Deuteronomy 4:26
הַעִידֹתִי בָכֶם הַיּוֹם אֶת־הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת־הָאָרֶץ כִּֽי־אָבֹד תֹּאבֵדוּן מַהֵר מֵעַל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם עֹבְרִים אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּן שָׁמָּה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ לֹֽא־תַאֲרִיכֻן יָמִים עָלֶיהָ כִּי הִשָּׁמֵד תִּשָּׁמֵדֽוּן׃
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✦ The same verse in five languages
הַעִידֹתִי֩ בָכֶ֨ם הַיּ֜וֹם אֶת־הַשָּׁמַ֣יִם וְאֶת־הָאָ֗רֶץ כִּֽי־אָבֹ֣ד תֹּאבֵדוּן֮ מַהֵר֒ מֵעַ֣ל הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֨ר אַתֶּ֜ם עֹבְרִ֧ים אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּ֛ן שָׁ֖מָּה לְרִשְׁתָּ֑הּ לֹֽא־תַאֲרִיכֻ֤ן יָמִים֙ עָלֶ֔יהָ כִּ֥י הִשָּׁמֵ֖ד תִּשָּׁמֵדֽוּן׃
διαμαρτύρομαι ὑμῖν σήμερον τόν τε οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν, ὅτι ἀπωλίᾳ ἀπολεῖσθε ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς εἰς ἣν ὑμεῖς διαβαίνετε τὸν Ἰορδάνην ἐκεῖ κληρονομῆσαι· οὐχὶ πολυχρονιεῖτε ἡμέρας ἐπ’ αὐτῆς, ἀλλ’ ἢ ἐκτριβῇ ἐκτριβήσεσθε.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
testes invoco hodie cælum et terram, cito perituros vos esse de terra, quam transito Jordane possessuri estis: non habitabitis in ea longo tempore, sed delebit vos Dominus,
yo llamo a los cielos y a la tierra para que atestigüen hoy contra ustedes, que pronto perecerán totalmente de la tierra que pasan al otro lado del Jordán para poseerla. No prolongarán sus días en ella, sino que serán totalmente destruidos.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Yo pongo hoy por testigos al cielo y á la tierra, que presto pereceréis totalmente de la tierra hacia la cual pasáis el Jordán para poseerla: no estaréis en ella largos días sin que seáis destruídos.
I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Moses declares that he calls heaven and earth as witnesses against the people on that very day, warning that they will perish quickly from the land they are about to enter after crossing the Jordan, and that they will not remain long in it before being utterly destroyed.
Key words
- ha'idoTi ("I call as witnesses", H5749B) — hiphil perfect, first person: a completed, causative act of formally summoning witnesses, done "this day."
- 'avod ("certainly to perish", H0006) paired with to'eDun ("you will perish", H0006) — infinitive absolute + imperfect, a classic Hebrew intensifying construction doubling the same root to stress certainty.
- ta'ariKhun ("you will prolong", H0748) — hiphil imperfect with paragogic nun (H9013), adding emphasis to the negated future action ("you will not prolong [days]").
- hishaMed ("utterly destroyed", H8045) paired with tishameDun ("you will be destroyed", H8045) — niphal infinitive + niphal imperfect, again doubling the root, this time in the passive voice, to intensify the certainty of destruction.
- 'oevRim ("about to pass over", H5674A) — qal participle, describing an action in progress or imminent, referring to crossing the Jordan.
What the text says
The verse opens with ha'idoTi ("I call as witnesses", H5749B) in the hiphil perfect, a causative form indicating that Moses actively brings heaven and earth into the role of witnesses, followed by bakhem ("against you", H9003+H9036) and hayom ("this day", H3117L), anchoring the act in the present moment of speech. The core warning is built on paired root repetitions typical of Biblical Hebrew for emphasis: 'avod toevedun ("certainly perish," H0006 twice) and hishamed tishamedun ("utterly destroyed," H8045 twice), both reinforced by the paragoge nun (H9013), which Hebrew grammar uses to add weight to the verb form rather than change its basic meaning.
The clause 'asher 'attem 'overim 'et-hayarden shammah leriShtah ("where you are crossing the Jordan there to possess it") uses the qal participle 'overim ("about to pass over", H5674A) to present the crossing as an event already underway or imminent from the speaker's viewpoint, while the infinitive rishTah ("to possess it", H3423H) with its pronominal suffix ties the purpose of the crossing to the land itself. The negated lo-ta'ariKhun yamim ("you will not prolong days", H0748) sets a temporal limit contrasted with the certainty expressed by the doubled-root destruction phrase that closes the verse.
Differences between versions
The Vulgate renders the destruction clause as delebit vos Dominus ("Yehovah will destroy you"), introducing an explicit subject (the divine name) not present in the Hebrew hishamed tishamedun, which uses a passive/reflexive niphal construction without naming an agent. The LXX similarly shifts to a passive construction, ektribē ektribēsesthe ("you will be utterly rubbed out"), preserving the doubled-root emphasis but choosing a different verb image (erasure/rubbing out) than the Hebrew shamad ("destroy", H8045).
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.