Deuteronomy 4:19
וּפֶן־תִּשָּׂא עֵינֶיךָ הַשָּׁמַיְמָה וְֽרָאִיתָ אֶת־הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וְאֶת־הַיָּרֵחַ וְאֶת־הַכּֽוֹכָבִים כֹּל צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם וְנִדַּחְתָּ וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתָ לָהֶם וַעֲבַדְתָּם אֲשֶׁר חָלַק יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֹתָם לְכֹל הָֽעַמִּים תַּחַת כָּל־הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
Tap a word to see its entry
✦ The same verse in five languages
וּפֶן־תִּשָּׂ֨א עֵינֶ֜יךָ הַשָּׁמַ֗יְמָה וְֽ֠רָאִיתָ אֶת־הַשֶּׁ֨מֶשׁ וְאֶת־הַיָּרֵ֜חַ וְאֶת־הַכּֽוֹכָבִ֗ים כֹּ֚ל צְבָ֣א הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וְנִדַּחְתָּ֛ וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִ֥יתָ לָהֶ֖ם וַעֲבַדְתָּ֑ם אֲשֶׁ֨ר חָלַ֜ק יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ אֹתָ֔ם לְכֹל֙ הָֽעַמִּ֔ים תַּ֖חַת כָּל־הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃
καὶ μὴ ἀναβλέψας εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἰδὼν τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἅστε ῥᾶς καὶ πάντα τὸν κόσμον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πλανηθεὶς προσκυνήσῃς αὐτοῖς καὶ λατρεύσῃς αὐτοῖς, ἃ ἀπένειμεν κύριος ὁ θεός σου αὐτὰ πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν τοῖς ὑποκάτω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
ne forte elevatis oculis ad cælum, videas solem et lunam, et omnia astra cæli, et errore deceptus adores ea, et colas quæ creavit Dominus Deus tuus in ministerium cunctis gentibus, quæ sub cælo sunt.
y no sea que alces tus ojos al cielo, y al ver el sol, la luna y las estrellas, todo el ejército del cielo, te sientas atraído y los adores, y los sirvas, que Yehová tu Dios ha asignado a todos los pueblos bajo todo el cielo.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y porque alzando tus ojos al cielo, y viendo el sol y la luna y las estrellas, y todo el ejército del cielo, no seas incitado, y te inclines á ellos, y les sirvas; que Jehová tu Dios los ha concedido á todos los pueblos debajo de todos los cielos.
When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars — all the host of heaven — do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse warns against lifting one's eyes to the sky and being drawn to bow down and serve the sun, moon, stars, and "all the host of heaven." It closes with a relative clause stating that Yehovah has assigned these celestial bodies to all the peoples under heaven.
Key words
- ti.Sa' ("you should lift up", H5375G) — qal imperfect following the particle fen ("lest", H6435), forming a warning construction: "lest you lift up your eyes."
- ni.dach.Ta ("you will be drawn aside", H5080) — niphal (passive/reflexive) sequential perfect; the passive form frames the action as something happening to the subject rather than an act he initiates.
- cha.Lak ("he has assigned", H2505A) — qal perfect, marking a completed action; the root relates to division or apportionment.
- tze.Va' ("host of", H6635A) — construct noun, linking to ha.Sha.Mayim ("the heavens", H8064); a military-type term applied to the celestial bodies as a collective group.
- 'o.Ta·m ("them", H0853 + H9038) — direct object marker with pronominal suffix, explicitly re-marking the sun, moon, and stars as the object of cha.Lak.
What the text says
The sentence opens with the subordinating particle fen ("lest," H6435) attached to the imperfect verb ti.Sa' ("you should lift up," H5375G), setting up a cautionary clause about raising the eyes toward ha.Sha.May.ma ("the heavens," H8064) with directional he. What follows is a chain of four sequential perfect verbs (ra.'i.ta "you will see," ni.dach.Ta "you will be drawn aside," hish.ta.cha.Vi.ta "you will bow down," 'a.vad.Ta "you will serve") — a grammatical structure that continues the initial warning as one continuous potential sequence of events, from seeing to serving.
Notably, ni.dach.Ta (H5080) is in the niphal stem, a passive/reflexive form. This grammatical choice presents the "being drawn aside" as something that happens to the subject, distinct from the active verbs of bowing and serving that follow it in the same chain.
The final clause uses asher ("which," H0834A) to introduce what Yehovah cha.Lak ("has assigned," H2505A) — a qal perfect indicating a completed, prior action. The direct object is marked twice: once through the string of et markers on sun, moon, and stars, and again through the suffixed 'o.Ta·m ("them," H0853+H9038), which grammatically confirms these bodies as what was apportioned "to all the peoples under all the heavens" (le.khol ha.'Amim tachat kol ha.Shamayim).
Differences between versions
The Hebrew cha.Lak (H2505A, "he has assigned/apportioned") is rendered in the LXX as ἀπένειμεν ("he allotted/distributed"), which aligns closely with the Hebrew sense of division. The Vulgate, however, uses creavit ("he created"), a different verb concept than apportionment. Additionally, the Hebrew construct phrase tze.Va' ha.Shamayim ("host of the heavens," H6635A) appears in the LXX as τὸν κόσμον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ("the order/array of heaven"), using a term related to arrangement rather than the military-associated "host" sense present in the Hebrew.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.