Deuteronomy 4:25

Summary

Deuteronomy 4:25 opens a conditional clause describing a future scenario: after generations pass and the people have long settled in the land, they act corruptly, make a carved image in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of Yehovah their God, provoking him to anger. The verse is the protasis ("if/when") of a sentence that continues into the following verses.

Key words

• to.Lid ("you will father", H3205) — hiphil causative imperfect, framing the whole clause as a future/hypothetical condition introduced by ki ("if/for", H3588A).
• no.shan.Tem ("you will grow old", H3462) — niphal sequential perfect; niphal here marks a state resulting from time passing, continuing the chain begun by the imperfect verb.
• hish.cha.Tem ("you will act corruptly", H7843) — hiphil sequential perfect, causative in form though describing the subject's own moral action; part of the vav-chained sequence of consequences.
• pe.sel ("image of", H6459) construct + te.Mu.nat ("form of", H8544) construct + Kol ("anything", H3605) — a double construct chain meaning "a carved image, a form of anything," describing the object made.
• hakh.'i.S ("provoke to anger", H3707) — hiphil infinitive with prefix le- ("to"), expressing purpose or result: "so as to provoke him."

What the text says

The sentence is built as a chain of sequential perfects following an initial imperfect verb, a common Hebrew construction for describing a sequence of future or hypothetical events tied together as one continuous scenario. The particle ki ("for/if", H3588A) opens the condition, and to.Lid ("you will father", H3205) sets the time frame: fathering ba.Nim ("children", H1121A) and ve.Nei va.Nim ("children of children", H1121A construct + H1121A) — i.e., generations extending into grandchildren. The vav-prefixed perfects no.shan.Tem, hish.cha.Tem, 'a.Si.tem (x2) each continue this single narrative thread: growing old in the land, acting corruptly, making an image, doing evil.

The phrase pe.sel te.Mu.nat Kol stacks two construct nouns — "a carved image, a form of anything" — indicating an object shaped to resemble something, without specifying what. The final clause uses be.'ei.Nei Yehovah 'e.lo.Hei.kha ("in the eyes of Yehovah your God", H5869H construct chain) as an idiom for divine judgment or perspective, followed by the infinitive hakh.'i.S + suffix -o ("him"), expressing the resulting or intended effect: provoking him to anger.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ve.Nei va.Nim ("children of children") as "υἱοὺς τῶν υἱῶν σου" ("sons of your sons"), while the Vulgate uses "nepotes" ("grandchildren"), both interpreting the Hebrew construct chain as referring to grandchildren specifically. The Vulgate adds "deceptique" ("being deceived"), an interpretive addition not present in the Hebrew or LXX, framing the image-making as resulting from deception rather than simply corrupt action.