Deuteronomy 8:9
אֶרֶץ אֲשֶׁר לֹא בְמִסְכֵּנֻת תֹּֽאכַל־בָּהּ לֶחֶם לֹֽא־תֶחְסַר כֹּל בָּהּ אֶרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אֲבָנֶיהָ בַרְזֶל וּמֵהֲרָרֶיהָ תַּחְצֹב נְחֹֽשֶׁת׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
אֶ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֨ר לֹ֤א בְמִסְכֵּנֻת֙ תֹּֽאכַל־בָּ֣הּ לֶ֔חֶם לֹֽא־תֶחְסַ֥ר כֹּ֖ל בָּ֑הּ אֶ֚רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֲבָנֶ֣יהָ בַרְזֶ֔ל וּמֵהֲרָרֶ֖יהָ תַּחְצֹ֥ב נְחֹֽשֶׁת׃
γῆ ἐφ’ ἧς οὐ μετὰ πτωχίας φάγῃ τὸν ἄρτον σου, καὶ οὐκ ἐπ’ αὐτῆς οὐδέν· γῆ ἦς οἱ λίθοι σίδηρος, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὀρέων μεταλλεύσεις χαλκόν·
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
ubi absque ulla penuria comedes panem tuum, et rerum omnium abundantia perfrueris: cujus lapides ferrum sunt, et de montibus ejus æris metalla fodiuntur:
una tierra en la que comerás el pan sin escasez, no te faltará nada en ella; una tierra cuyas piedras son de hierro, y de cuyos montes podrás sacar cobre.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Tierra en la cual no comerás el pan con escasez, no te faltará nada en ella; tierra que sus piedras son hierro, y de sus montes cortarás metal.
a land where you will eat food without scarcity, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and whose hills are ready to be mined for copper.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Deuteronomy 8:9 describes the land as one where food will not be lacking and nothing will be missing, and further characterizes it as a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills copper can be dug. The verse combines a description of agricultural sufficiency with a description of mineral resources.
Key words
- 'E.retz ("a land", H0776G) — feminine singular noun, repeated twice in the verse (lines 1 and 15), each time introducing a relative clause describing a different quality of the land.
- mis.ke.Nut ("scarcity", H4544) — feminine singular noun following the negation lo' ("not", H3808) and preposition ve ("in", H9003); together the phrase lo' ve-miskenut means "not in scarcity," modifying how the eating (to.khal) occurs.
- tech.Sar ("you will lack", H2637) — qal imperfect, second person masculine singular; paired with kol ("anything", H3605) and the preceding negation lo' to produce "you will not lack anything."
- 'a.va.Nei. ("stones", H0068G) — feminine plural construct form ("stones of"), grammatically bound to the following pronominal suffix ha ("its", H9024), producing "its stones," referring back to 'E.retz.
- tach.Tzo ("you will dig", H2672) — qal imperfect, second person masculine singular, the final verb of the verse, governing the object ne.Cho.shet ("copper", H5178A).
What the text says
The verse is built on two parallel relative clauses, each introduced by 'a.Sher ("which", H0834A) attached to 'E.retz ("a land", H0776G). The first clause (lines 2–14) describes the land negatively twice: lo' ve-miskenut to.khal bah lechem ("not in scarcity you will eat in it food") and lo' techsar kol bah ("you will not lack anything in it"). Both clauses use the second-person masculine singular imperfect verb form (to.khal, tech.Sar), addressing the audience directly and describing a continuing or future state rather than a single event. The pronominal suffix h ("her", H9034) attached to the preposition ba ("in the", H9003) refers back to 'E.retz, since "land" is grammatically feminine in Hebrew.
The second relative clause (lines 16–25) shifts from food supply to mineral resources, again anchored to 'E.retz. Here the construct nouns 'a.va.Nei. ("stones of", H0068G) and ha.ra.Rei. ("hills of", H2042) are each followed by the third-person feminine singular suffix ha ("its", H9024), producing "its stones" and "its hills," both referring to the land. The clause states that these stones are var.Zel ("iron", H1270) and that from the hills one will tach.Tzo ("dig", H2672) ne.Cho.shet ("copper", H5178A). The verb tach.Tzo is again a second-person masculine singular imperfect, maintaining the same direct address as the earlier clauses.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders lechem ("food", H3899H) specifically as ἄρτον ("bread"), narrowing the more general Hebrew term. The Vulgate renders the second clause as "rerum omnium abundantia perfrueris" ("you will enjoy an abundance of all things"), an expansive rendering compared to the more literal Hebrew "you will not lack anything." For tach.Tzo ("you will dig", H2672), the LXX uses μεταλλεύσεις ("you will mine"), while the Vulgate uses "fodiuntur" ("are dug"), shifting from second-person active to a passive construction not present in the Hebrew verb form.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.