Deuteronomy 20:1

כִּֽי־תֵצֵא לַמִּלְחָמָה עַל־אֹיְבֶיךָ וְֽרָאִיתָ סוּס וָרֶכֶב עַם רַב מִמְּךָ לֹא תִירָא מֵהֶם כִּֽי־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ עִמָּךְ הַמַּֽעַלְךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

כִּֽי־תֵצֵ֨א לַמִּלְחָמָ֜ה עַל־אֹיְבֶ֗יךָ וְֽרָאִ֜יתָ ס֤וּס וָרֶ֙כֶב֙ עַ֚ם רַ֣ב מִמְּךָ֔ לֹ֥א תִירָ֖א מֵהֶ֑ם כִּֽי־יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ עִמָּ֔ךְ הַמַּֽעַלְךָ֖ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃

Greek (Septuagint)

Ἐὰν δὲ ἐξέλθῃς εἰς πόλεμον ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου, καὶ ἴδης ἵππον καὶ ἀναβάτην καὶ λαὸν πλείονά σου, οὐ φοβηθήσῃ ἀπ’ αὐτῶν· ὅτι κύριος ὁ θεός σου μετὰ σοῦ, ὁ ἀναβιβάσας σε ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Si exieris ad bellum contra hostes tuos, et videris equitatus et currus, et majorem quam tu habeas adversarii exercitus multitudinem, non timebis eos: quia Dominus Deus tuus tecum est, qui eduxit te de terra Ægypti.

Spanish

Cuando salgas a la batalla contra tus enemigos, y veas caballos, carros y un pueblo más numeroso que tú, no los temerás, porque el Señor, tu Dios, que te sacó de la tierra de Egipto, está contigo.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

CUANDO salieres á la guerra contra tus enemigos, y vieres caballos y carros, un pueblo más grande que tú, no tengas temor de ellos, que Jehová tu Dios es contigo, el cual te sacó de tierra de Egipto.

English

When you go out to war against your enemies and see horses, chariots, and an army larger than yours, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you.

✦ What the text says

Summary

The verse addresses the Israelite going out to war and instructs him not to fear enemy forces—horses, chariots, and a numerically superior people—because Yehovah his God, who brought him out of Egypt, is with him. The structure sets a conditional scenario ("if you go out to war") followed by a command ("do not fear").

Key words

te.Tze' ("you will go out", H3318G) — qal imperfect, describing the future/ongoing action of going out to war, opening the conditional clause introduced by ki ("if", H3588A).
ra.'I.ta ("you will see", H7200G) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative sequence after the imperfect verb; this grammatical shift (imperfect → sequential perfect) is typical of Hebrew conditional/temporal chains.
ti.Ra' ("you must be afraid", H3372G) — qal imperfect with the negation lo' ("not", H3808), forming the prohibition "you must not fear."
ma.'al. ("brought up", H5927G) — hiphil (causative) participle in construct form, describing Yehovah as "the one who caused [you] to go up," referring to the exodus from Egypt.
'e.lo.Hei. ("God", H0430G) — masculine plural construct noun, here functioning as singular in meaning ("your God"), attached to the divine name Yehovah.

What the text says

The verse opens with the particle ki ("if", H3588A) marking a conditional clause: "if you go out to war against your enemies." The verb te.Tze' is a qal imperfect, expressing a future or hypothetical action. The narrative continues with ve-ra.'I.ta ("and you will see"), a sequential perfect construction (vav + perfect) that Hebrew commonly uses to continue a chain of events begun by an imperfect verb — grammatically linking "going out" and "seeing" as sequential moments within the same scenario.

The object of sight is described cumulatively: sus ("horse", H5483M), Re.khev ("chariot", H7393G), and 'am rav ("a great people", H5971K + H7227A), followed by mi.me.kha ("more than you", H4480A + suffix), indicating numerical superiority of the enemy force. The prohibition lo' ti.Ra' uses the qal imperfect of "to fear" negated, producing a durative command against fear, followed by me.hem ("from them").

The second ki clause (H3588A) introduces the causal basis for the command: "for Yehovah your God [is] with you." The phrase ha.ma.'al.kha uses a hiphil participle in construct form, literally "the one causing you to go up," referring back to the exodus, and grammatically modifies "Yehovah your God" as a further descriptive clause rather than a separate sentence.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders sus ve-Re.khev ("horse and chariot") as ἵππον καὶ ἀναβάτην ("horse and rider"), differing from the Hebrew's "chariot" (Re.khev, H7393G) by using "rider" instead. The Vulgate follows with equitatus et currus ("cavalry and chariots"), which aligns more closely with the Hebrew's chariot imagery than the LXX's "rider."

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.