וְלָקַחְתָּ֥

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 וְלָקַחְתָּ֥

   ve-la-kakh-TA

   and you take
2. phraseyour reading level🔊 וְלָקַחְתָּ֥ לְךָ֖

   ve-la-kakh-TA le-KHA

   and you take for yourself
3. clause🔊 וְחָשַׁקְתָּ֣ בָ֔הּ וְלָקַחְתָּ֥ לְךָ֖ לְאִשָּֽׁה׃

   ve-kha-shak-TA BAH ve-la-kakh-TA le-KHA le-i-SHA

   and you desire her and you take for yourself as a wife
4. sentence🔊 וְרָאִיתָ֙ בַּשִּׁבְיָ֔ה אֵ֖שֶׁת יְפַת־תֹּ֑אַר וְחָשַׁקְתָּ֣ בָ֔הּ וְלָקַחְתָּ֥ לְךָ֖ לְאִשָּֽׁה׃

   ve-ra-i-TA ba-shiv-YA E-shet ye-FAT-TO-ar ve-kha-shak-TA BAH ve-la-kakh-TA le-KHA le-i-SHA

   and you see among the captives a woman beautiful of form and you desire her and you take for yourself as a wife

Exegesis

The clause concludes with ve-lakachta le-kha le-ishah {וְלָקַחְתָּ לְךָ לְאִשָּׁה | wə-lā-qāḥ-tā lə-kā lə-ʾiš-šāh}, literally “and you took for yourself as a wife,” where the sequence of two prepositional phrases emphasizes personal appropriation and marital status. The formal translation retains the conditional “when” and mirrors Hebrew structure, while the dynamic uses “if” and smoother phrasing to reflect causal relationship and modern readability.

Root and etymology

l-q-ḥ🔊 ל־קׇ־ח

“to take, seize, receive”