Deuteronomy 20:18

Summary

The verse gives the purpose clause explaining why certain nations must not be left alive: so that they do not teach the Israelites to imitate the abominations performed for their gods, an act that would constitute sin against Yehovah. The sentence links foreign religious practice directly to the risk of covenant violation.

Key words

• le.Ma'an ("so that", H4616) — introduces a purpose/result clause, setting up the reason for the preceding prohibition (not included in this segment but referenced by it).
• ye.la.me.Du ("they may teach", H3925G) — piel imperfect, intensive stem denoting deliberate, repeated instruction; the imperfect marks this as a potential/future action to be prevented.
• to.'a.vo.Tam ("their abominations", H8441) — feminine plural construct noun with 3rd person masculine plural suffix, marking these practices as belonging specifically to the foreign nations.
• cha.ta.Tem ("you will sin", H2398) — qal sequential perfect (vav-consecutive), continuing the logical chain from the preceding verbs; expresses the resulting consequence rather than a separate command.
• Yahweh ("Yehovah", H3068G) followed by 'e.lo.hei.Khem ("your God", H0430G) — construct phrase identifying the deity against whom the sin would be committed, syntactically parallel to lo.hei.Hem ("their gods", H0430J) earlier in the verse.

What the text says

The clause opens with le.Ma'an ("so that", H4616) combined with the relative 'a.Sher ("that", H0834A) and negation lo' ("not", H3808), forming a negative purpose construction: "so that they may not teach." The verb ye.la.me.Du ("they may teach", H3925G) is piel imperfect, a stem that in Biblical Hebrew often intensifies or makes causative the basic action — here, causing others to learn rather than simply knowing. The object is marked by 'et (H0853) with the suffix Khem ("you", H9036), followed by the infinitive 'a.Sot ("to do", H6213A) governed by the preposition la ("to", H9005), producing the sense "to do" as the content of what might be taught.

The scope of the prohibited teaching is defined by ke.Khol ("according to all", H3605+H9004) governing the construct noun to.'a.vo.Tam ("abominations of them", H8441), itself qualified by a second relative clause: 'a.Sher 'a.Su le.'lo.hei.Hem ("that they have done for their gods", H6213A + H0430J). This construct chain nests three layers — the totality of practices, their specific character as abominations, and their object (the foreign gods) — all within a single subordinate clause.

The final clause shifts from imperfect/infinitive verbal forms to a sequential perfect, va.cha.ta.Tem ("and you will sin", H2398, H9001 + sequential perfect). This grammatical form continues the narrative-purpose chain begun by le.Ma'an, presenting the sin against Yahweh 'e.lo.hei.Khem ("Yehovah your God", H3068G + H0430G) as the resulting endpoint of the preceding conditions rather than an independent statement.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders Yehovah (H3068G) as Κυρίου ("Lord"), a standard substitution rather than a transliteration of the tetragrammaton. The Vulgate similarly uses Dominum ("Lord"). Both versions preserve the purpose-clause structure but express cha.ta.Tem ("you will sin") with subjunctive-adjacent forms (peccetis, ἁμαρτήσεσθε) rather than reproducing the Hebrew's sequential perfect construction, which in Hebrew grammar functions differently from a simple future or subjunctive mood.