Deuteronomy 11:16

Summary

Deuteronomy 11:16 is a warning addressed to the people (plural "you") to guard against a specific internal danger: that their heart become seduced, leading through a chain of consequences to serving and bowing down to other gods. The verse uses a series of grammatical forms that build a cause-and-effect sequence from inner deception to outward worship.

Key words

• hi.sha.me.Ru ("take heed", H8104J) — niphal imperative plural, a reflexive/passive command: "guard yourselves," setting the tone of self-vigilance for the whole verse.
• yif.Teh ("it should be deceived", H6601B) — qal imperfect, third person, describing an ongoing or potential future action; the subject is the heart, not the person directly.
• le.vav.Khem ("your heart", H3824 + H9026) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, forming "heart of you (plural)," the grammatical subject of the deception.
• sar.Tem ("you will turn aside", H5493I) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the chain begun by the pen clause; grammatically it follows from the heart's deception as a resulting action.
• 'a.vad.Tem ("you will serve", H5647H) and hish.ta.cha.vi.Tem ("you will bow down", H7812) — both sequential perfects, each in vav-consecutive chain with the previous verb, showing an escalating sequence: turning aside → serving → bowing down.

What the text says

The verse opens with a niphal imperative, hi.sha.me.Ru ("take heed", H8104J), directed at the group ("yourselves," via the H9036 suffix on la.Khem). This is followed by the particle pen ("lest", H6435), which introduces a negative purpose/result clause. Within that clause, the qal imperfect yif.Teh ("it should be deceived", H6601B) has as its subject le.vav.Khem ("your heart", H3824+H9026) — grammatically, it is the heart that is deceived, not the people directly, though the plural suffix ties it to the whole group.

After the pen clause, three sequential perfects follow, each joined by the narrative vav (H9001): sar.Tem ("you will turn aside", H5493I), 'a.vad.Tem ("you will serve", H5647H), and hish.ta.cha.vi.Tem ("you will bow down", H7812). This chain of sequential perfects presents a linear progression: the deceived heart leads to turning aside, which leads to serving 'E.lo.Him 'a.che.Rim ("other gods", H0430J + H0312), which leads to bowing down to them (la.Hem, H9038). The Hebrew grammar thus frames the outward acts of serving and bowing as consequences following from an initial internal state (the heart's deception), rather than as separate independent actions.

Differences between versions

The LXX opens with καὶ φαγὼν καὶ ἐμπλησθεὶς ("and having eaten and been filled"), material not present in this Hebrew clause as given, apparently carrying over from a preceding verse. Where the Hebrew has yif.Teh ("it should be deceived", H6601B), the LXX uses πλατυνθῇ ("be widened/enlarged"), a different verbal image for the heart's condition. The Vulgate adds a Domino ("from the Lord") after "recedatis," specifying the object of turning aside, an element not explicit in the Hebrew text provided, which does not name what is turned away from.