Deuteronomy 7:25

Summary

Deuteronomy 7:25 commands the burning of carved images of foreign gods, and separately warns against coveting or taking the silver and gold found on them, describing this act as ensnaring and as an abomination to Yehovah.

Key words

• pesilei ("images of", H6456) — masculine plural construct, opening a construct chain "images of their gods," object of the command to burn.
• tischrefun ("you will burn", H8313) — qal imperfect plural with paragogic nun (H9013), an emphatic ending marking a forceful command.
• tachmod ("you will covet", H2530A) — qal imperfect singular, negated by lo' (H3808), establishing a prohibition against desire itself, not just action.
• tivvaqesh ("you should be ensnared", H3369) — niphal imperfect, a passive/reflexive form meaning the subject is trapped or caught, not acting on another.
• to'avat ("abomination of", H8441) — feminine singular construct, linking directly to Yehovah (H3068G) to form "abomination of Yehovah."

What the text says

The verse opens with a plural command using tischrefun ("you will burn," H8313) with the paragogic nun, an ending that adds emphasis to the imperfect form, addressed to the community as a whole regarding the pesilei ("images of," H6456) of "their gods." The scene then shifts to singular address for the rest of the verse — tachmod ("you will covet," H2530A), laqachta ("you will take," H3947G), and tivvaqesh ("you should be ensnared," H3369) all use second-person singular forms, narrowing the address from the group to the individual.

The clause lo'-tachmod... ve-laqachta ("you will not covet... and you will take") uses a negated imperfect followed by a vav-linked sequential perfect. In this construction the sequential perfect after a negative imperfect commonly continues the force of the negation, so the taking is grammatically bound to the same prohibition as the coveting, rather than introducing a separate positive command. The niphal form tivvaqesh ("you should be ensnared," H3369) marks the subject as passively caught, consistent with niphal's typical passive or reflexive sense — the person does not spring the trap but is caught by it. The clause closes with ki to'avat Yehovah 'eloheikha hu' ("for it is abomination of Yehovah your God"), a construct chain naming the object itself, not merely the act, as to'avat ("abomination of," H8441).

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) text lacks an explicit verb corresponding to tischrefun ("you will burn"), reading only "the carved images of their gods... with fire," whereas the Vulgate supplies "igne combures" ("you will burn with fire"), matching the Hebrew imperative sense. For tivvaqesh ("you should be ensnared," H3369), the LXX uses πταίσῃς ("you should stumble"), a different image (stumbling rather than being trapped) compared to the Hebrew's snare/ensnarement sense preserved in the Vulgate's "offendas" ("you should be struck/offended").