Deuteronomy 31:21

וְהָיָה כִּֽי־תִמְצֶאןָ אֹתוֹ רָעוֹת רַבּוֹת וְצָרוֹת וְעָנְתָה הַשִּׁירָה הַזֹּאת לְפָנָיו לְעֵד כִּי לֹא תִשָּׁכַח מִפִּי זַרְעוֹ כִּי יָדַעְתִּי אֶת־יִצְרוֹ אֲשֶׁר הוּא עֹשֶׂה הַיּוֹם בְּטֶרֶם אֲבִיאֶנּוּ אֶל־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבָּֽעְתִּי׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וְ֠הָיָה כִּֽי־תִמְצֶ֨אןָ אֹת֜וֹ רָע֣וֹת רַבּוֹת֮ וְצָרוֹת֒ וְ֠עָנְתָה הַשִּׁירָ֨ה הַזֹּ֤את לְפָנָיו֙ לְעֵ֔ד כִּ֛י לֹ֥א תִשָּׁכַ֖ח מִפִּ֣י זַרְע֑וֹ כִּ֧י יָדַ֣עְתִּי אֶת־יִצְר֗וֹ אֲשֶׁ֨ר ה֤וּא עֹשֶׂה֙ הַיּ֔וֹם בְּטֶ֣רֶם אֲבִיאֶ֔נּוּ אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר נִשְׁבָּֽעְתִּי׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ ἀντικαταστήσεται ἡ ᾠδὴ αὕτη κατὰ πρόσωπον μαρτυροῦσα· οὐ γὰρ μὴ ἐπιλησθῇ ἀπὸ στόματος τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτῶν· ἐγὼ γὰρ οἶδα τὴν πονηρίαν αὐτῶν, ὅσα ποιοῦσιν ὦδε σήμερον πρὸ τοῦ εἰσαγαγεῖν με αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν γῆν τὴν ἀγαθὴν ἣν ὤμοσα τοῖς πατράσιν αὐτῶν.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Postquam invenerint eum mala multa et afflictiones, respondebit ei canticum istud pro testimonio, quod nulla delebit oblivio ex ore seminis sui. Scio enim cogitationes ejus, quæ facturus sit hodie, antequam introducam eum in terram, quam ei pollicitus sum.

Spanish

Sucederá que, cuando les hayan sobrevenido muchos males y angustias, este cántico dará testimonio ante ellos, pues no se olvidará de la boca de sus descendientes; porque yo conozco sus caminos y lo que hacen hoy, antes de introducirlos en la tierra que les prometí.”

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y será que cuando le vinieren muchos males y angustias, entonces responderá en su cara este cántico como testigo, pues no caerá en olvido de la boca de su linaje: porque yo conozco su ingenio, y lo que hace hoy antes que le introduzca en la tierra que juré.

English

And when many troubles and afflictions have come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants. For I know their inclination, even before I bring them into the land that I swore to give them.”

✦ What the text says

Summary

This verse forms the apodosis of a conditional clause: once "many calamities" (ra'ot rabot) and "troubles" (tzarot) befall the people (referred to with a singular suffix, "him"), the song functions as a witness against them. The passage closes with Yehovah stating he already knows the people's yetzer ("inclination/intention") before they even enter the land promised by oath.

Key words

tim.Tze.na ("they will come upon", H4672) — imperfect, third-person feminine plural, agreeing grammatically with the two feminine plural nouns ra'ot rabot ("many calamities") and tzarot ("troubles") that serve as its subject.
'a.ne.tah ("it will testify", H6030B) — sequential perfect, feminine singular, agreeing with hashirah ("the song"), continuing the same veHaya-chain begun by ha.yah in position 2.
yitz.R...o ("its/his intention", H3336 + H9023) — construct noun with 3ms suffix, preceded by the object marker 'et, marking it as the direct object of "I know."
ti.sha.Khach ("it will be forgotten", H7911) — niphal (passive) imperfect, describing the song's fate as something done to it, not by an agent.
nish.Ba.'e.ti ("I swore", H7650) — niphal perfect, the standard verbal stem used for oath-taking in Biblical Hebrew, here first-person completed action referring to Yehovah's earlier promise regarding the land.

What the text says

The sentence is built as a temporal-conditional chain typical of Hebrew narrative syntax: veHaya ("and it will be") followed by ki ("when/that") introduces the protasis, and the apodosis resumes with another sequential perfect, ve'anetah ("and it will testify"). This double use of the vav-sequential form (ha.yah... 'a.ne.tah) links the two clauses as a single continuous future sequence rather than two separate statements. The subject of the first verb, timtze'na, is grammatically feminine plural, matching ra'ot rabot vetzarot — the calamities and troubles are what "find" the people, expressed with a 3ms object suffix on 'oto ("him"), treating the nation as a singular collective.

The reason clauses are marked twice by ki (H3588A, "for/because"): first explaining why the song will not be forgotten (lo tishakach, niphal — a passive construction meaning it will not be caused to be forgotten), and second explaining Yehovah's stated knowledge of yitzro, the people's "intention," modified by a relative clause using the participle 'oseh ("is doing"), which conveys ongoing action ("what he is doing today") rather than a single completed act. The final clause uses the hiphil imperfect avi'ennu ("I will bring it/him") paired with the niphal perfect nishba'ti ("I swore"), both verbs marking future causation and prior completed oath respectively.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew uses singular suffixes throughout (oto, "him"; zar'o, "his offspring"; yitzro, "his intention"), treating the nation as one collective entity. The LXX shifts to plural forms ("αὐτῶν", "their"; "αὐτούς", "them"), as reflected in the BSB and SBLIBRE translations ("their descendants," "them"). The LXX also renders yitzro ("his intention/inclination") as "τὴν πονηρίαν αὐτῶν" ("their wickedness"), an interpretive rendering rather than a literal one, whereas the Vulgate's "cogitationes ejus" ("his thoughts") stays closer to the Hebrew's neutral yetzer. The LXX additionally describes the land as "τὴν γῆν τὴν ἀγαθὴν" ("the good land"), an added qualifier not present in the Hebrew text, which simply reads ha'aretz asher nishba'ti ("the land which I swore").

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.