Deuteronomy 8:3
וַֽיְעַנְּךָ וַיַּרְעִבֶךָ וַיַּֽאֲכִֽלְךָ אֶת הַמָּן אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יָדַעְתָּ וְלֹא יָדְעוּן אֲבֹתֶיךָ לְמַעַן הוֹדִֽעֲךָ כִּי לֹא עַל־הַלֶּחֶם לְבַדּוֹ יִחְיֶה הָֽאָדָם כִּי עַל־כָּל־מוֹצָא פִֽי־יְהוָה יִחְיֶה הָאָדָֽם׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַֽיְעַנְּךָ֮ וַיַּרְעִבֶךָ֒ וַיַּֽאֲכִֽלְךָ֤ אֶת הַמָּן֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר לֹא־יָדַ֔עְתָּ וְלֹ֥א יָדְע֖וּן אֲבֹתֶ֑יךָ לְמַ֣עַן הוֹדִֽעֲךָ֗ כִּ֠י לֹ֣א עַל־הַלֶּ֤חֶם לְבַדּוֹ֙ יִחְיֶ֣ה הָֽאָדָ֔ם כִּ֛י עַל־כָּל־מוֹצָ֥א פִֽי־יְהוָ֖ה יִחְיֶ֥ה הָאָדָֽם׃
καὶ ἐκάκωσέν σε καὶ ἐλιμαγχόνησέν σε, καὶ ἐψώμισέν σε τὸ μάννα ὃ οὐκ εἴδησαν οἱ πατέρες σου· ἵνα ἀναγγείλῃ σοι ὅτι οὐκ ἐπ’ ἄρτῳ μόνῳ ζήσεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ παντὶ ῥήματι τῷ ἐκπορευομένῳ διὰ στόματος θεοῦ ζήσεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Afflixit te penuria, et dedit tibi cibum manna, quod ignorabas tu et patres tui: ut ostenderet tibi quod non in solo pane vivat homo, sed in omni verbo quod egreditur de ore Dei.
Te humilló, permitió que tuvieras hambre y te alimentó con el maná, que tú no conocías, ni tus padres tampoco, para enseñarte que no sólo de pan vive el hombre, sino que el hombre vive de toda palabra que sale de la boca de Yehová.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y te afligió, é hízote tener hambre, y te sustentó con maná, comida que no conocías tú, ni tus padres la habían conocido; para hacerte saber que el hombre no vivirá de solo pan, mas de todo lo que sale de la boca de Jehová vivirá el hombre.
He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse recounts three successive actions performed on the addressee — humbling, causing hunger, and feeding with manna — as a means of teaching that human life depends not only on bread but on what proceeds from the mouth of Yehovah. The lesson is stated as the purpose of the entire sequence of events.
Key words
- va-y'anneKha ("and he humbled you", H6031B) — piel narrative verb: an intensive causative action, chained to what precedes by the narrative vav.
- va-yyar'iveKha ("and he caused you to hunger", H7456) — hiphil narrative verb, showing that the hunger was actively produced, not incidental.
- va-yya'akhilKha ("and he caused you to eat", H0398) — hiphil narrative verb continuing the same chain, followed by et ha-man ("the manna", H4478A) as its direct object.
- lema'an hodi'aKha ("so as to make you know", H4616 + H3045 hiphil infinitive) — introduces the purpose clause governing the rest of the verse.
- motza' pi-Yehovah ("the utterance of the mouth of Yehovah", H4161 + H6310G + H3068G) — a construct chain: "utterance" construct "mouth of" construct "Yehovah," building a single compound expression for what proceeds from Yehovah's mouth.
What the text says
The verse opens with three verbs in sequence, each attached by the narrative vav and each in a causative stem (piel or hiphil), describing one continuous chain of action: humbling, causing hunger, then causing to eat ha-man ("the manna", H4478A). The object clause that follows, introduced by 'asher ("which", H0834A), states that this manna was unknown both to "you" (yada'ta, H3045, perfect) and to "your fathers" ('avoteikha, H0001G), the latter verb carrying a paragoraic nun (H9013) for emphasis.
The purpose of this whole chain is given by lema'an hodi'aKha ("so as to make you know", H4616), which introduces a subordinate clause built on the contrast lo'... ki ("not... but", H3808/H3588A): human life (ha-'adam, H0120G) does not depend "on the bread alone" ('al-ha-lechem levaddo, H3899H + H0905H) but "on every utterance of the mouth of Yehovah" ('al-kol-motza' pi-Yehovah, H4161/H6310G/H3068G). The verb yichyeh ("he lives", H2421, qal imperfect) appears twice, once for each half of the contrast, giving the statement a symmetrical, repeated structure in the Hebrew that some translations compress into a single clause.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders pi-Yehovah ("mouth of Yehovah") as διὰ στόματος θεοῦ ("through the mouth of God"), substituting θεός for the tetragrammaton. The Vulgate similarly reads "ore Dei" ("mouth of God"). The Hebrew motza' ("utterance/what goes forth", H4161) is rendered as ῥήματι ("word/saying") in the LXX and "verbo" ("word") in the Vulgate, both translating the noun more generally than the Hebrew's specific sense of "that which goes out."
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.