Deuteronomy 17:4

Summary

Deuteronomy 17:4 describes the legal procedure to follow when a report of wrongdoing reaches the community: the matter must be heard, investigated thoroughly, and confirmed as true before it is affirmed that "this abomination" has actually occurred in Israel. The verse is built as a chain of sequential actions leading to a formal declaration of certainty.

Key words

• hugad ("it will be told", H5046) — hophal (causative passive) perfect with vav, continuing a narrative sequence; the report arrives passively, without a named reporter.
• darashta ("you will investigate", H1875) paired with hetev ("thoroughly", H3190) — the qal perfect verb is intensified by an absolute infinitive from the causative stem, emphasizing thoroughness of inquiry rather than merely stating it happened.
• nakhon ("is certain/established", H3559K) — niphal participle describing emet ("truth", H0571H); the passive/reflexive form frames truth as something confirmed through process, not simply asserted.
• na'esetah ("it has been done", H6213A) — niphal perfect, completed passive action, describing hadavar ("the matter", H1697J), separate from the abomination clause that follows.
• hato'evah hazot ("this abomination", H8441 + H2063) — definite noun with demonstrative, naming the specific deed under investigation.

What the text says

The Hebrew presents four verbs in sequence, each carrying vav plus a perfect form that functions as a continuing narrative chain: hugad ("it will be told"), shama'ta ("you will hear"), darashta hetev ("you will investigate thoroughly"). This chain moves from passive reception of a report, through hearing, to active and intensified investigation — the infinitive absolute hetev underlines that the search must be complete, not superficial.

After this chain, the particle hinneh ("there!") introduces a shift: instead of another sequential verb, the text presents a nominal clause — emet nakhon hadavar — literally "truth, established, the matter," using the niphal participle nakhon to describe the state of confirmation reached. Only after this is the completed action stated with the niphal perfect na'esetah, applied not to "the matter" again but to hato'evah hazot ("this abomination"), tying the confirmed report to the specific accused deed "in Israel" (beYisra'el, H3478).

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the confirmation clause as "ἀληθῶς γέγονεν τὸ ῥῆμα" ("truly the matter has happened") using a single verb gegonen, where the Hebrew uses two separate elements: the participle nakhon ("established") and the noun emet ("truth"). The Vulgate similarly compresses this into "verum esse repereris" ("you find it to be true"), collapsing the Hebrew's two-stage confirmation (truth established → deed done) into one finding. The English versions (BSB, RV1909) also merge these into a single conditional clause, where the Hebrew keeps nakhon and na'esetah as two distinct predications.