Deuteronomy 23:14

Summary

The verse gives the rationale for camp purity laws: Yehovah walks in the midst of Israel's camp to protect them and hand over their enemies. Because of this presence, the camp must remain holy, so that Yehovah does not see anything indecent and turn away.

Key words

• mit.ha.Lekh ("[is] walking back and forth", H1980I) — hithpael participle, describing continuous, reflexive/repeated movement of Yehovah within the camp, not a single passage.
• ha.tzi.le ("deliver", H5337) — hiphil infinitive, causative sense: Yehovah causes rescue to happen, paired with purpose preposition le ("to").
• ka.Do.osh ("holy", H6918G) — adjective describing the required state of the camp (ma.cha.Nei.kha, "your camp", H4264), the condition tied to divine presence.
• 'er.Vat ("[the] nakedness of", H6172) construct with da.Var ("a thing", H1697M) — idiomatic construct phrase meaning something exposed or indecent, literally "nakedness of a matter."
• Shav ("he will turn away", H7725I) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain, describing the consequence if impurity is found.

What the text says

The sentence opens with the causal particle ki ("for", H3588A), linking this verse to a preceding instruction as its justification. The subject Yehovah 'e.lo.Hei.kha ("Yehovah your God") is followed by the hithpael participle mit.ha.Lekh, which frames the divine presence as an ongoing, self-directed movement "in the midst of" (be.Ke.rev) the camp — a construct chain marking spatial location. Two infinitive clauses follow, both governed by the preposition le ("to"): le.ha.tzi.le.kha ("to deliver you") and ve.la.Tet... le.fa.Nei.kha ("and to give... before you"), stating the purpose of this presence — protection and victory over enemies ('o.ye.Vei.kha, plural construct of the participle "the ones hating").

The narrative then shifts with the sequential perfect ve.ha.Yah ("and it will be"), introducing a consequence: the camp must be ka.Do.osh ("holy"). The following clause, ve.lo yir.'Eh ve.kha 'er.Vat da.Var, uses a construct phrase — literally "nakedness of a thing" — to denote something exposed or improper found among the people. The qal imperfect yir.'Eh ("he will see") marks this as an ongoing possibility to be avoided. The final sequential perfect ve.Shav ("and he will turn away") completes the causal chain: if such exposure occurs, Yehovah's continuous presence (established by the earlier participle) will cease, expressed through the verb Shuv ("to turn/return", H7725I) with the preposition me.'a.cha.Rei.kha ("from after you").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders mit.ha.Lekh with ἐνπεριπατεῖ (present tense, "walks about"), losing the hithpael's reflexive nuance but preserving continuity. The Vulgate translates ha.tzi.le.kha and the following clause somewhat freely as "ut eruat te, et tradat tibi inimicos tuos" ("that he may rescue you and hand over to you your enemies"), shifting the beneficiary slightly compared to the Hebrew's "before you" (le.fa.Nei.kha). The Hebrew 'er.Vat da.Var ("nakedness of a thing") appears in the LXX as ἀσχημοσύνη πράγματος ("indecency of a matter") and in the Vulgate as "fœditatis" ("filthiness"), both generalizing the specific construct idiom into broader terms for impropriety.