Deuteronomy 1:4

Summary

The verse dates the discourse of Moses to a moment "after" he had defeated two Amorite kings east of the Jordan: Sihon, who ruled from Heshbon, and Og, who ruled from Bashan and resided in Ashtaroth and Edrei. It functions as a temporal marker anchoring the speech that follows in Deuteronomy.

Key words

• 'acharei ("after", H0310A) — construct form of a plural noun used as a preposition, setting up the temporal clause that follows.
• hakoto ("his defeating / his having struck", H5221) — Hiphil infinitive construct with 3ms pronominal suffix o ("he/his"); the infinitive with prefixed 'acharei creates the sense "after he struck."
• 'et (H0853, x2) — direct object marker, untranslatable, marking Sihon and Og as objects of the striking.
• yoshev ("dwelling", H3427, x2) — Qal participle, masculine singular, describing a continuous or characteristic state ("the one who dwells/was dwelling") rather than a single completed action.
• 'asher ("who/that", H0834A, x2) — relative particle introducing descriptive clauses about each king's residence.

What the text says

The verse opens with the temporal preposition 'acharei ("after", H0310A) governing the infinitive hakoto ("his striking/defeating", H5221), a Hiphil form indicating causative action — Moses (or Yehovah through Moses, per the wider narrative) caused Sihon and Og to be struck. The pronominal suffix o attached to the infinitive supplies the subject ("he") without a separate pronoun, a compact construction typical of Hebrew infinitive clauses.

Two parallel objects follow, each marked by the untranslated object marker 'et (H0853): first Sihon, melekh ha'emori ("king of the Amorite[s]"), and then Og, melekh ha-Bashan ("king of Bashan"). Each king receives a relative clause introduced by 'asher ("who", H0834A) with the participle yoshev ("dwelling", H3427), describing where he resided — Heshbon for Sihon, and Ashtaroth and Edrei for Og. The participle form conveys an ongoing or habitual state of dwelling rather than a punctual event, distinguishing the description of residence from the completed action of defeat expressed by the infinitive hakoto.

The two place names for Og — 'Ashtarot (H6252H) and 'Edre'i (H0154) — are both governed by the same preposition be ("in", H9003) and both depend on the single participle yoshev, indicating Og's dwelling encompassed both locations.

Differences between versions

In the Hebrew, "in Edrei" (H0154) modifies Og's dwelling, alongside Ashtaroth. The BSB instead attaches "at Edrei" to the act of defeating Og ("then at Edrei had defeated Og"), relocating the place name from the description of residence to the description of the battle. The SBLIBRE Spanish version goes further, attaching "en Edrei" to the striking of Sihon ("después de haber herido en Edrei a Sehón"), rather than to Og's residence as in the Hebrew, LXX, and Vulgate, which all keep Edrei with Og's dwelling clause.