Deuteronomy 4:39

Summary

The verse commands the addressee to know and internalize, on "this day," that Yehovah is God both in the heavens above and on the earth below, and that there is no other besides him. The sentence uses two sequential verbs of cognition followed by a declarative clause introduced by ki ("that").

Key words

• ya.da'.Ta ("you will know", H3045) — qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular; continues a chain of instructions, here framing the verse as an act of knowing.
• ha.she.vo.Ta ("you will bring back", H7725N) — hiphil (causative) sequential perfect; literally "cause to return," idiomatically "bring back to [the heart]," paired with levavekha ("your heart", H3824) to mean internalizing or taking to heart.
• Yah.weh ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the proper name, subject of the ki-clause.
• hu' ("he", H1931) — independent personal pronoun, resumes the subject before the predicate ha-Elohim, giving emphasis: "Yehovah, he [is] the God."
• 'ein... od ("there is not... still more", H0369 + H5750) — a construct-type negative existential phrase, closing the verse with "there is no longer [any other]."

What the text says

The verse opens with two verbs in sequential perfect form, ve-yada'ta ("and you will know") and va-hashevota ("and you will bring back"), both continuing a narrative chain from the preceding verses. The second verb, hiphil of shuv ("to return", H7725N), is idiomatic: "to bring back to the heart" ('el-levavekha) means to take something to heart or fully internalize it, rather than a literal physical return. The object of both verbs is the clause introduced by ki ("that", H3588A): Yehovah, hu' ("he"), is ha-Elohim ("the God")—the pronoun hu' placed before the predicate gives structural emphasis to the identification, a common construction in Biblical Hebrew for asserting identity ("it is Yehovah who is the God," rather than merely "Yehovah is God").

The spatial merism ba-shamayim mi-ma'al ve-'al ha-'aretz mi-tachat ("in the heavens above and on the earth beneath") frames the totality of the cosmos using paired prepositional phrases with min ("from," here directional/locative use with ma'al "above" and tachat "beneath"). The verse closes with 'ein od, a negative existential construction meaning "there is no longer" or "there is no more," without an explicit noun following it in the Hebrew—the object of comparison (another god) is implied by context rather than stated.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders hashevota 'el-levavekha as epistraphēsē tē dianoia ("you will turn/be converted in your understanding"), shifting the idiom from "heart" (lev) to "mind" (dianoia). Where the Hebrew has 'ein od without a stated complement, the LXX adds plēn autou ("except him"), making explicit what the Hebrew leaves implicit. The Vulgate's non sit alius ("there is no other") similarly supplies an explicit noun ("other") not present in the bare Hebrew 'ein od ("there is no longer").