Deuteronomy 17:8
כִּי יִפָּלֵא מִמְּךָ דָבָר לַמִּשְׁפָּט בֵּֽין־דָּם׀ לְדָם בֵּֽין־דִּין לְדִין וּבֵין נֶגַע לָנֶגַע דִּבְרֵי רִיבֹת בִּשְׁעָרֶיךָ וְקַמְתָּ וְעָלִיתָ אֶל־הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר יִבְחַר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בּֽוֹ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
כִּ֣י יִפָּלֵא֩ מִמְּךָ֨ דָבָ֜ר לַמִּשְׁפָּ֗ט בֵּֽין־דָּ֨ם׀ לְדָ֜ם בֵּֽין־דִּ֣ין לְדִ֗ין וּבֵ֥ין נֶ֙גַע֙ לָנֶ֔גַע דִּבְרֵ֥י רִיבֹ֖ת בִּשְׁעָרֶ֑יךָ וְקַמְתָּ֣ וְעָלִ֔יתָ אֶל־הַמָּק֔וֹם אֲשֶׁ֥ר יִבְחַ֛ר יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ בּֽוֹ׃
Ἐὰν δὲ ἀδυνατήσῃ ἀπὸ σοῦ ῥῆμα ἐν κρίσει ἀνὰ μέσον αἷμα αἵματος, καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον κρίσις κρίσεως, καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον ἁφὴ ἁφῆς, καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον ἀντιλογία ἀντιλογίας, ῥήματα κρίσεως ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν ὑμῶν· καὶ ἀναστὰς ἀναβήσῃ εἰς τὸν τόπον ὃν ἂν ἐκλέξηται Κύριος ὁ θεός σου ἐκεῖ,
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Si difficile et ambiguum apud te judicium esse perspexeris inter sanguinem et sanguinem, causam et causam, lepram et lepram: et judicum intra portas tuas videris verba variari: surge, et ascende ad locum, quem elegerit Dominus Deus tuus.
Si surge un asunto demasiado difícil para ti en el juicio, entre sangre y sangre, entre alegato y alegato, y entre golpe y golpe, siendo asuntos de controversia dentro de tus puertas, entonces te levantarás y subirás al lugar que el Señor, tu Dios, elija.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Cuando alguna cosa te fuere oculta en juicio entre sangre y sangre, entre causa y causa, y entre llaga y llaga, en negocios de litigio en tus ciudades; entonces te levantarás y recurrirás al lugar que Jehová tu Dios escogiere;
If a case is too difficult for you to judge, whether the controversy within your gates is regarding bloodshed, lawsuits, or assaults, you must go up to the place the LORD your God will choose.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse describes a legal situation in which a case is too difficult to resolve at the local level. It gives examples of contested categories — bloodshed, disputes, and injuries — and instructs that the matter be brought up to the place chosen by Yehovah ("Yehovah", H3068G).
Key words
- yipale ("it will be [too] difficult", H6381) — Niphal (passive/reflexive) imperfect, describing a matter that becomes too hard to decide, from the root meaning "to be extraordinary/difficult."
- davar ("a matter", H1697L) — masculine singular noun, the subject of the difficulty; later echoed in divrei ("matters of", H1697L) construct plural.
- bein...le ("between...and", H0996G / H9005) — repeated construct pattern used three times (blood/blood, dispute/dispute, wound/wound), forming a triad of legal categories.
- rivot ("cases at law", H7379) — feminine plural noun, paired with divrei in construct to form "matters of legal disputes."
- qamta ("you will arise", H6965B) and alita ("you will go up", H5927G) — both sequential perfects joined by the narrative vav (H9001), presenting consecutive actions following the difficulty being identified.
What the text says
The verse opens with the conditional particle ki ("if", H3588A), setting up a hypothetical case. The verb yipale ("it will be [too] difficult", H6381) is Niphal, meaning the matter itself is the grammatical subject that "becomes difficult" rather than a person actively finding it difficult — the difficulty is presented as a property of the davar ("a matter", H1697L) itself, located "from you" (mimmekha, combining H4480A and H9031).
The three paired categories — dam...dam ("blood...blood", H1818), din...din ("dispute...dispute", H1779), and nega...nega ("wound...wound", H5061) — are each linked by the construct pattern bein...le ("between...and"), creating a rhetorical triad of contested legal matters. These are then summarized as divrei rivot ("matters of cases at law", H1697L + H7379), located bi-she'areikha ("in your gates", H8179H), meaning within the local jurisdiction.
The narrative sequence then shifts with two consecutive perfect verbs joined by vav (H9001): qamta ("you will arise", H6965B) and alita ("you will go up", H5927G), describing the required action of ascending "to the place" (ha-maqom, H4725) that Yehovah ("Yehovah", H3068G) your God, elohekha (H0430G), will choose (yivchar, H0977).
Differences between versions
The LXX renders nega ("wound", H5061) as ἁφή ("touch/infection"), a different semantic nuance from the Hebrew "wound/plague." The Vulgate uses lepram ("leprosy") for the same term, narrowing the meaning further to a specific skin condition rather than the broader category of "wound" in the Hebrew. The LXX also adds ἐκεῖ ("there") at the end, an element not present in the Hebrew text as given.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.