Deuteronomy 9 — Hebrew and Greek compared
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Same 4 Similar 6 Different 4 Divergent 7 Disparate 8
Disparate in this chapter: 9:3, 9:4, 9:5, 9:12, 9:13, 9:24, 9:26, 9:27
Each verse is rendered independently from the Hebrew (Rabbinic reading tradition) and from the Greek (Saints reading tradition). The badge classifies the relationship between the two readings; the note beneath records the source document’s comparison and attributed interpretation. Each column retains its own verse references where numbering differs.
Not by Israel’s Righteousness
9:1 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:1 Hear, Israel: today you are crossing the Jordan to enter and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, great cities fortified up to heaven,
Greek · Saints priority
9:1 Hear, Israel: today you are crossing the Jordan to enter and inherit great nations stronger than you, great cities walled up to heaven,
Hebrew describes dispossessing nations; Greek uses inheriting them. Both present the same conquest setting.
9:2 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:2 a great and tall people, the descendants of the Anakim, whom you know and about whom you have heard: Who can stand before the descendants of Anak?
Greek · Saints priority
9:2 a great, numerous, and tall people, the descendants of Anak, whom you know and about whom you have heard: Who can stand before the descendants of Anak?
Greek adds numerous. It names Anak; giants is not substituted for that proper name in this verse.
9:3 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:3 Know today that YHWH your God is the One crossing ahead of you, a consuming fire. He will destroy them and subdue them before you; you will dispossess them and make them perish quickly, as YHWH told you.
Greek · Saints priority
9:3 Know today that the Lord your God is the One going ahead of you, a consuming fire. He will destroy them and turn them back before you; you will destroy them, as the Lord told you.
Greek omits quickly and Israel's separate act of dispossession, and describes God's action as turning the nations back rather than subduing them. Israel, not God, is the subject of the final destruction clause in both.
9:4 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:4 When YHWH your God drives them away before you, do not say in your heart: Because of my righteousness YHWH brought me in to possess this land. It is because of these nations' wickedness that YHWH is dispossessing them before you.
Greek · Saints priority
9:4 When the Lord your God consumes these nations before you, do not say in your heart: Because of my righteous acts the Lord brought me in to inherit this good land. It is because of these nations' impiety that the Lord will destroy them before you.
Greek repeatedly depicts destruction where Hebrew describes expulsion, adds good to the land, and uses plural righteous acts. Both reject Israelite merit as the reason for conquest.
9:5 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:5 You are not entering to possess their land because of your righteousness or your heart's uprightness. Rather, YHWH your God is dispossessing these nations before you because of their wickedness, and to establish the word YHWH swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Greek · Saints priority
9:5 You are not entering to inherit their land because of your righteousness or your heart's holiness. Rather, the Lord will destroy these nations before you because of their impiety, and to establish His covenant, which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Greek explicitly names His covenant where Hebrew has the word, and holiness where Hebrew has uprightness. Destruction again replaces dispossession; the Greek also has the shorter divine designation.
9:6 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:6 Know that YHWH your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.
Greek · Saints priority
9:6 Know today that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to inherit because of your righteous acts, for you are a stiff-necked people.
Greek adds today and expresses righteousness with plural righteous acts.
The Golden Calf
9:7 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:7 Remember; do not forget how you provoked YHWH your God in the wilderness. From the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place, you have been rebellious against YHWH.
Greek · Saints priority
9:7 Remember; do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God in the wilderness. From the day you came out of Egypt until you reached this place, you kept disobeying the Lord.
Rebellion is represented as continuing disobedience; Greek shortens the land of Egypt to Egypt.
9:8 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:8 At Horeb you provoked YHWH, and YHWH was angry enough with you to destroy you.
Greek · Saints priority
9:8 At Horeb you provoked the Lord, and the Lord was angry enough with you to destroy you.
Both recall divine anger at Horeb and threatened destruction.
9:9 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:9 When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant YHWH made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water.
Greek · Saints priority
9:9 When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant the Lord established with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water.
The covenant tablets, duration, and complete fast agree.
9:10 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:10 YHWH gave me the two stone tablets written with God's finger. On them were all the words YHWH spoke with you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.
Greek · Saints priority
9:10 The Lord gave me the two stone tablets written with God's finger. On them were all the words the Lord spoke to you on the mountain on the day of the assembly.
Greek omits from the midst of the fire here.
9:11 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:11 At the end of forty days and forty nights, YHWH gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant.
Greek · Saints priority
9:11 After forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant.
Both identify the tablets and the elapsed period.
9:12 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:12 YHWH said to me: Rise; go down quickly from here, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way I commanded them; they have made themselves a cast image.
Greek · Saints priority
9:12 The Lord said to me: Rise; go down quickly from here, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted lawlessly. They have quickly turned aside from the way you commanded them; they have made themselves a cast image.
God says I commanded in Hebrew, but you commanded in Greek, assigning the immediate command to Moses. Neither selected text calls the object a calf in this verse.
9:13 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:13 YHWH said to me: I have seen this people, and look, it is a stiff-necked people.
Greek · Saints priority
9:13 The Lord said to me: I have spoken to you once and twice, saying: I have seen this people, and look, it is a stiff-necked people.
Greek adds a statement that God has already addressed Moses repeatedly, changing the narrated history of the warning.
9:14 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:14 Leave Me alone, and I will destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.
Greek · Saints priority
9:14 Let Me destroy them, and I will blot out their name from under heaven. I will make you into a great nation, stronger and more numerous than this one.
Greek makes permission to destroy explicit and adds great to the proposed replacement nation.
9:15 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:15 I turned and came down the mountain while the mountain burned with fire, with the two tablets of the covenant in my two hands.
Greek · Saints priority
9:15 I turned and came down the mountain while the mountain burned with fire, with the two tablets in my two hands.
Greek omits of the covenant. It has neither up to heaven nor tablets of testimony here; those phrases have been removed from the draft.
9:16 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:16 I saw that you had sinned against YHWH your God: you had made yourselves a cast calf and had quickly turned aside from the way YHWH commanded you.
Greek · Saints priority
9:16 I saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God: you had made yourselves a cast image and had turned aside from the way the Lord commanded you.
Greek does not specify calf here and omits quickly. It explicitly names the calf in verse 21.
9:17 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:17 I took hold of the two tablets, threw them from my two hands, and shattered them before your eyes.
Greek · Saints priority
9:17 I took hold of the two tablets, threw them from my two hands, and shattered them before you.
Before your eyes becomes before you; the public breaking agrees.
9:18 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:18 I fell down before YHWH as at first, forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water because of all the sins you committed, doing evil in YHWH's eyes and provoking Him.
Greek · Saints priority
9:18 I pleaded before the Lord a second time, as at first, forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water because of all the sins you committed, doing evil before the Lord your God and provoking Him.
Greek describes pleading where Hebrew describes falling prostrate, explicitly adds a second occasion, and adds your God. Both retain forty days and forty nights of fasting and intercession; a different outcome of the prayer is not stated.
9:19 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:19 For I was afraid of the anger and fury with which YHWH was angry at you, intending to destroy you. YHWH listened to me that time also.
Greek · Saints priority
9:19 I am terrified because of the anger and fury with which the Lord was provoked against you, intending to destroy you. The Lord listened to me at this time also.
Greek presents the fear in the present tense and says this time where Hebrew says that time.
Saints: Hebrews 12:21 associates Moses' fear with the Sinai scene and includes trembling. Its later formulation should not be retroactively inserted into this verse.
Source: Hebrews 12:18–21
9:20 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:20 YHWH was very angry with Aaron, intending to destroy him; I prayed for Aaron also at that time.
Greek · Saints priority
9:20 The Lord was very angry with Aaron, intending to destroy him; I prayed for Aaron also at that time.
Both preserve the threat to Aaron and Moses' intercession.
9:21 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:21 I took your sin, the calf you had made, burned it with fire, crushed it, and ground it thoroughly until it was fine as dust. I threw its dust into the stream descending from the mountain.
Greek · Saints priority
9:21 I took your sin, the calf you had made, burned it with fire, and broke it up, grinding it thoroughly until it became fine. It became like dust, and I threw the dust into the torrent descending from the mountain.
Both distinguish breaking or crushing the calf from grinding it thoroughly. Greek συνέκοψα and καταλέσας are both represented, followed by the separate statement that it became like dust. Both throw the dust into the water descending from the mountain.
The Wilderness Rebellions
9:22 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:22 At Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah you kept provoking YHWH.
Greek · Saints priority
9:22 At Burning, Testing, and Graves of Desire you kept provoking the Lord your God.
Greek translates the three place-names into their meanings and adds your God.
9:23 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:23 When YHWH sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying: Go up and possess the land I have given you, you rebelled against the command of YHWH your God; you neither believed Him nor listened to His voice.
Greek · Saints priority
9:23 When the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying: Go up and inherit the land I give you, you disobeyed the word of the Lord your God; you neither believed Him nor listened to His voice.
Hebrew's mouth is rendered as command; Greek has word. The failure to trust and obey agrees.
9:24 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:24 You have been rebellious against YHWH from the day I knew you.
Greek · Saints priority
9:24 You have kept disobeying the Lord from the day He became known to you.
Hebrew measures the rebellion from Moses' knowledge of Israel; Greek measures it from the Lord's becoming known to Israel. The Greek is not from the day you became known to Him.
Moses' Intercessory Prayer
9:25 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:25 I fell down before YHWH for those forty days and forty nights during which I lay prostrate, because YHWH had said He would destroy you.
Greek · Saints priority
9:25 I pleaded before the Lord for those forty days and forty nights during which I pleaded, because the Lord had said He would destroy you.
Hebrew repeatedly specifies prostration; Greek repeatedly specifies pleading.
9:26 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:26 I prayed to YHWH and said: Lord YHWH, do not destroy Your people and Your inheritance, whom You redeemed by Your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
Greek · Saints priority
9:26 I prayed to God and said: Lord, Lord, King of the gods, do not destroy Your people and Your portion, whom You redeemed by Your great strength and brought out of Egypt by Your great strength, Your mighty hand, and Your uplifted arm.
Greek adds King of the gods, a repeated great-strength formula, and the uplifted arm; it uses God as the prayer's addressee and portion for inheritance. These explicit theological and narrative expansions are retained.
9:27 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:27 Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not look at this people's stubbornness, wickedness, or sin,
Greek · Saints priority
9:27 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Your servants, to whom You swore by Yourself. Do not look at this people's stubbornness, impieties, or sins,
Greek adds God's oath by Himself, strengthening the stated basis of Moses' appeal.
9:28 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:28 lest the land from which You brought us out say: Because YHWH could not bring them into the land He promised them, and because He hated them, He brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.
Greek · Saints priority
9:28 lest those living in the land from which You brought us out say: Because the Lord could not bring them into the land He promised them, and because He hated them, He brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.
Greek explicitly supplies the inhabitants as speakers where Hebrew personifies the land.
9:29 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
9:29 They are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm.
Greek · Saints priority
9:29 They are Your people and Your portion, whom You brought out of Egypt by Your great strength and Your uplifted arm.
Greek adds of Egypt; the people remain God's own possession in both.
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Saints Translation · Companion comparison edition · working draft awaiting specialist review.