Leviticus 18:23:4Lev.18.23.W4TAB
לְטָמְאָה־בָ֑הּ
lehtahmahvah
“to defile with her”
- Transliteration
- leh-tahm-ah-VAH
- Extended
- leh-tahm-ah-VAAH
- IPA
- /lə.taːm.ʔaːˈvaːh/
Meaning by language
- English
- to defile with her
Hebrew · tap a syllable to hear it
Alphabet Analysis
| Lamed | l as in law | |
| Sheva | vocal sheva — a short 'e' (ə), begins a syllable | |
| Tet | t — emphatic | |
| Qamets | long 'ah' | |
| Mem | m as in mother | |
| Sheva | silent sheva — no sound; closes the syllable | |
| Aleph | silent — a glottal stop; holds vowel points | |
| Qamets | long 'ah' | |
| He | h as in house; silent at word end | |
| Bet | b with dagesh; v without dagesh | |
| Qamets | long 'ah' | |
| He | h as in house; silent at word end |
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The word
Word in context
- word
leh-tahm-ah-VAH
- clause
oo-veh-KHOL-beh-HEH-MAH loh-ti-TEN she-KHAV-te-KHA leh-tahm-ah-VAH
- sentence
oo-veh-KHOL-beh-HEH-MAH loh-ti-TEN she-KHAV-te-KHA leh-tahm-ah-VAH veh-i-SHAH loh-ta-ah-MOD lif-NEI veh-HEH-MAH leh-riv-AH TE-vel HU
Exegesis
In the first clause, the negative particle lo and the Qal imperfect titten {תִּתֵּן | tîttēn} ‘you shall give’ govern shekhavtekha {שְׁכָבְתְּךָ | shekhaḇtəḵā} ‘lying’, followed by the infinitive construct letame’ah with bah {לְטָמְאָה־בָּהּ | ləṭāmāʾāh bāh} ‘to defile in it’, indicating ritual pollution.
Root and etymology
t-m-ʾtet-mem-aleph
“to be/become unclean”
In context — Leviticus 18:23
With any animal, you shall not have intercourse to defile yourself in it; nor shall a woman stand before an animal for mating; it is perversion .
About this coordinate
Leviticus 18:23:4 is a BCV:P reference — Book · Chapter · Verse · Word Position. It addresses word 4 of Leviticus 18:23, so the Hebrew word לְטָמְאָה־בָ֑הּ (lehtahmahvah) can be cited, linked and studied at exactly this position rather than somewhere in the verse. In the Biblical Knowledge Coordinate System the same position is written Lev.18.23.W4, which extends further down to each syllable (Lev.18.23.W4.S1) and character.