Deuteronomy 9:18
וָֽאֶתְנַפַּל לִפְנֵי יְהוָה כָּרִאשֹׁנָה אַרְבָּעִים יוֹם וְאַרְבָּעִים לַיְלָה לֶחֶם לֹא אָכַלְתִּי וּמַיִם לֹא שָׁתִיתִי עַל כָּל־חַטַּאתְכֶם אֲשֶׁר חֲטָאתֶם לַעֲשׂוֹת הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יְהוָה לְהַכְעִיסֽוֹ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וָֽאֶתְנַפַּל֩ לִפְנֵ֨י יְהוָ֜ה כָּרִאשֹׁנָ֗ה אַרְבָּעִ֥ים יוֹם֙ וְאַרְבָּעִ֣ים לַ֔יְלָה לֶ֚חֶם לֹ֣א אָכַ֔לְתִּי וּמַ֖יִם לֹ֣א שָׁתִ֑יתִי עַ֤ל כָּל־חַטַּאתְכֶם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר חֲטָאתֶ֔ם לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת הָרַ֛ע בְּעֵינֵ֥י יְהוָ֖ה לְהַכְעִיסֽוֹ׃
καὶ ἐδεήθην ἐναντίον Κυρίου δεύτερον καθάπερ καὶ τὸ πρότερον τεσσεράκοντα ἡ μέ ῥᾶς καὶ τεσσεράκοντα νύκτας· ἄρτον οὐκ ἔφαγον καὶ ὕδωρ οὐκ ἔπιον· περὶ πασῶν τῶν ὑμῶν ὦν ἡμάρτετε, ποιῆσαι τὸ πονηρὸν ἐναντίον κυρίου τοῦ παροξῦναι αὐτόν.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Et procidi ante Dominum sicut prius, quadraginta diebus et noctibus panem non comedens, et aquam non bibens, propter omnia peccata vestra quæ gessistis contra Dominum, et eum ad iracundiam provocastis:
Me postré ante el Señor, como al principio, durante cuarenta días y cuarenta noches. No comí pan ni bebí agua, a causa de todo el pecado que cometieron, al hacer lo que era malo a los ojos de Yehová, para provocarlo a la ira.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y postréme delante de Jehová, como antes, cuarenta días y cuarenta noches: no comí pan ni bebí agua, á causa de todo vuestro pecado que habíais cometido haciendo mal en ojos de Jehová para enojarlo.
Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD and provoking Him to anger.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Moses recounts prostrating himself before Yehovah for forty days and forty nights, exactly as he had done previously, neither eating bread nor drinking water. This action was undertaken because of the sin the people had committed, doing evil in the sight of Yehovah and provoking him.
Key words
- 'etnaPal ("I prostrated myself", H5307G) — hithpael (reflexive) verb with narrative vav, marking the sequential action of the story: Moses cast himself down.
- ri'shoNah ("former [time]", H7223H) — feminine singular ordinal, used adverbially with the preposition ka ("like the") to compare this event to a prior one.
- lechem ("food", H3899H) and mayim ("water", H4325G) — both nouns are placed before their negated verbs (lo' 'aKHalti, lo' shaTiti), fronting the objects for emphasis in the Hebrew word order.
- chatta't-Khem ("your sin", H2403B + H9026) — feminine singular noun in construct with a second-person masculine plural suffix, governed by kol ("all", H3605), forming "all your sin."
- lehakh'iSo ("to provoke him to anger", H3707 + H9033) — hiphil (causative) infinitive with third-person masculine singular suffix, expressing the result or purpose of the sin: causing Yehovah to become angry.
What the text says
The verse opens with a narrative vav attached to 'etnaPal ("I prostrated myself"), a hithpael form indicating a reflexive, self-directed action — Moses throwing himself down before Yehovah (H3068G). The phrase ka-ri'shoNah ("like the former [time]") uses the ordinal ri'shoNah adverbially to draw an explicit comparison with an earlier, similar act of prostration. The forty days and nights are expressed through repetition of 'arba'im ("forty", H0705) with yom ("day", H3117G) and Laylah ("night", H3915), a common Hebrew construction for extended time periods.
The two negated clauses — Lechem lo' 'aKHalti ("food I did not eat") and mayim lo' shaTiti ("water I did not drink") — place the direct objects Lechem and mayim before the negation and verb, a word order that foregrounds what was abstained from rather than the act of abstaining itself. Both verbs are qal perfect, marking completed action.
The causal clause beginning with 'al ("on/because of", H5921A) introduces the reason for the fast: kol-chatta't-Khem ("all your sin"), further specified by the relative clause 'asher chata'Tem ("which you had sinned"). This sin is then defined through two infinitive constructions: la'aSot ha-Ra' ("in doing the evil") and lehakh'iSo ("to provoke him"). The second infinitive is hiphil, a causative stem, framing the sinful action as one that produces anger in Yehovah as its result or purpose.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders the opening verb as ἐδεήθην ("I pleaded/prayed"), differing from the Hebrew 'etnaPal ("I prostrated myself"), and adds δεύτερον ("a second time") where the Hebrew has ka-ri'shoNah ("like the former [time]"), making the comparison to a prior event more explicit as a numbered repetition. The Vulgate's procidi ("I fell down") aligns more closely with the Hebrew's prostration imagery than the LXX's language of pleading.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.