Deuteronomy 4:46
בְּעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן בַּגַּיְא מוּל בֵּית פְּעוֹר בְּאֶרֶץ סִיחֹן מֶלֶךְ הָֽאֱמֹרִי אֲשֶׁר יוֹשֵׁב בְּחֶשְׁבּוֹן אֲשֶׁר הִכָּה מֹשֶׁה וּבְנֵֽי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּצֵאתָם מִמִּצְרָֽיִם׃
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✦ The same verse in five languages
בְּעֵ֨בֶר הַיַּרְדֵּ֜ן בַּגַּ֗יְא מ֚וּל בֵּ֣ית פְּע֔וֹר בְּאֶ֗רֶץ סִיחֹן֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ הָֽאֱמֹרִ֔י אֲשֶׁ֥ר יוֹשֵׁ֖ב בְּחֶשְׁבּ֑וֹן אֲשֶׁ֨ר הִכָּ֤ה מֹשֶׁה֙ וּבְנֵֽי יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל בְּצֵאתָ֖ם מִמִּצְרָֽיִם׃
ἐν τῷ πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου, ἐν φάραγγι ἐγγὺς οἴκου Φογώρ, ἐν γῇ Σηὼν βασιλέως τῶν Ἀμορραίων, ὃς κατῴκει ἐν Ἑσεβών, οὓς ἐπάταξεν Μωσῆς καίοι υἱοὶ Ἰσραήλ, ἐξελθόντων αὐτῶν ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
trans Jordanem in valle contra fanum Phogor in terra Sehon regis Amorrhæi, qui habitavit in Hesebon, quem percussit Moyses. Filii quoque Israël egressi ex Ægypto
al otro lado del Jordán, en el valle frente a Bet Peor, en la tierra de Sehón, rey de los amorreos, que vivía en Hesbón, a quien Moisés y los hijos de Israel hirieron cuando salieron de Egipto.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
De esta parte del Jordán, en el valle delante de Beth-peor, en la tierra de Sehón rey de los Amorrheos, que habitaba en Hesbón, al cual hirió Moisés con los hijos de Israel, cuando hubieron salido de Egipto:
while they were in the valley across the Jordan facing Beth-peor in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon and was defeated by Moses and the Israelites after they had come out of Egypt.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse locates the setting of the preceding discourse: on the eastern side of the Jordan, in the valley near Beth-Peor, in the former territory of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had ruled from Heshbon. It closes by noting that Sihon was defeated by Moses and the people of Israel after they left Egypt.
Key words
- 'Ever ("[the] other side of", H5676H) — masculine singular construct, opening a chain of construct phrases that pinpoint location relative to the Jordan.
- yoshev ("[was] dwelling", H3427) — qal participle, describing Sihon's dwelling in Heshbon as an ongoing state rather than a single completed action.
- hikkah ("he struck down", H5221) — hiphil perfect, a completed, causative action; grammatically singular, agreeing with the nearer of two coordinated subjects (Moshe, "Moses," and venei Yisra'el, "sons of Israel").
- asher ("who/whom", H0834A) — relative particle used twice, first introducing the clause about Sihon's dwelling, then the clause about his defeat.
- betzetam ("in their going out", H3318G + H9048) — qal infinitive construct with a pronominal suffix ("their"), forming a temporal clause: "when they went out."
What the text says
The verse is built from a series of construct-chain phrases ('ever ha-Yarden, mul Beit Pe'or, 'eretz Sihon melekh ha-Emori) that stack geographic references onto one another, moving from the broad location ("across the Jordan") to increasingly specific ones ("in the land of Sihon"). This construct-chain style is typical of biblical toponymic description and allows the text to compress several layers of spatial information into one sentence without additional verbs.
The two asher clauses each modify Sihon but with different aspect: the first (yoshev, participle) presents his dwelling in Heshbon as a state of affairs, background information; the second (hikkah, perfect) presents his defeat as a completed historical event. The verb hikkah is singular even though the subject that follows is compound (Moshe u-venei Yisra'el, "Moses and the sons of Israel"), a common Hebrew pattern where the verb agrees with the subject closest to it. The final clause, marked by the infinitive betzetam ("in their going out"), supplies the temporal frame for the defeat — it occurred after the exodus from Egypt, not before.
Differences between versions
The Vulgate splits the final clause differently from the Hebrew: it renders "quem percussit Moyses" ("whom Moses struck") as a complete statement about Sihon alone, then begins a new sentence, "Filii quoque Israël egressi ex Ægypto" ("the sons of Israel likewise, having gone out of Egypt"), which detaches the sons of Israel from the striking action and attaches them instead to the "going out from Egypt" as a separate note. The Hebrew and the LXX (ἐπάταξεν Μωσῆς καίοι υἱοὶ Ἰσραήλ, "Moses struck, and also the sons of Israel") keep Moses and the sons of Israel joined as coordinate subjects of the single act of striking Sihon.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.