Deuteronomy 17:20
לְבִלְתִּי רוּם־לְבָבוֹ מֵֽאֶחָיו וּלְבִלְתִּי סוּר מִן־הַמִּצְוָה יָמִין וּשְׂמֹאול לְמַעַן יַאֲרִיךְ יָמִים עַל־מַמְלַכְתּוֹ הוּא וּבָנָיו בְּקֶרֶב יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ ס
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
לְבִלְתִּ֤י רוּם־לְבָבוֹ֙ מֵֽאֶחָ֔יו וּלְבִלְתִּ֛י ס֥וּר מִן־הַמִּצְוָ֖ה יָמִ֣ין וּשְׂמֹ֑אול לְמַעַן֩ יַאֲרִ֨יךְ יָמִ֧ים עַל־מַמְלַכְתּ֛וֹ ה֥וּא וּבָנָ֖יו בְּקֶ֥רֶב יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ ס
ἵνα μὴ ὑψωθῇ ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτοῦ, ἵνα μὴ παραβῇ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐντολῶν δεξιὰ ἢ ἀριστερά, ὅπως ἂν μακροχρονίσῃ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς αὐτοῦ αὐτὸς καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ ἐν τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραήλ.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Nec elevetur cor ejus in superbiam super fratres suos, neque declinet in partem dexteram vel sinistram, ut longo tempore regnet ipse et filii ejus super Israël.
para que su corazón no se enaltezca sobre sus hermanos, y para que no se aparte del mandamiento ni a la derecha ni a la izquierda, a fin de que prolongue sus días en su reino, él y sus hijos, en medio de Israel.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Para que no se eleve su corazón sobre sus hermanos, ni se aparte del mandamiento á diestra ni á siniestra: á fin que prolongue sus días en su reino, él y sus hijos, en medio de Israel.
Then his heart will not be exalted above his countrymen, and he will not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or to the left, in order that he and his sons may reign many years over his kingdom in Israel.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Deuteronomy 17:20 continues the instructions for the king of Israel, stating the purpose of his required conduct: that his heart not be lifted above his fellow Israelites, and that he not deviate from the commandment in either direction, so that he and his descendants may have long days over his kingdom in Israel.
Key words
- rum ("to be high", H7311A) — qal infinitive following le-vilti ("not to"), forming the negative purpose clause "so as not to be high/lifted up," describing an internal state of the heart.
- levavo ("his heart", H3824) — construct noun with pronominal suffix -o ("his"), the subject that must not become "high"; in Hebrew anthropology the heart functions as the seat of will and self-assessment.
- sur ("to turn aside", H5493I) — qal infinitive paired again with le-vilti ("not to"), describing physical/behavioral deviation from a set path, contrasted with the internal rum.
- yamin ("right [hand]", H3225G) and semol ("left [hand]", H8040G) — two nouns without preposition, functioning adverbially to mark the two directions of possible deviation "to the right or the left."
- ya'arikh ("he may prolong", H0748) — hiphil (causative) jussive of the root for "to be long," introduced by lema'an ("so that", H4616), expressing the intended result of the preceding prohibitions: a causing-to-be-long of days.
What the text says
The verse is built as two parallel negative purpose clauses introduced by le-vilti ("not to", H1115), each governing an infinitive: first rum ("to be high", H7311A) applied to levavo ("his heart", H3824) "more than" (me-, H9006) his 'echav ("countrymen", H0251I); second sur ("to turn aside", H5493I) "from" (min, H4480A) "the commandment" (ha-mitzvah, H4687), specified by the pair yamin ("right", H3225G) and semol ("left", H8040G) acting as directional modifiers without any connecting preposition before them, giving the sense "neither right nor left" as extremes of departure.
These two clauses set up the condition for a final purpose clause marked by lema'an ("so that", H4616), governing the hiphil jussive ya'arikh ("he may prolong", H0748) with the object yamim ("days", H3117K) "over" ('al, H5921A) "his kingdom" (mamlakhto, H4467, construct + suffix "his"). The subject of this prolonging is doubled: hu' ("he", H1931) and u-vanav ("and his sons", H1121G + suffix "his"), both located be-qerev Yisra'el ("in the midst of Israel", H7130G + H3478). The construct chain mamlakhto ("his kingdom") ties the prolonging of days directly to the kingship rather than to the person alone.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders the purpose clauses with ἵνα μὴ ("so that not") for both rum and sur, matching the Hebrew le-vilti structure closely, but shifts to ὅπως ἂν ("so that, whenever") for the final clause. The Vulgate translates rum levavo as "elevetur cor ejus in superbiam" ("his heart be raised into pride"), adding "in superbiam" ("into pride") as an explanatory addition not present as a separate lexical item in the Hebrew text, which uses only the single verb rum ("to be high", H7311A). The Vulgate also renders "in kingdom" as "super Israël" ("over Israel") rather than tying "over his kingdom" and "in the midst of Israel" as two separate phrases as the Hebrew does with 'al mamlakhto and be-qerev Yisra'el.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.