Deuteronomy 4:34

אוֹ׀ הֲנִסָּה אֱלֹהִים לָבוֹא לָקַחַת לוֹ גוֹי מִקֶּרֶב גּוֹי בְּמַסֹּת בְּאֹתֹת וּבְמוֹפְתִים וּבְמִלְחָמָה וּבְיָד חֲזָקָה וּבִזְרוֹעַ נְטוּיָה וּבְמוֹרָאִים גְּדֹלִים כְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂה לָכֶם יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם בְּמִצְרַיִם לְעֵינֶֽיךָ׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

א֣וֹ׀ הֲנִסָּ֣ה אֱלֹהִ֗ים לָ֠בוֹא לָקַ֨חַת ל֣וֹ גוֹי֮ מִקֶּ֣רֶב גּוֹי֒ בְּמַסֹּת֩ בְּאֹתֹ֨ת וּבְמוֹפְתִ֜ים וּבְמִלְחָמָ֗ה וּבְיָ֤ד חֲזָקָה֙ וּבִזְר֣וֹעַ נְטוּיָ֔ה וּבְמוֹרָאִ֖ים גְּדֹלִ֑ים כְּ֠כֹל אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂ֨ה לָכֶ֜ם יְהוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֛ם בְּמִצְרַ֖יִם לְעֵינֶֽיךָ׃

Greek (Septuagint)

εἰ ἐπείρασεν ὀ θεὸς εἰσελθὼν λαβεῖν ἑαυτῷ ἔθνος ἐκ μέσου ἔθνους ἐν πειρασμῷ καὶ ἐν σημείοις καὶ ἐν τέρασιν καὶ ἐν πολέμῳ καὶ ἐν χειρὶ κραταιᾷ καὶ ἐν βραχίονι ὑψηλῷ καὶ ἐν ὁράμασιν μεγάλοις, κατὰ πάντα ὅσα ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἐνώπιον σου βλέποντος·

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

si fecit Deus ut ingrederetur, et tolleret sibi gentem de medio nationum, per tentationes, signa atque portenta, per pugnam et robustam manum, extentumque brachium, et horribiles visiones juxta omnia quæ fecit pro vobis Dominus Deus vester in Ægypto, videntibus oculis tuis:

Spanish

¿O ha tratado Dios de ir a tomar una nación para sí de entre otra nación, con pruebas, con señales, con prodigios, con guerra, con mano poderosa, con brazo extendido y con grandes terrores, según todo lo que Yehová tu Dios hizo por ti en Egipto ante tus ojos?

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

¿ O ha Dios probado á venir á tomar para sí gente de en medio de otra gente, con pruebas, con señales, con milagros, y con guerra, y mano fuerte, y brazo extendido, y grandes espantos, según todas las cosas que hizo con vosotros Jehová vuestro Dios en Egipto ante tus ojos?

English

Or has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation — by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors — as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes?

✦ What the text says

Summary

This verse is a rhetorical question contrasting Yehovah with any other god, asking whether any deity has ever attempted to take a nation from the midst of another nation using trials, signs, wonders, war, and mighty power — as Yehovah did for Israel in Egypt, witnessed directly by the people.

Key words

nissah ("has it attempted", H5254H) — Piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular; the intensive form implies deliberate, forceful trial or testing, not casual attempt.
'Elohim ("a god", H0430G) — masculine plural noun used generically here (with the interrogative ha- prefix) to ask about "any god," not a specific deity.
goy... miqqerev goy ("a nation... from the midst of a nation", H1471A) — a construct-like repetition creating the image of extracting one nation bodily from inside another.
yad chazakah ("a hand, strong", H3027H + H2389) — noun followed by adjective in feminine agreement, the classic idiom for divine power in action.
zeroa' netuyah ("an arm, outstretched", H2220 + H5186) — the adjective here is a Qal passive participle, meaning the arm is depicted as extended, in a completed and visible state.

What the text says

The sentence opens with the interrogative particle ha (H9008) attached to nissah, turning the entire clause into a rhetorical question expecting a negative answer: no other 'Elohim has done this. The infinitives lavo' ("to come", H0935G) and laqachat ("to take", H3947G) describe the two-step action attributed to this hypothetical god — coming and then taking — governed by the preposition le- (H9005) in both cases, giving a purposive sense ("in order to come, in order to take").

The list of means by which this action would be accomplished is built through a chain of coordinated prepositional phrases, each headed by be- ("by/with", H9003): massot ("trials", H4531B), 'otot ("signs", H0226G), mofetim ("wonders", H4159), milchamah ("battle", H4421), yad chazakah, zeroa' netuyah, and mora'im gedolim ("great terrors", H4172A + H1419A). This repetitive structure produces a cumulative rhetorical effect, piling up the extraordinary acts as proof of scale. The comparative clause introduced by ke-khol 'asher ("like all that", H9004 + H3605 + H0834A) then anchors the entire list to the historical acts of Yehovah 'Eloheikhem ("Yehovah your God", H3068G + H0430G) be-Mitzrayim ("in Egypt", H4714G), witnessed le-'eineikha ("before your eyes", H5869J) — a phrase emphasizing direct eyewitness experience rather than report.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew mora'im gedolim ("great terrors") is rendered in the LXX as horamasin megalois ("great visions/sights"), a shift from an emotional register (terror) to a visual one (vision). The Vulgate's horribiles visiones ("horrible visions") partially bridges both senses, combining "vision" with "horror." Additionally, where the Hebrew text says Yehovah 'Eloheikhem ("Yehovah your God"), the LXX reads ho theos hemon ("our God"), shifting the pronoun from second to first person plural; the Vulgate follows the Hebrew more closely with Dominus Deus vester ("the Lord your God").

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.