Deuteronomy 18:14

Summary

The verse contrasts the nations Israel is about to dispossess, who listen to soothsayers and diviners, with Israel itself, to whom Yehovah has not granted permission to act "thus." It functions as the reason clause introducing the promise of a prophet in the following verses.

Key words

• yoresh ("[are] about to dispossess", H3423H) — qal participle, masculine singular, describing an ongoing/imminent action attributed to "you" (Israel).
• me'onenim ("soothsayers", H6049B) — piel participle, masculine plural, naming a class of practitioners rather than a single verb of action.
• qosemim ("diviners", H7080) — qal participle, masculine plural, paired with me'onenim through the repeated preposition 'el ("to", H0413).
• yishma'u ("they listen", H8085G) — qal imperfect, third person plural, expressing habitual or characteristic action of the nations.
• natan ("he has permitted", H5414K) — qal perfect, third person masculine singular, marking a completed act attributed to Yehovah ("Yehovah", H3068G).

What the text says

The sentence opens with ki ("for", H3588A), a subordinating particle linking this verse to what precedes, giving the reason for a prior statement. The subject is ha-goyim ha-'elleh ("these nations", H1471A + H0428 + H9009), further specified by the relative clause 'asher 'attah yoresh 'otam ("which you are dispossessing them", H0834A + H0859A + H3423H + H0853/H9038). The participle yoresh presents the dispossession as an action in progress or about to occur from the standpoint of the narrated time, rather than as a completed event.

The core action of the nations is expressed by yishma'u ("they listen", H8085G), a qal imperfect verb governing two prepositional phrases built with 'el ("to", H0413): 'el-me'onenim ("to soothsayers") and ve-'el-qosemim ("and to diviners"). Both me'onenim and qosemim are participles functioning as nouns denoting practitioners, not finite verbs of action — the text names classes of people rather than describing specific acts.

The second half of the verse pivots with ve-'attah ("and you", H9002 + H0859A), placing Israel in explicit contrast to "these nations." The negation lo' ken ("not thus", H3808 + H3651C) modifies the verb natan ("he has permitted", H5414K), a qal perfect indicating a completed act by Yehovah 'eloheikha ("Yehovah your God", H3068G + H0430G + H9021). The construct form 'eloheikha ("your God") links the divine name to the second-person suffix, tying the statement of permission directly to the addressee "you" already marked by 'attah.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders me'onenim and qosemim with κληδόνων καὶ μαντειῶν ("omens and divinations"), shifting from Hebrew participles denoting persons to Greek nouns denoting the practices themselves. The Vulgate uses augures et divinos ("augurs and diviners"), preserving the personal/agentive sense closer to the Hebrew participles. The Vulgate also renders the final clause as tu autem ... aliter institutus es ("but you have been instructed otherwise"), framing the negation as instruction rather than the Hebrew's language of permission (natan, "he has permitted").