Deuteronomy 4:9
רַק הִשָּׁמֶר לְךָ וּשְׁמֹר נַפְשְׁךָ מְאֹד פֶּן־תִּשְׁכַּח אֶת־הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר־רָאוּ עֵינֶיךָ וּפֶן־יָסוּרוּ מִלְּבָבְךָ כֹּל יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ וְהוֹדַעְתָּם לְבָנֶיךָ וְלִבְנֵי בָנֶֽיךָ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
רַ֡ק הִשָּׁ֣מֶר לְךָ֩ וּשְׁמֹ֨ר נַפְשְׁךָ֜ מְאֹ֗ד פֶּן־תִּשְׁכַּ֨ח אֶת־הַדְּבָרִ֜ים אֲשֶׁר־רָא֣וּ עֵינֶ֗יךָ וּפֶן־יָס֙וּרוּ֙ מִלְּבָ֣בְךָ֔ כֹּ֖ל יְמֵ֣י חַיֶּ֑יךָ וְהוֹדַעְתָּ֥ם לְבָנֶ֖יךָ וְלִבְנֵ֥י בָנֶֽיךָ׃
πρόσεχε σεαυτῷ καὶ φύλαξον τὴν ψυχήν σου σφόδρα, μὴ ἐπιλάθῃ πάντας τοὺς λόγους οὓς ἑωράκασιν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί σου, καὶ μὴ ἀποστήτωσαν ἀπὸ τῆς καρδίας σου πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ζωῆς σου· καὶ συμβιβάσεις τοὺς υἱούς σου καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν υἱῶν σου·
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Custodi igitur temetipsum, et animam tuam sollicite. Ne obliviscaris verborum, quæ viderunt oculi tui, et ne excidant de corde tuo cunctis diebus vitæ tuæ. Docebis ea filios ac nepotes tuos,
Sólo ten cuidado, y guarda tu alma con diligencia, para que no olvides las cosas que vieron tus ojos, y para que no se aparten de tu corazón todos los días de tu vida; pero dáselas a conocer a tus hijos y a los hijos de tus hijos,
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Por tanto, guárdate, y guarda tu alma con diligencia, que no te olvides de las cosas que tus ojos han visto, ni se aparten de tu corazón todos los días de tu vida: y enseñarlas has á tus hijos, y á los hijos de tus hijos;
Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Deuteronomy 4:9 is a command to remain vigilant and to guard oneself carefully so as not to forget what one has witnessed, and to actively transmit that knowledge to one's children and grandchildren for the rest of one's life.
Key words
- hi.Sha.mer ("take heed", H8104J) — niphal imperative, giving the command a reflexive/passive nuance: "watch yourself" rather than simply "watch."
- she.Mor ("guard", H8104G) — same root as the previous word but in qal, paired with le. ("to", H9005) + Kha ("yourself", H9031) forming an intensified double command with me.'Od ("exceedingly", H3966).
- tish.Kach ("you should forget", H7911) — qal imperfect after pen ("lest", H6435), expressing a feared future outcome to be avoided.
- ya.Su.ru ("they should depart", H5493H) — qal imperfect, parallel structure to tish.Kach, describing the danger of the "things" slipping from the le.Va.ve. ("heart", H3824).
- ho.da'.Ta ("you will make known", H3045) — hiphil sequential perfect, causative form indicating an action that continues the imperative sequence: causing others to know.
What the text says
The verse opens with rak ("only", H7535), an adverb that narrows focus onto the instruction that follows, then stacks two imperative verbs from related but distinct stems: hi.Sha.mer (niphal, H8104J) and she.Mor (qal, H8104G), both built on the root behind "guard/keep." This doubling, intensified by me.'Od ("exceedingly", H3966), produces a heightened emphasis on self-vigilance that a single imperative would not convey.
The middle section is structured around two parallel pen ("lest", H6435) clauses, each governing an imperfect verb: tish.Kach ("you should forget", H7911) concerning "the things" (ha.de.va.Rim, H1697I) that the eyes ('ei.Nei., H5869A) have seen, and ya.Su.ru ("they should depart", H5493H) concerning the same things slipping from the "heart" (le.Va.ve., H3824). Both clauses are qualified by the time span kol ye.Mei chai.Yei.kha ("all the days of your life").
The final clause shifts with the conjunction ve. ("and", H9001) attached to ho.da'.Ta ("you will make known", H3045), a hiphil sequential perfect. This causative form marks a transition from self-directed guarding to an outward action directed at va.Nei.kha ("your children", H1121A) and v.Nei va.Nei.kha ("children of your children", H1121A), extending the verse's concern across two generations.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders ha.de.va.Rim ("the things", H1697I) as πάντας τοὺς λόγους ("all the words"), adding "all" (πάντας) where the Hebrew text has only the definite article ha. without a quantifier at that point. The Vulgate's Docebis ("you will teach") corresponds to ho.da'.Ta ("you will make known", H3045) but shifts the causative "make known" sense toward a more general "teach." The Vulgate also renders va.Nei.kha ("your children") and v.Nei va.Nei.kha ("children of your children") as filios ac nepotes tuos ("sons and grandsons"), collapsing the Hebrew's repeated construct phrase into single nouns.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.