Deuteronomy 7 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 7:16, 7:17, 7:24
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Deuteronomy 7
A Chosen People
Separation from the Canaanite Nations
Verse 7:1 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:1 When YHWH your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and clears away many nations before you—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and stronger than you—
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:1 When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to inherit and removes great nations before you—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations numerous and stronger than you—
Classification & Notes
Different
Greek first calls the nations great where Hebrew calls them many. Both name the same seven peoples.
Verse 7:2 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:2 and YHWH your God hands them over to you and you strike them down, you must devote them utterly to destruction. Make no covenant with them and show them no favor.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:2 and the Lord your God hands them over to you and you strike them down, you must make them disappear completely. Make no covenant with them and show them no mercy.
Classification & Notes
Different
Hebrew uses the ban formula; Greek uses emphatic annihilation language. Both prohibit covenant-making and favor toward the named peoples.
Verse 7:3 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughter to his son or take his daughter for your son,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughter to his son or take his daughter for your son,
Classification & Notes
Same
Both prohibit the specified marriages; neither column substitutes an explanation for the law.
Verse 7:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:4 for he will turn your son away from following Me, and they will serve other gods. Then YHWH's anger will burn against you, and He will destroy you quickly.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:4 for he will turn your son away from Me, and he will worship other gods. Then the Lord will be provoked to wrath against you, and He will destroy you quickly.
Classification & Notes
Different
Hebrew moves from he will turn to they will serve; Greek retains singular he will worship, centering the consequence on the son.
Verse 7:5 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:5 Instead, do this to them: tear down their altars, shatter their pillars, cut down their Asherim, and burn their carved images.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:5 Instead, do this to them: tear down their altars, shatter their pillars, cut down their sacred groves, and burn the carved images of their gods.
Classification & Notes
Different
Hebrew Asherim denotes cult objects; Greek names groves and explicitly adds of their gods after carved images.
Israel Consecrated
Verse 7:6 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:6 For you are a holy people to YHWH your God. YHWH your God chose you as His treasured people from all the peoples on the face of the earth.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:6 For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God chose you as His specially possessed people from all the nations on the face of the earth.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Greek periousios expresses special possession, corresponding to Hebrew segullah, treasured property; both affirm Israel's election.
Verse 7:7 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:7 YHWH did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than all the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:7 The Lord did not prefer you and choose you because you were more numerous than all the nations, for you were the fewest of all nations.
Classification & Notes
Different
Hebrew emphasizes affection in the first verb; Greek preference or selection. Both reject numerical superiority as the reason for election.
Verse 7:8 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:8 Rather, because YHWH loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, YHWH brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slaves, from Pharaoh king of Egypt's hand.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:8 Rather, because the Lord loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and an uplifted arm and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from Pharaoh king of Egypt's hand.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Greek adds an uplifted arm. Both expressly ground deliverance in divine love and the ancestral oath.
Verse 7:9 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:9 Know that YHWH your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments for a thousand generations,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:9 Know that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy with those who love Him and keep His commandments for a thousand generations,
Classification & Notes
Similar
Steadfast love and mercy reflect the respective vocabulary; the covenant, fidelity, and thousand generations agree.
Verse 7:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:10 but repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He does not delay with anyone who hates Him; He repays him to his face.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:10 but repays those who hate to their face, to destroy them. He does not delay with those who hate; He repays them to their face.
Classification & Notes
Different
Greek lacks an explicit object after hate and keeps the recipients plural, where Hebrew shifts to the individual hater. The divine object remains clear from context.
Verse 7:11 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:11 Keep the commandment, statutes, and judgments I command you today, and practice them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:11 Keep these commandments, ordinances, and judgments I command you today, and practice them.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Greek uses plural commandments and adds these.
Verse 7:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:12 Because you listen to these judgments, keep them, and practice them, YHWH your God will keep with you the covenant and steadfast love He swore to your fathers.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:12 When you listen to all these ordinances, keep them, and practice them, the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and mercy He swore to your fathers.
Classification & Notes
Different
Greek says all these ordinances where Hebrew has these judgments. Both connect covenant fidelity with obedience.
Verse 7:13 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:13 He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb and your soil, your grain, new wine, and oil, the offspring of your cattle and the increase of your flock, on the land He swore to your fathers to give you.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:13 He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will bless the offspring of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain, wine, and oil, your cattle herds and sheep flocks, on the land the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.
Classification & Notes
Different
Hebrew specifies animal offspring and increase; Greek names the herds and flocks themselves and adds Lord in the final oath clause.
Verse 7:14 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:14 You will be blessed above all peoples. There will be no infertile male or female among you or among your livestock.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:14 You will be blessed above all peoples. There will be no infertile male or female among you or among your livestock.
Classification & Notes
Same
Both promise human and animal fertility to Israel in the covenant setting.
Verse 7:15 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:15 YHWH will remove every sickness from you. He will put none of Egypt's grievous diseases that you knew upon you, but will put them on all who hate you.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:15 The Lord will remove every infirmity from you. He will put none of Egypt's grievous diseases that you saw and knew upon you, but will put them on all who hate you.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Greek adds that you saw before knew.
Encouragement Against Fear
Verse 7:16 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:16 You shall consume all the peoples YHWH your God gives over to you. Your eye shall not pity them, and you shall not serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:16 You shall consume all the spoils of the nations the Lord your God gives you. Your eye shall not spare them, and you shall not worship their gods, for that would be a stumbling block to you.
Classification & Notes
Disparate
Hebrew makes the peoples the object of consume; Greek makes their spoils the object. This materially changes the action commanded in the first clause. Greek also uses a stumbling image for Hebrew snare.
Verse 7:17 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:17 If you say in your heart: These nations are more numerous than I; how can I dispossess them?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:17 If you say in your mind: This nation is more numerous than I; how can I destroy them?
Classification & Notes
Disparate
Greek has singular nation and replaces dispossession with destruction. Heart becomes mind; the destruction verb changes the stated goal.
Verse 7:18 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:18 do not fear them. Remember well what YHWH your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt:
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:18 do not fear them. Remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all the Egyptians:
Classification & Notes
Same
Both answer fear by recalling Egypt's defeat.
Verse 7:19 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:19 the great trials your eyes saw, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm with which YHWH your God brought you out. YHWH your God will do the same to all the peoples you fear.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:19 the great trials your eyes saw, the signs and those great wonders, the mighty hand and uplifted arm with which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord our God will do the same to all the nations you fear.
Classification & Notes
Different
Greek adds great to wonders and changes the second your God to our God.
Verse 7:20 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:20 YHWH your God will also send the hornet against them until those left and those hiding from you perish.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:20 The Lord your God will also send hornets against them until those left and those hiding from you are wiped out.
Classification & Notes
Similar
Hebrew's collective hornet becomes Greek plural hornets; both describe pursuit of those remaining.
Verse 7:21 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:21 Do not be terrified before them, for YHWH your God is among you, a great and fearsome God.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:21 You shall not be wounded before them, for the Lord your God is among you, a great and mighty God.
Classification & Notes
Different
Hebrew prohibits terror; Greek uses the image of being wounded or stricken and calls God mighty rather than fearsome. The wording is preserved, but its setting is an exhortation against fear; the Greek does not by itself establish a general promise of immunity from every bodily injury.
Verse 7:22 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:22 YHWH your God will clear these nations away before you little by little. You will not be able to finish them quickly, lest the wild animals of the field multiply against you.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:22 The Lord your God will consume these nations before you little by little. You will not be able to finish them quickly, lest the land become deserted and wild animals multiply against you.
Classification & Notes
Divergent
Greek uses consuming where Hebrew says clearing away and adds the land's becoming deserted before the proliferation of wild animals. Both retain the gradual timetable and the inability to finish the nations quickly; the additional desolation clause explains the danger rather than establishing a different ultimate outcome.
Verse 7:23 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:23 YHWH your God will hand them over to you and throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:23 The Lord your God will hand them over to you and destroy them with great destruction until He annihilates them.
Classification & Notes
Different
Hebrew names confusion before destruction; Greek uses destruction language throughout and retains God as the final explicit agent.
Verse 7:24 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:24 He will hand their kings over to you, and you will destroy their name from under heaven. No one will stand before you until you destroy them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:24 He will hand their kings over to you, and their name will perish from that place. No one will stand before you until you destroy them.
Classification & Notes
Disparate
Hebrew assigns Israel the destruction of the kings' name under heaven; Greek says their name will perish from that place. Both the agent's expression and the scope change.
Verse 7:25 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:25 Burn the carved images of their gods. Do not covet the silver or gold on them and take it for yourself, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to YHWH your God.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:25 Burn the carved images of their gods. Do not covet silver or gold from them or take it for yourself, lest you stumble because of it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.
Classification & Notes
Different
Hebrew locates the metals on the images and warns of a snare; Greek speaks of metals from them and stumbling.
Verse 7:26 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
7:26 Do not bring an abomination into your house, or you will become devoted to destruction like it. Detest it utterly and abhor it utterly, for it is devoted to destruction.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
7:26 Do not bring an abomination into your house, or you will become a thing under the ban like it. Reject it utterly and abhor it utterly, for it is a thing under the ban.
Classification & Notes
Same
Hebrew ḥerem and Greek ἀνάθημα both place the object under an irrevocable, destructive ban in the context of burning the images. The threat extends the ban to the person who brings the object home. A benign votive gift would misrepresent this setting.