Deuteronomy 10:14
הֵן לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ הַשָּׁמַיִם וּשְׁמֵי הַשָּׁמָיִם הָאָרֶץ וְכָל־אֲשֶׁר־בָּֽהּ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
הֵ֚ן לַיהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וּשְׁמֵ֣י הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם הָאָ֖רֶץ וְכָל־אֲשֶׁר־בָּֽהּ׃
ἰδοὺ κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ἡ γῆ καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἐστὶν ἐν αὐτῇ·
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
En Domini Dei tui cælum est, et cælum cæli, terra, et omnia quæ in ea sunt:
He aquí que a Yehová su Dios pertenecen los cielos, el cielo de los cielos y la tierra con todo lo que hay en ella.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
He aquí, de Jehová tu Dios son los cielos, y los cielos de los cielos: la tierra, y todas las cosas que hay en ella.
Behold, to the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, and the earth and everything in it.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse asserts that the heavens, including the highest heavens, the earth, and everything in it, belong to Yehovah, the God addressed in the second person singular ("your"). It opens with an interjection calling attention to this statement of possession.
Key words
- hen ("there!", H2005) — an interjection that draws attention to the declaration that follows, often rendered "behold."
- YHWH ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the divine name, here marked with the preposition la ("[belong] to", H9005), establishing possession.
- Elohei-kha ("God of you", H0430G + H9021) — construct noun with a second-person masculine singular suffix, meaning "your God."
- shemei ha-shamayim ("[the] heavens of the heavens", H8064 construct + H8064) — a construct chain repeating the same noun, doubling the term "heavens."
- ba-h ("in it", H9003 + H9034) — preposition with a feminine singular suffix referring back to ha-'aretz ("the earth", H0776G), which is grammatically feminine.
What the text says
The sentence begins with hen ("there!", H2005), an interjection that introduces the statement rather than functioning as a verb. The main clause has no explicit verb "to be"; instead, possession is expressed through the preposition la ("[belong] to", H9005) attached directly to YHWH ("Yehovah", H3068G). This construction — preposition of possession + subject nouns following — is a standard Hebrew way of saying "X belongs to Y" without a copula.
The list of possessed items follows: ha-shamayim ("the heavens", H8064), then u-shemei ha-shamayim ("and [the] heavens of the heavens", H8064 construct + H8064), a construct phrase doubling the noun "heavens" to intensify or extend the scope (commonly understood as referring to the totality or highest extent of the heavens). Then ha-'aretz ("the earth", H0776G) is added, followed by ve-khol 'asher ba-h ("and all that [is] in it", H3605 + H0834A + H9003 + H9034), where the relative particle 'asher ("that", H0834A) introduces a clause modifying khol ("all", H3605), and the suffix -h ("it", H9034) on bah refers back to ha-'aretz ("the earth", H0776G), agreeing in feminine gender.
The repetition of shamayim ("heavens", H8064) in construct form (shemei ha-shamayim) is a Hebrew grammatical device using the same word twice in a construct chain, which the source data glosses as "[the] heavens of the heavens."
Differences between versions
The LXX renders the construct phrase shemei ha-shamayim as "ὁ οὐρανὸς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ" (singular "heaven" instead of plural "heavens"), while the Hebrew uses plural shamayim ("heavens", H8064) throughout. The Vulgate follows a similar pattern with "cælum et cælum cæli" (singular "heaven" and "heaven of heaven"). The BSB translates the doubled construct as "the highest heavens," an interpretive rendering not present as a separate lexical item in the Hebrew text, which literally repeats "heavens" in construct form rather than using a superlative expression.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.