Deuteronomy 20:18

Bible in Basic English (1941)

So that you may not take them as your example and do all the disgusting things which they do in the worship of their gods, so sinning against the Lord your God.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

לְמַ֗עַן אֲשֶׁ֨ר לֹֽא־יְלַמְּד֤וּ אֶתְכֶם֙ לַעֲשׂ֔וֹת כְּכֹל֙ תּֽוֹעֲבֹתָ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשׂ֖וּ לֵֽאלֹהֵיהֶ֑ם וַחֲטָאתֶ֖ם לַיהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃

Transliteration

For ləma'an ʾăšer not yəlamməḏû you to do kəḵōl tô'ăḇōtām ʾăšer they did to their lēʾlōhêhem and you would sin against YHWH ʾĕlōhêḵem.

Grammar Details

• *ləma'an*: preposition + conjunction - in order that/so that
• *ʾăšer*: relative particle - which/that
• לֹֽא: negative particle - not
• *yəlamməḏû*: piel imperfect 3rd person masculine plural - they will teach
• אֶתְכֶם֙: direct object marker with 2nd person masculine plural suffix - you (plural)
• לַעֲשׂ֔וֹת: preposition + qal infinitive construct - to do
• *kəḵōl*: preposition + noun masculine singular construct - according to all of
• *tô'ăḇōtām*: noun feminine plural construct with 3rd person masculine plural suffix - their abominations
• עָשׂ֖וּ: qal perfect 3rd person common plural - they did/made
• *lēʾlōhêhem*: preposition + noun masculine plural construct with 3rd person masculine plural suffix - to/for their gods
• וַחֲטָאתֶ֖ם: conjunction + qal perfect 2nd person masculine plural - and you would sin
• *YHWH*: proper noun - LORD/Yahweh
• *ʾĕlōhêḵem*: noun masculine plural construct with 2nd person masculine plural suffix - your God

Word Meanings

• *ləma'an*: in order that/so that/for the purpose that
• *tô'ăḇōtām*: their abominations/detestable practices/abhorrent rituals
• *lēʾlōhêhem*: to their gods/for their deities
• *YHWH*: the proper name of Israel's God/often translated as LORD

Referenced Verses

• Deut 12:30-31 : 30 After their destruction take care that you do not go in their ways, and that you do not give thought to their gods, saying, How did these nations give worship to their gods? I will do as they did. 31 Do not so to the Lord your God: for everything which is disgusting to the Lord and hated by him they have done in honour of their gods: even burning their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.
• Exod 23:33 : 33 Let them not go on living in your land, or they will make you do evil against me: for if you give worship to their gods, it will certainly be a cause of sin to you.
• Ps 106:34-40 : 34 They did not put an end to the peoples, as the Lord had said; 35 But they were joined to the nations, learning their works. 36 And they gave worship to images; which were a danger to them: 37 They even made offerings of their sons and their daughters to evil spirits, 38 And gave the blood of their sons and their daughters who had done no wrong, offering them to the images of Canaan; and the land was made unclean with blood. 39 So they became unclean through their works, going after their evil desires. 40 Then the wrath of the Lord was burning against his people, and he was angry with his heritage.
• 1 Cor 15:33 : 33 Do not be tricked by false words: evil company does damage to good behaviour.
• 2 Cor 6:17 : 17 For which cause, Come out from among them, and be separate, says the Lord, and let no unclean thing come near you; and I will take you for myself,
• Eph 5:11 : 11 And have no company with the works of the dark, which give no fruit, but make their true quality clear;
• 2 Thess 3:14 : 14 And if any man does not give attention to what we have said in this letter, take note of that man, and keep away from him, so that he may be shamed.
• 1 Tim 6:5 : 5 Bitter talk of men who, being evil in mind and dead to what is true, take the faith to be a way of making profit.
• 2 Tim 2:17-18 : 17 And their words will be like poisoned wounds in the flesh: such are Hymenaeus and Philetus; 18 Men whose ideas are all false, who say that the coming back from the dead has even now taken place, overturning the faith of some.
• Rev 18:3-5 : 3 For through the wine of the wrath of her evil desires all the nations have come to destruction; and the kings of the earth made themselves unclean with her, and the traders of the earth had their wealth increased by the power of her evil ways. 4 And another voice from heaven came to my ears, saying, Come out of her, my people, so that you may have no part in her sins and in her punishments. 5 For her sins have gone up even to heaven, and God has taken note of her evil-doing.
• Exod 34:16 : 16 Or take their daughters for your sons; for when their daughters give worship before their gods, they will make your sons take part with them.
• Deut 7:4-5 : 4 For through them your sons will be turned from me to the worship of other gods: and the Lord will be moved to wrath against you and send destruction on you quickly. 5 But this is what you are to do to them: their altars are to be pulled down and their pillars broken, and their holy trees cut down and their images burned with fire.
• Deut 18:19 : 19 And whoever does not give ear to my words which he will say in my name, will be responsible to me.
• Josh 23:13 : 13 Then you may be certain that the Lord your God will not go on driving these nations out from before you; but they will become a danger and a cause of sin to you, a whip for your sides and thorns in your eyes, till you are cut off from this good land which the Lord your God has given you.
• Judg 2:3 : 3 And so I have said, I will not send them out from before you; but they will be a danger to you, and their gods will be a cause of falling to you.