Deuteronomy 31:29
כִּי יָדַעְתִּי אַחֲרֵי מוֹתִי כִּֽי־הַשְׁחֵת תַּשְׁחִתוּן וְסַרְתֶּם מִן־הַדֶּרֶךְ אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתִי אֶתְכֶם וְקָרָאת אֶתְכֶם הָֽרָעָה בְּאַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים כִּֽי־תַעֲשׂוּ אֶת־הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יְהוָה לְהַכְעִיסוֹ בְּמַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵיכֶֽם׃
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✦ The same verse in five languages
כִּ֣י יָדַ֗עְתִּי אַחֲרֵ֤י מוֹתִי֙ כִּֽי־הַשְׁחֵ֣ת תַּשְׁחִת֔וּן וְסַרְתֶּ֣ם מִן־הַדֶּ֔רֶךְ אֲשֶׁ֥ר צִוִּ֖יתִי אֶתְכֶ֑ם וְקָרָ֨את אֶתְכֶ֤ם הָֽרָעָה֙ בְּאַחֲרִ֣ית הַיָּמִ֔ים כִּֽי־תַעֲשׂ֤וּ אֶת־הָרַע֙ בְּעֵינֵ֣י יְהוָ֔ה לְהַכְעִיס֖וֹ בְּמַעֲשֵׂ֥ה יְדֵיכֶֽם׃
οἶδα γὰρ ὅτι ἔσχατον τῆς τελευτῆς μου ἀνομίᾳ ἀνομήσετε, καὶ ἐκκλινεῖτε ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ ἧς ἐνετειλάμην ὑμῖν· τὰ κακὰ ἔσχατον τῶν ἡμερῶν, ὅτι ποιήσετε τὰ πονηρὰ ἐναντίον Κυρίου, παροργίσαι αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν χειρῶν ὑμῶν. *30 Καὶ ἐλάλησεν Μωυσῆς εἰς τὰ ὦτα πάσης ἐκκλησίας τὰ ῥήματα τῆς ᾠδῆς ταύτης ἕως εἰς τέλος· XXXII
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Novi enim quod post mortem meam inique agetis, et declinabitis cito de via, quam præcepi vobis: et occurrent vobis mala in extremo tempore, quando feceritis malum in conspectu Domini, ut irritetis eum per opera manuum vestrarum.
Porque sé que después de mi muerte se corromperán por completo y se apartarán del camino que les he mandado; y les sucederá el mal en los últimos días, porque harán lo que es malo a los ojos de Yehová, para provocarlo a la ira con la obra de sus manos.”
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Porque yo sé que después de mi muerte, ciertamente os corromperéis y os aparteréis del camino que os he mandado; y que os ha de venir mal en los postreros días, por haber hecho mal en ojos de Jehová, enojándole con la obra de vuestras manos.
For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. And in the days to come, disaster will befall you because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke Him to anger by the work of your hands.” Moses Begins His Song
✦ What the text says
Summary
Moses states that he knows that after his death the people will act corruptly and turn from the way he commanded them, and that evil will meet them in the end of days because they will do what is evil in the eyes of Yehovah, provoking him through the work of their hands.
Key words
- ya.Da'.ti ("I know", H3045) — qal perfect, 1st person: a completed, settled state of knowledge, not a tentative guess.
- hash.Chet ("certainly act corruptly", H7843) + tash.chi.Tun ("you will act corruptly", H7843) — infinitive absolute followed by the finite hiphil imperfect of the same root; this doubling intensifies the verb ("you will surely/utterly act corruptly"), further reinforced by the paragogic nun (H9013) attached to the finite form.
- qa.Rat ("it will happen/meet", H7122I) — qal sequential perfect, 3rd person feminine singular, agreeing with the feminine noun ra'ah ("evil"); the evil itself is grammatical subject, "meeting" the people rather than being something they simply "have."
- 'a.cha.Rit ("end of", H0319), construct form governing ha.yamim ("the days", H3117G) — a construct chain meaning "the end of the days," a temporal expression rather than a proper noun for a specific era.
- le.hakh.'i.S ("to provoke to anger", H3707) — hiphil infinitive with prefixed le- (H9005), forming a purpose/result clause explaining the consequence of doing evil "in the eyes of Yehovah" (be.'einei Yehovah, H5869H + H3068G).
What the text says
The verse is built on three subordinate clauses introduced by ki (H3588A, lines 1, 6, 29), each functioning slightly differently: the first introduces the content of Moses' knowledge ("that after my death..."), the second reinforces it with the intensified verb construction, and the third ("for you will do evil...") gives the reason evil will meet the people. This repeated ki structure ties the sentence together as a chain of cause and consequence rather than a simple list.
The two verbs after the initial ki clauses — sar.Tem ("you will turn aside", H5493I) and qa.Rat ("it will happen", H7122I) — are sequential perfects (vav + perfect), a common construction continuing a future-oriented sequence begun by the preceding imperfect/infinitive-absolute pair. Grammatically, this shows the events as a linked sequence: corruption, then turning aside, then evil overtaking them, then, additionally, they will do evil — the final ki clause (line 29) supplies the underlying cause for the "evil" already introduced in line 24. The feminine verb qa.Rat agreeing with ra'ah ("evil") personifies the evil as an active force that meets or befalls the people, a nuance not preserved in translations that render it as a passive "evil will come."
Differences between versions
The LXX renders 'acharei moti ("after my death", H0310A + H4194) as ἔσχατον τῆς τελευτῆς μου, "the end/last of my death," a slightly different phrasing from the Hebrew's simple "after." The LXX and Vulgate both render the singular ha.ra'ah ("the evil", H7451I) with plural forms (τὰ κακά; mala), where the Hebrew has a singular feminine noun functioning as subject of qa.Rat. Additionally, the LXX renders be.'einei Yehovah ("in the eyes of Yehovah") as ἐναντίον Κυρίου ("before the Lord"), shifting the Hebrew's idiom of "eyes" to a more general term of "before."
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.