Deuteronomy 16:21

Summary

The verse prohibits planting an asherah pole made of any type of wood beside the altar built for Yehovah. The Hebrew presents this as a single continuous prohibition tied to the altar's construction, using a construct chain to specify the material of the forbidden object.

Key words

• tiTa' ("you will plant", H5193) — qal imperfect, expressing a forward-looking prohibition when combined with lo' ("not", H3808).
• 'asheRah ("an Asherah pole", H0842) — feminine singular noun naming the object being planted; the direct object of the verb.
• kol-'Etz ("any tree", H3605 + H6086) — construct phrase modifying 'asherah, specifying that the pole may be made from any kind of wood.
• mizBach ("altar of", H4196) — construct form linking the location ("beside") to the altar belonging to Yehovah.
• 'asher ("which", H0834A) — relative particle introducing a clause that identifies whose altar is meant: the one "you will make."

What the text says

The sentence begins with the negative particle lo' ("not", H3808) attached to the imperfect verb tiTa' ("you will plant", H5193), forming a durative prohibition — not a single act but an ongoing restriction. The object is 'asherah ("an Asherah pole", H0842), followed immediately by kol-'etz ("any tree", H3605+H6086), a construct phrase that specifies the material: the object is an asherah of any wood, i.e., any wooden cultic pole, rather than two separate items.

The location is marked by 'etzel ("beside", H0681) governing the construct chain mizbach Yehovah 'eloheikha ("altar of Yehovah your God", H4196+H3068+H0430), where 'eloheikha is grammatically plural in form (a common feature of this divine title) but functions as a singular referent through construct linkage. The relative clause 'asher ta'aseh-lakh ("which you will make for yourself", H0834A+H6213H) closes the verse, and in the Hebrew syntax it most naturally attaches back to mizbach — describing the altar as one "you will make," not the asherah or the tree.

Differences between versions

The LXX splits the single Hebrew prohibition into two: "you shall not plant... a grove (ἄλσος)" and separately "any tree you shall not make for yourself (οὐ ποιήσεις σεαυτῷ) near the altar," introducing a second negated verb absent from the Hebrew clause structure. The Vulgate similarly separates "lucum" (grove) and "omnem arborem" (every tree) as two objects near the altar, but omits the relative clause "which you will make for yourself" entirely. Among modern renderings, the BSB attaches the relative clause to the altar ("the altar you will build"), following the Hebrew word order, while the RV1909 and SBLIBRE Spanish versions attach the same clause to the tree/grove ("que tú te habrás hecho"), reflecting the syntactic ambiguity of 'asher ta'aseh-lakh in translation.