Deuteronomy 28:14

Summary

The verse commands the addressees not to deviate from any of the words being commanded to them, described as a movement toward neither "right" nor "left," and further specifies that this includes not going after other gods to serve them. The sentence combines a general prohibition against departing from instruction with a specific prohibition against idol worship.

Key words

• ta.Sur ("you will turn aside", H5493I) — qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine; the verbal root for "turning aside" or "departing," here negated by Lo' ("not", H3808) to form the prohibition.
• de.va.Rim ("words", H1697G) — masculine plural noun in construct chain with kol ("all", H3605), meaning "all of the words," the object from which one must not turn aside.
• ya.Min ("right [hand]", H3225G) and se.Mol ("left [hand]", H8040G) — a pair of nouns (feminine and masculine singular respectively) joined by ve. ("and", H9002), forming a merism expressing totality of direction — neither one side nor the other.
• le.Khet ("to walk", H1980N) and 'a.ve.Da ("to serve", H5647H) — both qal infinitives with the preposition la. / le. ("to", H9005), expressing purpose or result: "in order to walk... in order to serve."
• 'E.lo.Him 'a.che.Rim ("other gods", H0430J + H0312) — masculine plural noun followed by masculine plural adjective in agreement, the object of the infinitive le.Khet... 'a.che.Rei ("after").

What the text says

The clause opens with ve.lo' ta.Sur ("and you will not turn aside"), a negated imperfect verb functioning as a prohibition addressed to a plural group, since the object suffix on 'et.Khem ("you", H9036 attached to H0853) is masculine plural. The phrase mi.kol ha.de.va.Rim 'a.Sher 'a.no.Khi me.tza.Veh 'et.Khem ha.Yom ("from all the words which I am commanding you today") specifies what must not be departed from, using the participle me.tza.Veh ("commanding", H6680) to mark an ongoing act of instruction rather than a completed one.

The two nouns ya.Min and se.Mol stand without a preposition attaching them syntactically to the main verb in the way "to the right or to the left" would in English; in the Hebrew they function adverbially alongside ta.Sur, reinforcing the totality of the prohibition through the right/left merism. The final section, introduced by the infinitives la.Le.khet ("to walk") and le.'a.ve.Dam ("to serve them"), describes the specific direction the turning-aside would take: walking after 'E.lo.Him 'a.che.Rim ("other gods") in order to serve them. The suffix -Dam on 'a.ve.Da ("serve", H5647H) refers back to these "other gods."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ta.Sur ("turn aside") with παραβήσῃ ("you will transgress"), a different verbal image than the Hebrew's "turning aside." It also renders de.va.Rim ("words") as ἐντολῶν ("commandments"), a more specific term than the Hebrew noun. The Vulgate's declinaveris ("you will turn aside") matches the Hebrew verb's sense more closely but shifts to singular verb forms (declinaveris, secutus fueris, colueris) where the Hebrew suffix on 'et.Khem is plural; the LXX likewise uses the singular σοι ("to you") rather than reflecting the Hebrew plural addressee.