Deuteronomy 20:4

Summary

The verse gives the reason (introduced by ki, "for") why the people should not fear before battle: Yehovah their God is described as the one who goes with them, with the stated purpose of fighting on their behalf against their enemies and bringing them victory.

Key words

• ki ("for", H3588A) — a subordinating/conditional particle here functioning causally, linking this verse to the preceding exhortation not to fear.
• ha-holekh ("the one who goes", H9009 + H1980G) — a qal participle preceded by the definite article; this article-plus-participle construction functions as an attributive clause modifying "Yehovah your God," roughly "Yehovah your God, [who is] the one going with you."
• le-hilachem ("to fight", H3898A) — a niphal infinitive construct with prefixed le-, expressing purpose: "in order to fight." The niphal stem here conveys mutual/engaged action (engaging in battle) rather than a simple active sense.
• le-hoshia' ("to give victory / to save", H3467) — a hiphil infinitive construct with prefixed le-, also expressing purpose. The hiphil (causative) stem indicates causing a state of safety/victory, distinct from the niphal used for "fight."
• 'et-khem ("you", H0853 + H9036) — the direct object marker with pronominal suffix, marking "you" as the object of hoshia', i.e., the ones who receive the caused effect of victory/rescue.

What the text says

The verse is built as a single causal clause (ki, "for") explaining a preceding statement. Its grammatical backbone is: [subject: Yehovah your God] + [predicate: the participle ha-holekh, "the one going," with the preposition phrase "with you"] + [two purpose infinitives: le-hilachem, "to fight," and le-hoshia', "to save/give victory"]. The participle with the article does not simply describe an ongoing action but stands almost as a title or characterization: "Yehovah your God is the one who goes with you," using a substantival/attributive participle construction common in Biblical Hebrew for describing an agent's constant role.

The two infinitives are grammatically parallel (both prefixed with le-) but use different verbal stems: the niphal hilachem for "fighting" and the hiphil hoshia' for "saving/giving victory." This stem contrast marks a distinction between the type of engagement (niphal, reciprocal battle-engagement) and the resulting effect (hiphil, a caused outcome — victory brought about for the object marked by 'et-khem).

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders ha-holekh 'immakhem ("the one going with you") as in medio vestri est ("is in the midst of you"), shifting from a participle of movement/accompaniment to a static locational statement. The Vulgate also converts the two Hebrew purpose infinitives into finite verbs, dimicabit ("he will fight") and ut eruat ("that he may rescue"), rather than preserving the infinitival purpose structure found in the Hebrew. The LXX (Swete text) exhibits a truncated form at "σαι ὑμῖν," where the expected verb corresponding to le-hilachem is not fully preserved in the cited text. English versions (BSB, RV1909) both render le-hoshia' interpretively, as "give you the victory" or "salvaros" ("to save you"), reflecting the causative sense of the hiphil without a single fixed equivalent.