Deuteronomy 14:1

Summary

The verse identifies the addressees as banim ("children") of Yehovah their God, and on this basis prohibits two mourning practices: self-laceration and shaving baldness on the forehead area, both associated with grief for the dead.

Key words

• ba.Nim ("[are] children", H1121A) — masculine plural noun placed first in the sentence, giving it emphatic position; establishes the identity/relationship before stating the prohibitions.
• tit.go.de.Du ("you will cut yourselves", H1413) — hithpael imperfect, reflexive stem indicating an action performed on oneself; the imperfect conveys an ongoing or future prohibition ("you shall not...").
• ta.Si.mu ("you will make", H7760A) — qal imperfect, plain active verb governing "baldness" as its object; parallel in form to the first prohibition, creating a two-part negative command structure.
• ka.re.Chah ("baldness", H7144) — feminine singular noun, the direct object of ta.Si.mu, specifying the shaving practice being forbidden.
• bein 'ei.nei.Khem ("between your eyes", H0996G + H5869A + H9026) — construct phrase with dual noun "eyes" plus 2nd person plural suffix, locating the forbidden baldness specifically on the forehead area between the eyes.

What the text says

The verse opens with a nominal clause: banim ("children") followed by 'a.Tem ("you"), then la-Yahweh 'elohei-Khem ("to/of Yehovah your God"). The preposition la (H9005) attached to the divine name marks possession or belonging — "children belonging to Yehovah your God" — rather than a verb of becoming. This clause has no explicit verb "to be" in the Hebrew; it is a simple equational statement, which grammatically frames the following prohibitions as flowing from that stated relationship rather than as an independent legal rule.

The two prohibitions are built in parallel: lo' + imperfect verb, repeated twice (lo' tit.go.de.Du ... ve-lo' ta.Si.mu). The first verb, tit.go.de.Du, is in the hithpael stem, which in Biblical Hebrew grammar marks reflexive or self-directed action — the subject acts upon itself, here rendered "you will cut yourselves." The second verb, ta.Si.mu, is a plain qal form ("you will make/place"), taking ka.re.Chah ("baldness") as its direct object, located bein 'ei.nei.Khem ("between your eyes"), a phrase using the dual form of "eyes" that specifies the forehead region. Both actions are directed la-Met ("to/for a dead [person]"), a qal participle functioning as a substantive ("the one who died"), indicating the occasion for these practices — mourning for the deceased.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the opening clause as Υἱοί ἐστε ("you are sons"), supplying an explicit verb "to be" that is not present in the Hebrew nominal clause, though the sense matches. The Vulgate's estote ("be!") uses an imperative form, phrasing the identity statement as a command ("Be sons of the Lord your God") rather than the descriptive/nominal statement found in the Hebrew. The Vulgate also renders tit.go.de.Du as non vos incidetis ("you shall not cut yourselves"), consistent with the reflexive hithpael, while the LXX's ἐπιθήσετε ("you will place/impose") corresponds more directly to the second Hebrew verb ta.Si.mu and does not separately translate the first prohibition with a distinct reflexive verb.