Deuteronomy 2:4
וְאֶת־הָעָם צַו לֵאמֹר אַתֶּם עֹֽבְרִים בִּגְבוּל אֲחֵיכֶם בְּנֵי־עֵשָׂו הַיֹּשְׁבִים בְּשֵׂעִיר וְיִֽירְאוּ מִכֶּם וְנִשְׁמַרְתֶּם מְאֹֽד׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְאֶת־הָעָם֮ צַ֣ו לֵאמֹר֒ אַתֶּ֣ם עֹֽבְרִ֗ים בִּגְבוּל֙ אֲחֵיכֶ֣ם בְּנֵי־עֵשָׂ֔ו הַיֹּשְׁבִ֖ים בְּשֵׂעִ֑יר וְיִֽירְא֣וּ מִכֶּ֔ם וְנִשְׁמַרְתֶּ֖ם מְאֹֽד׃
καὶ τῷ λῆ ἔντειλαι λέγων Ὑμεῖς παραπορεύεσθε διὰ τῶν ὁρίων τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὑμῶν υἱῶν Ἠσαύ, οἳ κατοικοῦσιν ἐν Σηείρ, καὶ φοβηθήσονται ὑμᾶς καὶ εὐλαβηθήσονται ὑμᾶς σφόδρα.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
et populo præcipe, dicens: Transibitis per terminos fratrum vestrorum filiorum Esau, qui habitant in Seir, et timebunt vos.
Ordena al pueblo que diga: ‘Van a pasar por la frontera de sus hermanos, los hijos de Esaú, que habitan en Seír; y ellos tendrán miedo de ustedes. Tengan, pues, cuidado.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y manda al pueblo, diciendo: Pasando vosotros por el término de vuestros hermanos los hijos de Esaú, que habitan en Seir, ellos tendrán miedo de vosotros; mas vosotros guardaos mucho:
and command the people: ‘ You will pass through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so you must be very careful.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Yehovah instructs Moses to command the Israelite people that they are about to cross through the territory of the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. The verse notes that these relatives will react with fear, and instructs the Israelites to exercise great caution as a result.
Key words
tzav ("command", H6680) — piel imperative, giving an intensive, direct command to Moses regarding what he must relay to the people. 'oe.Rim ("[are] about to pass", H5674A) — qal participle, describing an action in progress or imminent, rather than a simple future tense; it frames the crossing as something already underway in the speaker's perspective. g.Vul ("territory of", H1366H) — construct noun beginning a chain (g.Vul + 'achei + khem + benei + 'Esav) that links "territory" to "brothers" to "sons of Esau," building a single compound phrase through successive genitive links. yi.re.'U ("they may be afraid", H3372G) — qal imperfect with vav, expressing a result or purpose that follows from the previous statement, connecting the people's passage to the fear it produces. nish.mar.Tem ("you will take heed", H8104J) — niphal sequential perfect, carrying a reflexive nuance ("guard yourselves") and continuing the narrative sequence begun earlier in the verse.
What the text says
The verse opens with the object marker 'Et (H0853) marking ha'Am ("the people", H5971A) as the direct object of the imperative tzav ("command", H6680), followed by the infinitive le'mor ("saying", H0559) which introduces the reported speech. Inside the quoted speech, the pronoun 'atem ("you", H0859D) is paired with the participle 'oe.Rim ("about to pass", H5674A), a construction that in Hebrew often conveys immediacy rather than a distant future action.
The phrase describing the territory is built through a stacked construct chain: g.Vul ("territory of") governs 'achei-khem ("your brothers"), which is further specified by benei-'Esav ("sons of Esau"). This chain narrows the referent step by step rather than using separate prepositional phrases, a structure not directly visible in translation. The clause continues with the participle yoshe.Vim ("who dwell", H3427) describing the current inhabitants of Se'ir ("Seir", H8165A).
The vav-prefixed imperfect yi.re.'U ("they may be afraid", H3372G) marks a shift toward consequence: the crossing described leads to the fear of the neighboring group. The final verb, nish.mar.Tem ("you will take heed", H8104J), is a niphal (reflexive) form in the sequential perfect, continuing the chain of action and adding a self-directed sense of caution.
Differences between versions
The Septuagint (LXXSWETE) doubles the verb of reaction, using both φοβηθήσονται ("they will fear") and εὐλαβηθήσονται ("they will be wary/cautious") where the Hebrew has only the single verb yi.re.'U ("they may be afraid", H3372G) followed separately by nish.mar.Tem ("you will take heed", H8104J) applied to the Israelites, not to the Edomites.
The Vulgate (VULCLEM) as given ends at "et timebunt vos" ("and they will fear you"), lacking any equivalent to the Hebrew nish.mar.Tem ("you will take heed... exceedingly") clause that closes the Masoretic verse.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.