Deuteronomy 8:11
הִשָּׁמֶר לְךָ פֶּן־תִּשְׁכַּח אֶת־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לְבִלְתִּי שְׁמֹר מִצְוֹתָיו וּמִשְׁפָּטָיו וְחֻקֹּתָיו אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּֽוֹם׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
Tap a word to see its entry
✦ The same verse in five languages
הִשָּׁ֣מֶר לְךָ֔ פֶּן־תִּשְׁכַּ֖ח אֶת־יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ לְבִלְתִּ֨י שְׁמֹ֤ר מִצְוֹתָיו֙ וּמִשְׁפָּטָ֣יו וְחֻקֹּתָ֔יו אֲשֶׁ֛ר אָנֹכִ֥י מְצַוְּךָ֖ הַיּֽוֹם׃
πρόσεχε σεαυτῷ μὴ ἐπιλάθῃ Κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου, τοῦ μὴ φυλάξαι τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰ κρίματα καὶ τὰ δικαιώματα αὐτοῦ, ὅσα ἐγὼ ἐντέλλομαί σοι σήμερον·
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Observa, et cave nequando obliviscaris Domini Dei tui, et negligas mandata ejus atque judicia et cæremonias, quas ego præcipio tibi hodie:
Cuídate de no olvidarte de Yehová tu Dios, al no guardar sus mandamientos, sus ordenanzas y sus estatutos, que yo te ordeno hoy;
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Guárdate, que no te olvides de Jehová tu Dios, para no observar sus mandamientos, y sus derechos, y sus estatutos, que yo te ordeno hoy:
Be careful not to forget the LORD your God by failing to keep His commandments and ordinances and statutes, which I am giving you this day.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Deuteronomy 8:11 opens a warning: the addressee is told to guard himself against forgetting Yehovah his God, defined specifically as failing to keep his commandments, judgments, and statutes given "this day."
Key words
- hiShamer ("take heed", H8104J) — niphal imperative, reflexive/passive form giving a self-directed command: "guard yourself."
- tishKach ("you should forget", H7911) — qal imperfect after the particle pen ("lest", H6435), expressing a feared future outcome to be avoided.
- levilTi ("to not", H1115 with H9005) — construct form combining "to" and "not," introducing the infinitive that specifies what the forgetting consists of.
- sheMor ("to keep", H8104G) — qal infinitive construct, paired with levilti to mean "so as not to keep," clarifying that forgetting God is defined by failure to observe the commandments.
- metzaVeh ("commanding", H6680) — piel participle in construct form, describing Moses' ongoing act of commanding "this day."
What the text says
The verse is built as a chain of dependent clauses anchored by the initial imperative hiShamer lekha ("take heed to yourself," H8104J + H9031). This is followed by a warning clause introduced by pen ("lest," H6435) governing the imperfect verb tishkach ("you should forget," H7911), naming the object et-Yehovah 'eloheikha ("Yehovah your God," H3068G + H0430G) — the object marker 'et (H0853) marks Yehovah as the grammatical object of the forgetting.
The second half explains what this forgetting means in practice: the construct phrase levilti shemor ("to not keep," H1115 + H8104G) introduces three plural construct nouns — mitzvotav ("his commandments," H4687), mishpatav ("his judgments," H4941G), and chukkotav ("his statutes," H2708) — each carrying the third-person suffix "his" (H9023), referring back to Yehovah. These three terms are joined by the conjunction ve ("and," H9002) and are further specified by the relative clause asher anokhi metzavekha hayom ("which I am commanding you this day," H0834A + H0595 + H6680 + H9031 + H9009 + H3117G). The participle metzaveh (H6680) marks Moses' command as a present, ongoing act rather than a completed one, reinforcing the immediacy of "this day" (hayom, H3117G).
Differences between versions
The LXX renders the three Hebrew terms mitzvotav, mishpatav, and chukkotav as ἐντολὰς ("commandments"), κρίματα ("judgments"), and δικαιώματα ("righteous acts/ordinances"), a translation choice for chukkotav ("statutes") that shifts toward a term meaning "righteous deeds" rather than "engraved decrees." The Vulgate renders the same term as cæremonias ("ceremonies"), a more ritual-specific rendering than the Hebrew chukkotav ("statutes," H2708) itself indicates.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.