Deuteronomy 13:11

Summary

Deuteronomy 13:11 describes the intended effect of punishing the crime described earlier in the chapter: all Israel will hear about it, react with fear, and this will deter repetition of "this evil thing" within the community.

Key words

• yish.me.'U ("they will hear", H8085G) — qal imperfect, third person masculine plural, describing an action extending into the future; the subject is khol Yis.ra.'El ("all Israel").
• yi.ra.'U + paragogic n ("they will fear", H3372G) — qal imperfect with vav conjunction and an added nun ending, a form that in Hebrew grammar often carries emphatic or solemn weight, following directly after the hearing.
• yo.Si.fu ("they will repeat", H3254G) — hiphil (causative) imperfect, negated by lo' ("not", H3808); the causative stem frames the action as "causing to add/continue," here negated to mean "will not continue/repeat."
• 'a.Sot ("do", H6213A) — qal infinitive, governed by the preposition la. ("to", H9005), forming the phrase "to do," dependent on the negated verb yo.Si.fu.
• kir.Be. + cha ("your midst", H7130G + H9021) — construct noun with second-person masculine singular suffix, "in your midst," locating the prohibited action within the community addressed.

What the text says

The verse opens with ve.khol Yis.ra.'El ("and all Israel"), the subject governing two coordinated qal imperfect verbs: yish.me.'U ("they will hear") and yi.ra.'U ("they will fear"), the latter carrying the paragogic nun ending. This suffix, marked in the data as emphasis, does not change the basic meaning "they will fear" but is a stylistic feature of Hebrew verb forms sometimes found in poetic or solemn contexts.

The third clause is built differently: ve.lo'-yo.Si.fu la.'a.Sot ("and they will not repeat to do"). Here the hiphil verb yo.Si.fu ("they will repeat/add") does not stand alone but is completed by the infinitive 'a.Sot ("do") attached via the preposition la. ("to"). This is a common Hebrew construction where a finite verb of continuation or repetition is paired with an infinitive to express "doing again." The object of this infinitive is ka.da.Var ha.Ra' ha.Zeh ("like this evil thing"), using the comparative preposition ka. ("like/as") rather than a direct object marker, so the construction is "to do according to/like this evil matter," not simply "to do this evil matter." The final phrase, be.kir.Be.cha ("in your midst"), uses the construct noun kir.Be ("midst") with a second-person singular suffix, addressing the collective "you" as a singular unit.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) renders the three Hebrew verbs somewhat differently: it uses a subjunctive purpose construction ("ut... audiens timeat," "that hearing, he may fear") rather than three sequential future statements as in the Hebrew's imperfect forms. The LXX similarly compresses "hear and fear" into a participial construction (ἀκούσας φοβηθήσεται, "having heard, will fear"), merging the two Hebrew verbs into a single sequence rather than preserving them as two coordinated verbs. Additionally, where the Hebrew be.kir.Be.cha ("in your midst," second-person singular) addresses an individual/collective "you," the LXX has ἐν ὑμῖν ("among you," plural), reflecting a difference in grammatical number for the addressee.