Deuteronomy 10:17

Summary

The verse identifies Yehovah as supreme among all divine and lordly powers, describing him with three attributes (great, mighty, awesome) and then characterizing his justice: he shows no favoritism and accepts no bribe.

Key words

• 'Elohei ("God of", H0430G) — masculine plural construct, forming the phrase "God of the gods" ('elohei ha'Elohim), a superlative construction placing Yehovah above the category 'Elohim ("gods", H0430J).
• 'Adonei ("lord/s of", H0113) — masculine plural construct, parallel to the previous phrase, producing "lord of the lords" ('adonei ha'adonim), reinforcing the superlative pattern.
• ha-Nora' ("the awesome", H3372H) — Niphal participle (passive/reflexive stem) of the root meaning "to fear/be feared"; as a participle it functions like an adjective, "the one who is feared/awesome."
• yissa' ("he lifts up", H5375Q) — Qal imperfect, third person masculine; part of the idiom nasa' panim ("to lift up the face"), meaning "to show partiality/favoritism."
• yiqqach ("he takes", H3947G) — Qal imperfect, third person masculine, describing a habitual or characteristic non-action ("he does not take") parallel to yissa'.

What the text says

The verse opens with the causal particle ki ("for/that", H3588A), linking it to the preceding context as a explanatory clause. The subject is Yehovah (H3068G) together with 'Elohei-khem ("God of you[pl]", H0430G + H9026), followed by the resumptive pronoun hu' ("he", H1931), which in Hebrew syntax emphasizes identity: "Yehovah your God — he [is]..." This construction sets up a predicate nominative pattern without an explicit copula, typical of Hebrew verbless clauses.

The predicate consists of two parallel construct chains: 'Elohei ha'Elohim ("God of the gods") and 'adonei ha'adonim ("lord of the lords"). Both use the construct plural form to express a superlative — the noun is elevated above all others of the same class, a pattern comparable to expressions like "song of songs." This is followed by three descriptive terms applied to ha'El ("the God", H0410G): ha-gadol ("the great", adjective), ha-gibbor ("the mighty", noun functioning adjectivally), and ha-nora' (the Niphal participle discussed above), each carrying the definite article, binding them tightly to ha'El.

The final clause uses a relative 'asher ("who", H0834A) to introduce two parallel negated imperfect verbs: lo'-yissa' panim ("he does not lift up a face") and lo' yiqqach shochad ("he does not take a bribe"). Both idioms describe impartial conduct, expressed through concrete physical imagery — "lifting a face" and "taking" an object — rather than abstract vocabulary.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ha-nora' ("the awesome", from the root "to fear") as ho phoberos ("the fearsome"), a direct semantic match. However, for lo'-yissa' panim ("he does not lift up a face"), the LXX uses ou thaumazei prosōpon ("he does not marvel at/admire a face"), a different verb than the Hebrew idiom of "lifting." The Vulgate's personam non accipit ("he does not accept a person") shifts the idiom again, using "accept" rather than "lift," aligning more closely with the sense of favoritism but diverging lexically from both Hebrew and Greek phrasing.