Deuteronomy 17:20

Bible in Basic English (1941)

So that his heart may not be lifted up over his countrymen, and he may not be turned away from the orders, to one side or the other: but that his life and the lives of his children may be long in his kingdom in Israel.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

לְבִלְתִּ֤י רוּם־לְבָבוֹ֙ מֵֽאֶחָ֔יו וּלְבִלְתִּ֛י ס֥וּר מִן־הַמִּצְוָ֖ה יָמִ֣ין וּשְׂמֹ֑אול לְמַעַן֩ יַאֲרִ֨יךְ יָמִ֧ים עַל־מַמְלַכְתּ֛וֹ ה֥וּא וּבָנָ֖יו בְּקֶ֥רֶב יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

Transliteration

So that not rûm-ləḇāḇô from ʾeḥāyw and so that not sûr from-the miṣwāh right and left; so that yaʾărîḵ yāmîm upon-mamlaḵətô he and ḇānāyw in qereḇ Yiśrāʾēl.

Grammar Details

• לְבִלְתִּ֤י: preposition + conjunction - so that not
• רוּם־לְבָבוֹ֙: qal infinitive construct + noun masculine singular construct + 3ms suffix - his heart be lifted up
• מֵֽאֶחָ֔יו: preposition + noun masculine plural construct + 3ms suffix - from his brothers
• וּלְבִלְתִּ֛י: conjunction + preposition + conjunction - and so that not
• ס֥וּר: qal infinitive construct - to turn aside
• מִן־הַמִּצְוָ֖ה: preposition + article + noun feminine singular - from the commandment
• יָמִ֣ין: noun feminine singular - right
• וּשְׂמֹ֑אול: conjunction + noun masculine singular - and left
• לְמַעַן֩: preposition - so that
• יַאֲרִ֨יךְ: hiphil imperfect 3ms - he will prolong
• יָמִ֧ים: noun masculine plural - days
• עַל־מַמְלַכְתּ֛וֹ: preposition + noun feminine singular construct + 3ms suffix - upon his kingdom
• ה֥וּא: 3ms pronoun - he
• וּבָנָ֖יו: conjunction + noun masculine plural construct + 3ms suffix - and his sons
• בְּקֶ֥רֶב: preposition + noun masculine singular construct - in midst of
• יִשְׂרָאֵֽל: proper noun - Israel

Word Meanings

• *rûm*-*ləḇāḇô*: his heart be lifted up/become proud
• *ʾeḥāyw*: his brothers/his fellow Israelites
• *sûr*: to turn aside/to deviate
• *miṣwāh*: commandment/command
• *yaʾărîḵ*: he will prolong/he will extend
• *yāmîm*: days/lifetime
• *mamlaḵətô*: his kingdom/his reign
• *ḇānāyw*: his sons/his children
• *qereḇ*: midst/among
• *Yiśrāʾēl*: Israel

Referenced Verses

• 1 Kgs 15:5 : 5 Because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and never in all his life went against his orders, but only in the question of Uriah the Hittite.
• Deut 5:32 : 32 Take care, then, to do whatever the Lord your God has given you orders to do; let there be no turning away to the right hand or to the left.
• Deut 8:2 : 2 And keep in mind the way by which the Lord your God has taken you through the waste land these forty years, so that he might make low your pride and put you to the test, to see what was in your heart and if you would keep his orders or not.
• Deut 8:13-14 : 13 And when your herds and your flocks are increased, and your stores of silver and gold, and you have wealth of every sort; 14 Take care that your hearts are not lifted up in pride, giving no thought to the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison-house;
• Deut 12:25 : 25 Do not take it for food; so that it may be well for you and for your children after you, while you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
• Deut 12:28 : 28 Take note of all these orders I am giving you and give attention to them, so that it may be well for you and for your children after you for ever, while you do what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.
• Deut 12:32 : 32 You are to keep with care all the words I give you, making no addition to them and taking nothing from them.
• Deut 17:11 : 11 Acting in agreement with their teaching and the decision they give: not turning to one side or the other from the word they have given you.
• 1 Sam 13:13-14 : 13 And Samuel said to Saul, You have done a foolish thing: you have not kept the rules which the Lord your God gave you; it was the purpose of the Lord to make your authority over Israel safe for ever. 14 But now, your authority will not go on: the Lord, searching for a man who is pleasing to him in every way, has given him the place of ruler over his people, because you have not done what the Lord gave you orders to do.
• 1 Sam 15:23 : 23 For to go against his orders is like the sin of those who make use of secret arts, and pride is like giving worship to images. Because you have put away from you the word of the Lord, he has put you from your place as king.
• 1 Kgs 11:12-13 : 12 I will not do it in your life-time, because of your father David, but I will take it from your son. 13 Still I will not take all the kingdom from him; but I will give one tribe to your son, because of my servant David, and because of Jerusalem, the town of my selection.
• 1 Kgs 11:34 : 34 But I will not take the kingdom from him; I will let him be king all the days of his life, because of David my servant, in whom I took delight because he kept my orders and my laws.
• 1 Kgs 11:36 : 36 And one tribe I will give to his son, so that David my servant may have a light for ever burning before me in Jerusalem, the town which I have made mine to put my name there.
• Deut 4:2 : 2 Make no addition to the orders which I give you, and take nothing from them, but keep the orders of the Lord your God which I give you.
• 2 Kgs 10:30 : 30 And the Lord said to Jehu, Because you have done well in doing what is right in my eyes and effecting all my purpose for the family of Ahab, your sons will be kings of Israel to the fourth generation.
• 2 Kgs 14:10 : 10 It is true that you have overcome Edom and your heart is uplifted; let that glory be enough for you, and keep in your country; why do you make causes of trouble, putting yourself, and Judah with you, in danger of downfall?
• 2 Chr 25:19 : 19 You say, See, I have overcome Edom; and your heart is lifted up with pride: now keep in your country; why do you make causes of trouble, putting yourself, and Judah with you, in danger of downfall?
• 2 Chr 26:16 : 16 But when he had become strong, his heart was lifted up in pride, causing his destruction; and he did evil against the Lord his God; for he went into the Temple of the Lord for the purpose of burning perfumes on the altar of perfumes.
• 2 Chr 32:25-26 : 25 But Hezekiah did not do as had been done to him; for his heart was lifted up in pride; and so wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. 26 But then, Hezekiah, in sorrow for what he had done, put away his pride; and he and all Jerusalem made themselves low, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come on them in Hezekiah's life-time.
• 2 Chr 33:12 : 12 And crying out to the Lord his God in his trouble, he made himself low before the God of his fathers,
• 2 Chr 33:19 : 19 And the prayer which he made to God, and how God gave him an answer, and all his sin and his wrongdoing, and the places where he made high places and put up pillars of wood and images, before he put away his pride, are recorded in the history of the seers.
• 2 Chr 33:23 : 23 He did not make himself low before the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done, but went on sinning more and more.
• 2 Chr 34:27 : 27 And your heart was soft, and you made yourself low before God, on hearing his words about this place and its people, and with weeping and signs of grief have made yourself low before me, I have given ear to you, says the Lord God.
• Ps 19:11 : 11 By them is your servant made conscious of danger, and in keeping them there is great reward.
• Ps 131:1-2 : 1 <A Song of the going up. Of David.> Lord, there is no pride in my heart and my eyes are not lifted up; and I have not taken part in great undertakings, or in things over-hard for me. 2 See, I have made my soul calm and quiet, like a child on its mother's breast; my soul is like a child on its mother's breast.
• Ps 132:12 : 12 If your children keep my word, and the teachings which I will give them, their children will be rulers of your kingdom for ever.
• Prov 10:27 : 27 The fear of the Lord gives long life, but the years of the evil-doer will be cut short.
• Prov 27:24 : 24 For wealth is not for ever, and money does not go on for all generations.
• Eccl 8:13 : 13 But it will not be well for the evil-doer; he will not make his days long like a shade, because he has no fear before God.
• Isa 2:12 : 12 For the day of the Lord of armies is coming on all the pride of men, and on all who are high and lifted up;
• Dan 5:20-23 : 20 But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit became hard with pride, he was put down from his place as king, and they took his glory from him: 21 And he was sent out from among the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts', and he was living with the asses of the fields; he had grass for his food like the oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till he was certain that the Most High is ruler in the kingdom of men, and gives power over it to anyone at his pleasure. 22 And you, his son, O Belshazzar, have not kept your heart free from pride, though you had knowledge of all this; 23 But you have been lifting yourself up against the Lord of heaven, and they have put the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your women, have taken wine in them; and you have given praise to gods of silver and gold, of brass and iron and wood and stone, who are without the power of seeing or hearing, and without knowledge: and to the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways, you have not given glory;
• Hab 2:4 : 4 As for the man of pride, my soul has no pleasure in him; but the upright man will have life through his good faith.
• 2 Cor 12:7 : 7 And because the revelations were so very great, in order that I might not be overmuch lifted up, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, one sent from Satan to give me pain.
• 1 Pet 5:5 : 5 And in the same way, let the younger men be ruled by the older ones. Let all of you put away pride and make yourselves ready to be servants: for God is a hater of pride, but he gives grace to those who make themselves low.