Leviticus 23:2

Posted on April 23, 2006 by Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

2 Loquere filiis Israel, et dices ad eos: Hæ sunt feriæ Domini, quas vocabitis sanctas.

“Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them: ‘These are the feasts of the LORD, which you shall call holy.

# Latin Gloss Grammar Tag
1 Loquere speak 2SG.PRES.DEP.IMP.MOOD
2 filiis sons DAT.PL.M
3 Israel Israel INDECL.PROPN
4 et and CONJ
5 dices you shall say 2SG.FUT.ACT.IND
6 ad to PREP+ACC
7 eos them ACC.PL.M.PERS
8 Hæ these NOM.PL.F.DEM
9 sunt are 3PL.PRES.ACT.IND
10 feriæ feasts NOM.PL.F
11 Domini of the LORD GEN.SG.M
12 quas which ACC.PL.F.REL
13 vocabitis you shall call 2PL.FUT.ACT.IND
14 sanctas holy ACC.PL.F.ADJ

Syntax

Initial Command: Loquere filiis Israel — deponent imperative directing Moses to address the covenant community.
Coordinated Future: et dices ad eos — introduces the content of the proclamation.
Copular Declaration: Hæ sunt feriæ Domini — identifies the subject matter as YHWH’s appointed feasts.
Relative Clause: quas vocabitis sanctas — assigns Israel the role of formally designating the feasts as holy.

Morphology

  1. Loquere — Lemma: loquor; Part of Speech: Verb (deponent); Form: second person singular present imperative; Function: command; Translation: “speak”; Notes: Deponent verb with active meaning.
  2. filiis — Lemma: filius; Part of Speech: Noun; Form: dative masculine plural; Function: indirect object; Translation: “sons”; Notes: Standard designation of the covenant people.
  3. Israel — Lemma: Israel; Part of Speech: Proper noun; Form: indeclinable; Function: genitive complement in sense; Translation: “Israel”; Notes: Collective national name.
  4. et — Lemma: et; Part of Speech: Conjunction; Form: indeclinable; Function: coordination; Translation: “and”; Notes: Links sequential instructions.
  5. dices — Lemma: dico; Part of Speech: Verb; Form: second person singular future active indicative; Function: predictive command; Translation: “you shall say”; Notes: Legislative future.
  6. ad — Lemma: ad; Part of Speech: Preposition; Form: governing the accusative; Function: direction; Translation: “to”; Notes: Marks the addressees.
  7. eos — Lemma: is; Part of Speech: Personal pronoun; Form: accusative masculine plural; Function: object of ad; Translation: “them”; Notes: Refers back to the sons of Israel.
  8. Hæ — Lemma: hic; Part of Speech: Demonstrative pronoun; Form: nominative feminine plural; Function: subject; Translation: “these”; Notes: Points forward to the defined feasts.
  9. sunt — Lemma: sum; Part of Speech: Verb; Form: third person plural present active indicative; Function: copula; Translation: “are”; Notes: Links subject and predicate.
  10. feriæ — Lemma: feriæ; Part of Speech: Noun; Form: nominative feminine plural; Function: predicate nominative; Translation: “feasts”; Notes: Refers to appointed sacred times.
  11. Domini — Lemma: dominus; Part of Speech: Noun; Form: genitive masculine singular; Function: possessive genitive; Translation: “of the LORD”; Notes: Identifies YHWH as owner and institutor.
  12. quas — Lemma: qui; Part of Speech: Relative pronoun; Form: accusative feminine plural; Function: object of vocabitis; Translation: “which”; Notes: Refers back to feriæ.
  13. vocabitis — Lemma: voco; Part of Speech: Verb; Form: second person plural future active indicative; Function: verb of designation; Translation: “you shall call”; Notes: Assigns communal responsibility.
  14. sanctas — Lemma: sanctus; Part of Speech: Adjective; Form: accusative feminine plural; Function: predicate adjective; Translation: “holy”; Notes: Denotes ritual consecration.

 

About Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

Born around 346 A.D. in Stridon, St. Jerome was a scholar fluent in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew whose ascetic discipline and deep engagement with Scripture prepared him for a monumental task: translating the Bible into Latin. Commissioned by Pope Damasus I around 382 A.D., Jerome began by revising the flawed Old Latin Gospels, then expanded his work to the entire Bible. For the New Testament, he corrected Latin texts using Greek manuscripts; for the Old Testament, he translated most books directly from Hebrew—a controversial but principled choice. His final Psalter, however, followed the Greek Septuagint tradition for liturgical use. This composite translation, later known as the Vulgate (editio vulgata), became the authoritative biblical text of the Western Church, formally endorsed at the Council of Trent in 1546. The Vulgate’s influence extends beyond theology into textual criticism and Latin education. As one of the earliest translations grounded in original-language scholarship, it offers a vital witness to the state of biblical texts in late antiquity. Jerome’s lexical and syntactic decisions are studied to trace manuscript history and assess variant readings. Its elegant Latin, consistent in grammar and rich in vocabulary, became a model for medieval and Renaissance learning, bridging classical and ecclesiastical Latin. More than a translation, the Vulgate helped define Christian doctrine, preserved the Latin language, and laid essential groundwork for the critical study of Scripture—remaining indispensable to students of Latin, theology, and textual history.
This entry was posted in Leviticus. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.