Deuteronomy 4:23

Summary

Deuteronomy 4:23 issues a warning to Israel not to forget the covenant that Yehovah made with them, and not to make for themselves a carved image in the form of anything that Yehovah had forbidden. The verse combines a general command in the plural with a closing clause addressed in the singular.

Key words

• hishamru ("take heed", H8104J) — Niphal imperative, plural; the Niphal stem gives a reflexive/passive nuance, closer to "guard yourselves" than a plain "be careful."
• pen ("lest", H6435) — subordinating particle introducing a negative purpose clause: the forgetting is presented as an outcome to be prevented.
• berit ("covenant of", H1285) — feminine singular noun in construct state, directly bound to Yehovah, forming the phrase "covenant of Yehovah."
• karat ("he has made", H3772H) — Qal perfect, completed action; literally "he cut," the standard verb for establishing a covenant.
• tziv'kha ("he commanded you", H6680) — Piel perfect with 2nd person singular suffix; the intensive stem marks a formal, authoritative act of command.

What the text says

The verse opens with a plural command, hishamru lakhem ("take heed to/for yourselves"), using the Niphal form of shamar (H8104J), which frames the warning as guarding oneself rather than a neutral act of caution. This is followed by the particle pen (H6435), which sets up a purpose clause: "lest you forget." The object of forgetting is berit Yehovah 'Eloheikhem ("the covenant of Yehovah your God," H1285/H3068G/H0430G), a construct chain identifying the covenant by its author. The relative clause 'asher karat 'imakhem ("which he made with you") uses the Qal perfect karat (H3772H), the standard idiom for covenant-making, literally "cutting."

The second half of the verse shifts to a sequential perfect, va'asitem ("and you will make," H6213H), which continues the same prohibitive force begun by pen, extending the warning to the making of a pesel ("an image," H6459) in the temunat kol ("form of anything," H8544/H3605). Notably, the pronominal suffixes shift from plural (-khem, H9036) throughout the first half to singular (-kha, H9031/H9021) in the final clause, "which Yehovah your God commanded you" (tziv'kha, H6680). This alternation between plural and singular address to the same audience is a feature of the Hebrew text itself, not reflected as a distinction in the English or Spanish translations, which render both forms with a uniform plural "you."

Differences between versions

The Hebrew pen-clause structure ("lest you forget... and [lest you] make") is preserved with subjunctive continuation in the LXX (μὴ ἐπιλάθησθε... καὶ ποιήσητε) and Vulgate (cave... et facias), keeping both prohibitions under one warning. The BSB and RV1909, however, present the second clause as a separate direct prohibition ("do not make" / "os hagáis"), splitting what the Hebrew and older versions treat as one continuous lest-construction.