Deuteronomy 29:20

Summary

The verse describes Yehovah's refusal to forgive a particular individual, followed by three consequences: the burning of his anger and jealousy against that man, the "lying down" upon him of every curse written in the covenant document, and the erasure of his name from under the heavens.

Key words

• yo.Veh ("he will be willing", H0014) — qal imperfect, expresses ongoing negated volition: Yehovah "will not be willing" rather than a single refusal.
• se.Lo.ach ("to forgive", H5545) — qal infinitive, paired with yo.Veh to form the construction "will not be willing to forgive."
• ye'.Shan ("it will smoke", H6225) — qal imperfect, a verb literally meaning "to smoke," used figuratively for the kindling of anger; the imperfect marks it as a future/ongoing event.
• Ra.ve.tzah ("it will lie down", H7257) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain begun with ye'.Shan; the image is of the curse "crouching" or "settling" upon the man.
• ma.Chah ("he will wipe out", H4229A) — qal sequential perfect, the final act in the sequence, describing removal of the she.M ("name", H8034) suffixed with o ("his").

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with a negated modal construction: lo'-yo.Veh Yehovah se.Lo.ach lo ("Yehovah will not be willing to forgive him"), using the verb yo.Veh ("he will be willing", H0014) governing the infinitive se.Lo.ach ("to forgive", H5545). This is followed by a conditional/causal clause introduced by ki ("for/if", H3588A) and the adverb 'az ("then", H0227A), which sets up the consequence: ye'.Shan ("it will smoke", H6225) describes the "anger of Yehovah" ('af-Yehovah) and "his jealousy" (kin.'a.T...o) as smoking — a figurative expression for kindled wrath, built on construct-chain nouns ('af, H0639G; kin.'a.T, H7068) each marked as belonging to Yehovah.

The narrative then moves through two sequential perfects joined by the narrative vav (H9001): Ra.ve.tzah ("it will lie down", H7257), describing "every oath/curse" (kol-ha.'a.Lah, H0423) written (ke.tu.Vah, H3789, a passive participle) "in this book" (ba.Se.fer ha.Zeh) settling upon "that man" (ba.'Ish ha.Hu); and ma.Chah ("he will wipe out", H4229A), describing Yehovah erasing "his name" (she.M...o) "from under the heavens" (mi.Ta.chat ha.sha.Ma.yim). The construct chains throughout (H8478G Ta.chat "under," governing ha.sha.Ma.yim "the heavens") produce the spatial image of removal from beneath the sky, i.e., complete disappearance from the visible order.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the Hebrew 'a.Lah ("oath", H0423) with the Greek term for "curses" (ἀραί) and additionally inserts "τῆς διαθήκης ταύτης" ("of this covenant"), an addition not present in the Hebrew text, which only reads ba.Se.fer ha.Zeh ("in this book"). The Vulgate renders ye'.Shan ("it will smoke", H6225) with "fumet" ("may smoke"), closely matching the Hebrew figurative sense, while the LXX instead uses ἐκκαυθήσεται ("will be kindled"), shifting the image from smoking to kindling/burning.