Deuteronomy 2:9
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֵלַי אֶל־תָּצַר אֶת־מוֹאָב וְאַל־תִּתְגָּר בָּם מִלְחָמָה כִּי לֹֽא־אֶתֵּן לְךָ מֵֽאַרְצוֹ יְרֻשָּׁה כִּי לִבְנֵי־לוֹט נָתַתִּי אֶת־עָר יְרֻשָּֽׁה׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֜ה אֵלַ֗י אֶל־תָּ֙צַר֙ אֶת־מוֹאָ֔ב וְאַל־תִּתְגָּ֥ר בָּ֖ם מִלְחָמָ֑ה כִּ֠י לֹֽא־אֶתֵּ֨ן לְךָ֤ מֵֽאַרְצוֹ֙ יְרֻשָּׁ֔ה כִּ֣י לִבְנֵי־ל֔וֹט נָתַ֥תִּי אֶת־עָ֖ר יְרֻשָּֽׁה׃
Καὶ εἶπεν κύριος πρὸς μέ Μὴ ἐχθραίνετε τοῖς Μωαβείταις, καὶ μὴ συνάψητε πρὸς αὐτοὺς πόλεμον· οὐ γὰρ μὴ δῶ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς αὐτῶν ὑμῖν ἐν κλήρῳ, τοῖς γὰρ υἱοῖς Λὼτ δέδωκα τὴν Σηεὶρ κληρονομεῖν.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Dixitque Dominus ad me: Non pugnes contra Moabitas, nec ineas adversus eos prælium: non enim dabo tibi quidquam de terra eorum, quia filiis Loth tradidi Ar in possessionem.
El Señor me dijo: “No molestes a Moab, ni te enfrentes a ellos en la batalla, porque no te daré nada de su tierra en posesión, ya que he dado Ar a los hijos de Lot en posesión.”
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y Jehová me dijo: No molestes á Moab, ni te empeñes con ellos en guerra, que no te daré posesión de su tierra; porque yo he dado á Ar por heredad á los hijos de Lot.
Then the LORD said to me, “ Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession.”
✦ What the text says
Summary
Yehovah instructs the speaker not to provoke or wage war against Moab, because he will not give the speaker any part of Moab's land as a possession. The reason given is that Yehovah has already assigned the territory of Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession.
Key words
- tatzar ("you may provoke", H6696B) — qal jussive, second person masculine; expresses a prohibition/command directed at "you," here rendered "do not provoke."
- titgar ("you engage in strife", H1624) — hithpael jussive, reflexive stem, suggesting active engagement in conflict rather than a simple action; paired with ba-m milchamah ("in battle with them").
- yerushah ("a possession", H3425) — feminine singular noun, repeated twice in the verse (once regarding Moab's land, once regarding Ar), forming a structural parallel between what is withheld and what is granted.
- eten ("I will give", H5414G) — qal imperfect, first person, marking ongoing/future negation ("I will not give").
- natati ("I have given", H5414G) — same root as eten but in the qal perfect, marking a completed past action, contrasting grammatically with the imperfect used earlier in the verse.
What the text says
The verse is built on two parallel ki ("for"/"that", H3588A) clauses, each introducing a reason. The first ki clause explains why Moab should not be attacked: lo eten ("I will not give", using the imperfect eten, H5414G) — a statement about future/ongoing divine intention. The second ki clause explains the deeper reason: natati ("I have given", using the perfect form of the same root H5414G) — a statement of a completed past action. The shift from imperfect to perfect of the same verb root marks a shift from "what will not happen" to "what has already happened," reinforcing that the withholding of Moab's land follows from an earlier, already-settled divine grant to the descendants of Lot.
The prohibition itself uses two different stems: tatzar (qal, H6696B) for provoking, and titgar (hithpael, H1624) for engaging in battle. The hithpael form of titgar carries a reflexive/reciprocal nuance, suggesting mutual engagement in conflict, distinct from the simpler action expressed by tatzar.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew text specifies Ar (H6144) as the possession given to the descendants of Lot. The LXX renders this place name as Σηεὶρ ("Seir") instead of "Ar," differing from both the Hebrew and the Vulgate, which reads "Ar" (Ar in possessionem) in agreement with the Hebrew ʿar (H6144).
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.