/ingressive
28a	טַמַּאֲכֶם	Piel InfCon.+2mp	Israel → land (prospective)	Piel transitive-causative: "your defiling (it)"
30a	תִטַּמְּאוּ	Hithpael Impf.2mp	Israel → themselves	Reflexive-self-defiling (closure)

Note on the count: the table lists six finite occurrences plus one infinitive — seven surface occurrences of the root across five morphological paradigms (Hithpael impf., Niphal perf., Qal wayq., Piel infCon, Hithpael impf. closure).

What the stem-alternation encodes:

• Hithpael (vv. 24a, 30a) = self-defilement — the agent and the patient are the same (Israel). Frame-sets the vetitive (v. 24) and concluding command (v. 30).
• Niphal (v. 24b) = became-defiled (passive or middle) — the prior nations are the subject; the abominations did the defiling to them. The Niphal here is not merely passive but medio-passive: the nations suffered defilement as the natural consequence of their abominations.
• Qal (vv. 25a, 27b) = stative-ingressive of the land itself — intransitive, "it became unclean" / "it entered a state of uncleanness." The Qal stem for the land (vs. the Hithpael for people, and the Piel for action upon the land) grammatically constructs the land as patient when acted on and agent (through the קיא Hiphil) when reacting.
• Piel (v. 28a, InfCon ṭammaʾăḵem "your defiling") = transitive-causative — Israel's action (inf + 2mp suff as subject) upon the land (אֹתָהּ as direct object). This is the middle-step: you (Piel) make it (land) unclean, so it (Qal) becomes unclean, so it (Hiphil of קיא) expels you.

The grammatical chain as theological argument:

Hithpael (you defile SELVES, v. 24)
    ↓ (extends contact-impurity)
Piel     (you defile the LAND, v. 28)
    ↓ (land enters unclean state)
Qal      (the LAND is-defiled, vv. 25, 27)
    ↓ (land reacts)
Hiphil of קיא  (LAND vomits YOU out, vv. 25, 28)

This is a grammatical sorites — the stem-progression itself carries the theological argument that self-defilement necessarily propagates to land-defilement and necessarily produces land-expulsion. The root טמא is the medium of the contagion; the stems are the stages of its propagation.

Cross-references: See H2931-tame for the lexical data on this root and stem-niphal for the Niphal-passive dynamics in v. 24b.

3. Corporate–Ecological Agency: The Feminine-Singular Land as Subject (vv. 25, 27, 28)

הָאָרֶץ is morphologically feminine singular (Noun.s.Abs, governed by 3fs verb-concord). In Lev 18:24–30 it appears five times as a grammatical subject or object of animate-level action:

1. v. 25a — subject of Qal wayyiqtol (wattiṭmāʾ): "it became defiled"
2. v. 25b — subject of Hiphil wayyiqtol (wattāqiʾ): "it vomited out"
3. v. 27b — subject of Qal wayyiqtol (wattiṭmāʾ): "it became defiled" (reprise)
4. v. 28a — subject of Hiphil yiqtol (tāqîʾ): "it shall vomit out"
5. v. 28b — subject of Qal qatal (qāʾâ): "it vomited" + obj marker אֹתָהּ referring back to it as defiled patient

The land is thus construed both as patient of defilement (by the inhabitants' abominations) and as agent of expulsion (of those same inhabitants). This grammatical double-construal is the formal machinery of a corporate-ecological juridical subject: the land is a party to the covenant who can suffer injury (defilement) and can execute sanction (vomiting).

The land–inhabitants concord: In v. 25 הָאָרֶץ (3fs) governs the verb wattāqiʾ (3fs) with yōšəḇeyhā "her inhabitants" as object. The 3fs pronominal suffix on יֹשְׁבֶיהָ binds the land to its population possessively — they are hers, and yet she vomits them. This is the grammar of a body rejecting its own tissue.

See corporate-solidarity for the collective-singular pattern operating in parallel with גּוֹי (v. 28b) and נְפָשׁוֹת (v. 29). The land-agent pattern here is the ecological extension of the corporate-solidarity pattern — a land, like a people, is a single juridical subject.

4. The Wayyiqtol "Narrative" Domain Embedded in "Discourse" (vv. 25, 27)

The parser tags clauses by domain: Q (quotation/discourse) or N (narrative). The whole of Lev 18:24–30 is YHWH's direct discourse to Israel (domain Q throughout). But vv. 25a, 25b, 25c and 27c are tagged domain N — narrative-domain clauses embedded within the divine discourse. This is because the three clauses of v. 25 and the third clause of v. 27 are wayyiqtol chains (WayX / Way0) — and wayyiqtol is a narrative-domain past form.

The grammatical effect is proleptic-retrospective narration: YHWH, while commanding Israel in the Sinai present, narrates the past-and-future expulsion of the Canaanite nations as if it were a completed past event. The wayyiqtol chain here is a divine retrospective that relativises the prospective audience's situation — from YHWH's point of view the Canaanites are already vomited out, and Israel's identical fate under identical conditions is already scripted.

The shift back to domain Q for v. 26 (weqatal command) marks the return from divine retrospective to direct paraenetic address; the shift forward to domain Q for v. 28 (yiqtol-prospective) marks the projection of the same script onto Israel's future.

5. לְבִלְתִּי עֲשׂוֹת — The Negative Infinitive-of-Purpose (v. 30)

The InfC clause ləḇiltî ʿăśôṯ in v. 30 is the Hebrew negative infinitive-of-purpose construction — a particle-governed negative-purpose prepositional phrase built from:

1. לְ — purpose-marking preposition (lamed of purpose)
2. בִּלְתִּי — an archaic negator particle (H1115; etymologically from בלה "waste/cease"), functioning as a "not"-marker only in construct-state (hence parser: Noun.s.Cst); it is never used as a free-standing adverb, only in bound construction with לְ or עַד
3. עֲשׂוֹת — Qal Infinitive Construct of עשׂה, serving as a verbal-noun object of the preposition

The full construction לְבִלְתִּי + InfCon is the standard Biblical-Hebrew idiom for "in order not to do X" (GKC §114s; Joüon-Muraoka §124e, §160i). It is used extensively in legal-paraenetic contexts — cf. Deut 17:20; 20:18; Jer 7:6; 17:24; 23:14; 27:18; Jer 18:10 (in the conditional-prophecy diptych, see jer-18-7-10 §6).

The clause hierarchy in v. 30:

  WQt0:   וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אֶת מִשְׁמַרְתִּי        (positive command)
            ↓ lə-biltî + InfCon ↓
  InfC:   לְבִלְתִּי עֲשׂוֹת מֵחֻקֹּות הַתֹּועֵבֹת  (negative purpose)
            ↓ asher-qatal ↓
  xQt0:   אֲשֶׁר נַעֲשׂוּ לִפְנֵיכֶם             (rel modifier)
  WxY0:   וְלֹא תִטַּמְּאוּ בָּהֶם              (parallel neg command)
  NmCl:   אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם              (self-introduction)

The positive command ušəmartem (keep my charge) is teleologically bound to the negative infinitive ləḇiltî ʿăśôṯ (so as not to do): the keeping is for the purpose of the not-doing. The grammar encodes an asymmetric command structure — the "keep" is the means, the "not-do" is the end. Apotropaic legal observance (keeping חוק and משפט) is prophylactic against abomination.

The triple-negative closure: v. 30 stacks three negations: 1. ləḇiltî ʿăśôṯ — negative-purpose infinitive 2. wə-lōʾ tiṭṭammǝʾû — negative yiqtol (parallel to the opening negative yiqtol of v. 24) 3. The implicit negation of "I am YHWH your God" (i.e., no other gods, no other statutes)

This creates a grammatical inclusio with v. 24 (ʾal-tiṭṭammǝʾû): the paragraph opens with a vetitive ʾal + Hithpael impf. ("do not defile yourselves") and closes with a parallel wə-lōʾ + Hithpael impf. ("and you shall not defile yourselves"). The root טמא and the Hithpael stem both recur at the frame-positions, tying the whole paragraph together morphologically.

6. וְנִכְרְתוּ הַנְּפָשׁוֹת — The Karet Formula (v. 29)

V. 29 deploys the standard karet-formula of the Holiness Code: a third-person conditional-casuistic structure ("whoever does X, the soul[s] shall be cut off from their people") built on:

1. CPen (casus pendens): kî kol — the topicalised protasis-head
2. xYq0 (asher + yiqtol): ʾăšer yaʿăśeh — the indefinite offender "whoever shall do"
3. WQtX (weqatal + subj): wə-niḵrəṯû han-nəp̄āšôṯ — the apodosis-sanction
4. Ptcp (rel): hā-ʿōśōṯ — "the doing-ones" (substantival, limits the subject)
5. mi-qereḇ ʿammām — "from among their people"

Morphology: The apodosis-verb wə-niḵrəṯû is Niphal perfect 3p with conjunctive/consecutive waw — a weqatal ("and shall be cut off"). The Niphal stem is here a divine-passive: YHWH is the implied agent of the cutting-off, but the surface grammar hides the agent (contrast the explicit 1cs wə-hiḵrattî "I will cut off" Hiphil of Lev 20:3, 5, 6). The Niphal niḵrat in karet-formulas is formulaic: it occurs 17× in the Pentateuch alone, always with נֶפֶשׁ as subject and מִקֶּרֶב עַמָּהּ / עַמָּיו / בְּנֵי עַמָּיו as source-complement.

The number-mismatch: kol ʾăšer yaʿăśeh is 3ms (singular indefinite offender), but wə-niḵrəṯû han-nəp̄āšôṯ is 3p (plural "souls"). The apodosis shifts to plural-distributive construal: the individual offender's nepeš is counted among a class of nəp̄āšôṯ (plural) who have likewise offended. This is a grammatical instance of the distributive construal — a singular violator is adjudicated as one of a class, and the sanction applies to the class.

Cross-reference: H3772-karath for the full lexical-semantic dossier on the karet sanction and its Niphal/Hiphil alternation.

7. תּוֹעֵבֹת "abominations" — The Semantic Anchor (vv. 26, 27, 29, 30)

The noun תּוֹעֵבָה (fem. sg., plural תּוֹעֵבֹת) appears four times in the paragraph (vv. 26, 27, 29, 30). It is the technical term for cultic-sexual-ethical violations that evoke divine revulsion. Its four occurrences are categorially coordinated with the paragraph's four legal moments:

Verse	Phrase	Function
26	מִכֹּל הַתּוֹעֵבֹת הָאֵלֶּה	Prohibition's object (neg yiqtol)
27	אֶת כָּל הַתּוֹעֵבֹת הָאֵל	Causal-ground's object (qatal, prior nations)
29	מִכֹּל הַתּוֹעֵבוֹת הָאֵלֶּה	Karet's trigger (yiqtol)
30	מֵחֻקּוֹת הַתּוֹעֵבֹת	Infinitive-of-purpose's object (negative inf.)

The four occurrences tie the four grammatical moments (prohibition / ground / sanction / closing command) into a single tightly-woven paraenetic fabric. The plural tôʿēḇōṯ collectivises the catalogue of vv. 6–23: each specific ʿervâ is now enumerated as one instance of the generic category tôʿēḇâ.

The construct chain in v. 30 (ḥuqqôṯ hat-tôʿēḇōṯ, "statutes of the abominations") is morphologically striking: ḥuqqôṯ is fem. pl. Construct, bound to the absolute hat-tôʿēḇōṯ (fem. pl. Absolute). The construct relation forms an ironic construct — "statutes of [= belonging to / prescribed by] abominations" — inverting the positive ḥuqqōṯay of v. 26 ("my statutes"). Israel must keep my statutes (v. 26, 30a) lest it observe the abominations' statutes (v. 30b): two competing ḥuqqah-codes, and Israel must choose one. This is grammatical polemic — the very word חֻקָּה is contested between YHWH and the prior-nations' cult-system.

Cross-reference: H8441-towebah for the full lexical-theological profile of tôʿēḇâ.

8. וָאֶפְקֹד — The Divine Reckoning (v. 25a)

The one 1cs verb in the pericope is wā-ʾep̄qōḏ "and I visited/reckoned" (Qal wayyiqtol of פקד) — embedded between the two 3fs land-verbs of v. 25 (wat-tiṭmāʾ … wāʾep̄qōḏ … wat-tāqiʾ). The placement is theologically load-bearing:

• v. 25a: wattiṭmāʾ hā-ʾāreṣ — "and the land became defiled" (3fs subject)
• v. 25a-mid: wāʾep̄qōḏ ʿăwōnâh ʿāleyhā — "and I reckoned its iniquity upon it" (1cs subject, YHWH)
• v. 25b: wat-tāqiʾ hā-ʾāreṣ ʾeṯ-yōšəḇeyhā — "and the land vomited out her inhabitants" (3fs subject)

The 1cs verb is sandwiched between the two 3fs verbs of the land. This grammatical positioning encodes the theological structure: the land's defilement happens, then YHWH judicially assigns the iniquity (פקד = "muster / reckon / visit" in judicial sense), and then the land executes the expulsion. YHWH is not the expeller; YHWH is the reckoner. The expulsion is the land's emetic response to the reckoned-iniquity. This grammatical division of labour between 1cs (reckon) and 3fs (expel) keeps YHWH juridically responsible but ecologically mediated.

עָלֶיהָ "upon it" is a 3fs suffix referring back to הָאָרֶץ: the iniquity is reckoned upon the land (not upon the inhabitants). This is striking — the land bears the iniquity as a deposit (cf. Num 5:31 for nāśāʾ ʿāwōn as bearing guilt). The land, in effect, is guilt-credited on behalf of its inhabitants, and then discharges the credit by the emetic response.

9. The Holiness-Code Signature: Native-and-Sojourner (v. 26)

V. 26b explicitly extends the command to hā-ʾezrāḥ wə-hag-gēr hag-gār bəṯôḵəḵem "the native and the sojourner who sojourns in your midst." This is a Holiness-Code signature formula (cf. Lev 16:29; 17:15; 18:26; 19:34; 24:16, 22; Num 15:16, 29). The command is territorially (not ethnically) scoped: anyone dwelling in the land is bound by the ḥuqqôṯ / mišpāṭîm because the land is the one that reacts to defilement, and the land does not distinguish native from foreigner. The grammatical universalisation of the subject (ʾezrāḥ + gēr) confirms the ecological-not-ethnic logic of the expulsion-sanction.

The participial hag-gār (Qal Ptcp.ms.Abs) functions as a relative-attributive substantive ("the-one-who-sojourns"), specifying the gēr as the dwelling-gēr (not the transient visitor). The root play gēr … gār (noun + cognate participle) is stylistic but carries the force: "the resident-alien who [actually] resides."

10. Symmetric Inclusio: vv. 24 and 30

The paragraph is framed by two structurally symmetric verses:

Feature	v. 24 (opening)	v. 30 (closing)
Negative form	אַל-vetitive + Hithpael impf.	לֹא-vetitive + Hithpael impf. (v. 30b)
Root	טמא Hithpael 2mp	טמא Hithpael 2mp
Ground	כִּי + Niphal perf. (prior nations defiled)	אֲשֶׁר + Niphal perf. (prior abominations done)
Prior-nation reference	הַגֹּויִם	לִפְנֵיכֶם
Positive counterpart	—	וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אֶת־מִשְׁמַרְתִּי (v. 30a)
Divine self-reference	אֲנִי מְשַׁלֵּחַ (Piel Ptcp — "I am expelling")	אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם (nominal formula)

The inclusio's rhetorical point: the opening gives the ground (the nations already defiled), the closing gives the remedy (keep the charge, do not defile yourselves). The root טמא Hithpael 2mp is the exact lexical-morphological frame for the whole paragraph — you do not defile yourselves (v. 24) precisely because you shall not defile yourselves (v. 30). The indicative-vetitive becomes the prospective-prohibition, and the paragraph's entire argument is compressed into the semantic equivalence of its frames.

The Paradigm as a Whole: Grammatical Architecture of Ecological Expulsion

Reading the seven verses as a single grammatical unit, the paradigm exhibits a chiastic-ecological architecture:

A   v. 24   Vetitive: "do not defile yourselves" + ground: the nations were defiled
  B   v. 25  Narrative: LAND defiled → YHWH reckoned → LAND vomited
    C   v. 26 Positive+negative command: keep my statutes, do not do abominations
    C'  v. 27 Causal-ground echoing v. 26: for the prior-men did abominations, land defiled
  B'  v. 28   Prospective: LAND shall not vomit you when you defile it, as it vomited prior nation
    D   v. 29 Karet-sanction for individual offenders
A'  v. 30   Positive: keep my charge + negative purpose: not-do abominations + not defile selves

• A//A' = Hithpael 2mp ṭmʾ frame-inclusio
• B//B' = land-agent Qal/Hiphil ṭmʾ/qyʾ sequence (narrative past vs. yiqtol prospective)
• C//C' = שׁמר-חוק-משפט command + ground
• D = karet-sanction as climactic individual-level judgment, nested inside the corporate-ecological judgment of B'

The grammatical architecture enforces the theological claim that corporate/ecological and individual judgments are two parallel tracks with grammatically distinct mechanisms: the land vomits nations (corporate, 3fs, Hiphil of קיא) while YHWH cuts off persons (individual, Niphal-divine-passive of כרת). The Holiness Code needs both mechanisms because covenant-fidelity is both a corporate and an individual matter.

Comparative Reference: Lev 20:22–24 (Sibling Passage)

The sibling pericope Lev 20:22–24 recycles the identical grammatical frame:

• Lev 20:22 — ûšəmartem ʾeṯ kol ḥuqqōṯay wə-ʾeṯ kol mišpāṭay wa-ʿăśîṯem ʾōṯām wə-lōʾ ṯāqîʾ ʾeṯḵem hā-ʾāreṣ ("keep … and do not defile it, that the land vomit you not out"). The Hiphil tāqîʾ is again 3fs with land-subject and 2mp object.
• Lev 20:23 — adds a distinctive 1cs wā-ʾāqûṣ bām ("and I abhorred them"), a Qal of קוץ that parenthetically intrudes YHWH's emotional response into the ecological-expulsion schema.

The two passages together establish the canonical Holiness-Code rule: land-defilement by abomination → land-expulsion of the defiler. Lev 18:24–30 is the argumentative version (with the conditional prospective extension), Lev 20:22–24 is the summary version. Both use the קיא Hiphil 3fs with land-subject.

Cross-References

• Grammar library (Hebrew):
• corporate-solidarity — the collective-noun singular/plural construal (גּוֹי, נֶפֶשׁ here)
• stem-niphal — Niphal passive/medio-passive (נִטְמְאוּ v. 24; וְנִכְרְתוּ v. 29; נַעֲשׂוּ v. 30)
• stem-hiphil — Hiphil causative (תָּקִא, תָקִיא vv. 25, 28)
• qal-imperfect — for the yiqtol forms

• syntax-waw-conjunction — polyfunctional waw across the pericope

• Passage library (related):

• jer-18-7-10 — the conditional-prophecy diptych (also uses לְבִלְתִּי + InfCon); the Jeremiah formula provides the meta-rule for which Lev 18:24–30 is an instance

• Word studies (Hebrew):

• H2931-tame — the defilement root
• H3772-karath — the karet-sanction verb
• H8441-towebah — abomination
• H5315-nephesh — the "soul" that is cut off
• TR-tame-akathartos — translation-pair dossier

Summary

Lev 18:24–30 encodes the land-vomiting paradigm through four load-bearing grammatical devices: (1) the rare קיא verb in Qal/Hiphil with feminine-singular land-subject mediating divine judgment as an ecological-emetic response; (2) the טמא root in five different morphological stems tracing a grammatical sorites from self-defilement (Hithpael) through transitive-defilement (Piel) to land-defilement (Qal) to expulsion (Hiphil of קיא); (3) the corporate-ecological agency of the land as both patient and agent within a narrative-domain wayyiqtol chain embedded in the divine discourse; and (4) the לְבִלְתִּי + Infinitive Construct negative-purpose construction binding "keep my charge" teleologically to "not-do the abominations." The karet formula of v. 29 (Niphal-divine-passive of כרת) operates as an individual-level counterpart to the corporate land-expulsion, together establishing the Holiness Code's two-track sanction system. The paragraph is framed by a Hithpael 2mp inclusio on טמא (v. 24 / v. 30) that binds the whole as a unified exhortation: the holiness of the people is the condition of the land's tolerance of them, and defilement is not merely moral failure but a physiological-ecological emetic trigger that the land cannot but execute.

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Generated from: hebrew_parser.py (--verse, --clause, --lemma, --construct), KJV text, ETCBC/BHSA clause-tagging Last updated: 2026-04-18