Verse 23 Greek/Hebrew Text

13:23הֲיַהֲפֹ֤ךְ כּוּשִׁי֙ עוֹר֔וֹ וְנָמֵ֖ר חֲבַרְבֻּרֹתָ֑יו גַּם־אַתֶּם֙ תּוּכְל֣וּ לְהֵיטִ֔יב לִמֻּדֵ֖י הָרֵֽעַ׃

Verse 23 Sentence Flow

הֲיַהֲפֹ֤ךְ - interrogative + Qal Imperfect Third Person Masculine Singular = Can (he) change/turn
  כּוּשִׁי֙ - AS, subject = Cushite
    עוֹר֔וֹ - NMS, direct object + 3MS pronominal suffix = his skin
    וְנָמֵ֖ר - waw conjunctive + NMS = and (the) leopard
    חֲבַרְבֻּרֹתָ֑יו - NFP + 3MS pronominal suffix = his spots

תּוּכְל֣וּ - Qal Imperfect Second Person Masculine Plural = can
  גַּם־אַתֶּם֙ - Second Masculine Plural Subject Pronoun + adverb = you also
    לְהֵיטִ֔יב - preposition + hifil infinitive construct = to do good
    הָרֵֽעַ - hifil infinitive construct, predicate = to do evil
      לִמֻּדֵ֖י - NMP, construct = those accustomed to / disciples of

Verse 23 Translation Rationale

Jeremiah 13:23 illustrates the beautiful function of Hebrew parallelism. As one can tell from the formatting in most English Bibles, this is understood to be Hebrew poetry by translators. That’s noteworthy because Hebrew poetry is full of parallelism and chiastic structures. Therefore, what we see in Jeremiah 13:23 is an A-B parallelism. Subjectively speaking, the best way to translate this verse may be in the form of two rhetorical questions that intend to arrive at a negative answer.

The first portion of the verse opens with the interrogative הֲ denoting that there is a question being asked. The interrogative particle is affixed to the Qal perfect 3MS verb הפך which means to “change/turn.” The next word is translated as Cushite and is the subject of the verb. The object of the verb is the next string of words which begin with עוֹר֔וֹ. This noun has a 3MS pronominal suffix denoting possession and is translated “his skin.” Next is the word וְנָמֵ֖ר and it begins with a waw conjuctive. Most of the time the waw conjunctive is translated as “and.” In this case, context presses us to translate it as “or.” Although, both options would be satisfactory grammatically. The noun to which the waw conjunctive is attached is נָמֵר and is translated as “leopard.” The final word in the first portion of this text is חֲבַרְבֻּרֹתָ֑יו and is a noun with a 3MS pronominal suffix denoting possession. We would translate this construction as “his spots.” Our final rendering of the “a” portion of the parallelism is “Can the Cushite change his skin or the leopard his spots?”

The opening of the second portion of the verse is where we see the parallelism really start to come to life. The first construction is גַּם־אַתֶּם֙ and functions as the subject of the verb תּוּכְל֣וּ. This is called marked word order in Hebrew because normally Hebrew will follow a verb->subject word order. However, this construction follows an adverb/subject->verb word order. This is done to show emphasis. To pick up on the interrogative nature of the first portion of parallelism we need to supply the word “are” at the opening of the sentence. Now we translate the first construct as “you also.” We do this to impose the adverbial nature of “also” onto the verb “able.” Therefore, “you also” makes up the subject of the Qal imperfect second person masculine plural תּוּכְל֣וּ. This verb communicates in the active voice the ability to do something, to be able. So far we have “Are you also able.” The next construction is a preposition affixed to a hifil infinitive construct and is translated as “to do good.” Finally, we have a construct chain לִמֻּדֵ֖י הָרֵֽעַ. The masculine plural verb is translated as “accustomed.” We then connect the noun to the infinitive construct and translate it “who are accustomed to doing evil.” The infinitive construct means “to do evil.” When the two are joined in the predicate position a linking verb must be supplied and the plural nature of the noun needs to be drawn out for clarity in the clause in English.

Verse 23 English Translation

Can the Cushite change his skin or the leopard his spots? Are you also able to do good who are accustomed to doing evil?

Verse 23 Interpretive Questions

1. Can a human change his ways all by himself?