Deuteronomy 1:10

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and, behold, you are this day as the stars of the sky for multitude.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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כְּכוֹכְבֵ֥י

kôwkâb

H3556

“like/as · stars of”

Preposition + Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct

Appears 37× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 1:16

Full BDB Definition

Origin: probably from the same as H3522 (in the sense of rolling) or H3554 (in the sense of blazing)

TWOT: 942a

star - of Messiah, brothers, youth, numerous progeny, personification, God's omniscience (figuratively)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

9: words
9: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

כְּכוֹכְבֵ֥י star H3556 occurs in 37 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

1 verb
6 nouns
2 particles

Verb forms

הִרְבָּ֣ה Hiphil · Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 20 words from the Hebrew and 19 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 9 Hebrew tokens and 17 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Deuteronomy 1:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Genesis 15:5 Yahweh brought him outside, and said, "Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." He said to Abram, "So shall your seed be."
Genesis 22:17 that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore. Your seed will possess the gate of his enemies.
Exodus 32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.'"
Deuteronomy 10:22 Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now Yahweh your God has made you as the stars of the sky for multitude.
Deuteronomy 28:62 You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of the sky for multitude; because you didn't listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.
Genesis 28:14 Your seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed.
Exodus 12:37 The children of Israel traveled from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot who were men, besides children.
Numbers 1:46 even all those who were numbered were six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty.

Nehemiah 9:23 Their children also multiplied you as the stars of the sky, and brought them into the land concerning which you did say to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.
1 Chronicles 27:23 But David didn't take the number of them from twenty years old and under, because Yahweh had said he would increase Israel like the stars of the sky.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Deuteronomy 1:10 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֖ם הִרְבָּ֣ה אֶתְכֶ֑ם וְהִנְּכֶ֣ם הַיּ֔וֹם כְּכוֹכְבֵ֥י הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם לָרֹֽב

Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and, behold, you are this day as the stars of the sky for multitude.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Deuteronomy 1:10 Septuagint · lemma form

κύριος ὁ θεός σύ πληθύνω σύ καί ἰδού εἰμί σήμερον ὡσεί ὁ ἄστρον ὁ οὐρανός ὁ πλῆθος

The Lord your God has multiplied you, and, behold, you⌃ are today as the stars of heaven for multitude.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

יְיָ אֱלָהָכוֹן אַסְגֵי יָתְכוֹן וְהָא אִיתֵיכוֹן יוֹמָא דֵין כְּכוֹכְבֵי שְׁמַיָא לִסְגֵי

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

מֵימְרָא דַיְיָ אֱלָהָכוֹן אַסְגֵי יַתְכוֹן וְהָאִיתֵיכוֹן יוֹמָא דֵין הֵי כְּכוֹכְבֵי שְׁמַיָא לִסְגֵי

The Word of the Lord our God hath multiplied you; and, behold, you are today as the stars of heaven for multitude.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Deuteronomy 1:10 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

The Pulpit Commentary

Notwithstanding the cruel oppression to which they were subjected in Egypt, the Israelites had so increased in numbers that they went out of the house of their bondage a mighty host. Ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude (cf. Gen_15:5 Gen_22:17) God had promised to Abraham that his seed should be as the stars of heaven for multitude; and Moses here reminds the people that this promise had been fulfilled. This is hardly to be regarded as the utterance of hyperbole. When God gave the premise to Abraham it was to the stars as seen by the patriarch, not as actually existing in the immensity of space, that reference was made; and as the number of stars which can be taken in with the naked eye does not exceed 3000, and as Israel at this time numbered more than 600, 000, counting only the adult males, (Num_2:32) it might be literally said of them that they had been multiplied as the stars of heaven. The comparison, however, imported nothing more than that their numbers were very great.

Vers. 10, 11. Israel"s increase.

These verses embody the expression of a very natural state of feeling in contemplating the marvel of the Church"s growth.

I THE CHURCH"S INCREASE AN OBJECT OF DESIRE. "The Lord God of your fathers make you," etc. (ver. 11). Such increase is:

1. A token of Divine favor. (Act_11:24)

2. A manifestation of Divine power (1Co_1:18-30; Eph_1:19; 1Th_1:5)

3. A source of blessing to the world. (Ps 67)

4. A fulfillment of the Divine counsels. (Eph_1:10)

5. Means the ascendancy of true religion.

II THE CHURCH"S INCREASE AN OBJECT OF WONDER. (Ver. 10.) The rapid spread, the extraordinary victories, the prolonged empire, and the undecaying vitality of the Christian religion are the most wonderful things in history, and a proof of its Divine origin. As Israel increased by the Divine blessing at an unprecedented rate, and in spite of all Pharaoh"s attempts to check the increase, so has the Church flourished and spread, proving herself in her unarmed strength more than a match for the deadliest powers which can be arrayed against her. The present century has witnessed a remarkable revival of this propagative energy of Christianity. (Num_23:23)

III THE CHURCH"S INCREASE A MATTER OF PROMISE. (Ver. 11.) The promise to Abraham of a countless seed embraced in its widest import the spiritual, not less than the natural, Israel his seed in Christ. J.O. (Rom_4:16; Gal_3:7-10, Gal_3:14, Gal_3:16, Gal_3:26, Gal_3:29) (Cf. the promises Isa_53:10-12 Isa_54:1-3 Isa_60:1-12, with Dan_2:35, Dan_2:44; Mat_8:11 Rev_7:9)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

1:10 as numerous as the stars: This figure of speech deliberately exaggerates for effect. Abraham’s descendants had not approached the actual number of stars in the universe, though they exceeded the number of stars visible to the naked eye. Moses meant that God had begun fulfilling his promises to Abraham (see Gen 15:5; 22:17) by making Israel numerous, bringing them to the Promised Land, and preparing them to conquer it.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Not so much by the course of nature, as miraculously.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude--This was neither an Oriental hyperbole nor a mere empty boast. Abraham was told (Gen 15:5-6) to look to the stars, and though they "appear" innumerable, yet those seen by the naked eye amount, in reality, to no more than three thousand ten in both hemispheres. The Israelites already far exceeded that number, being at the last census above six hundred thousand [Num 26:51]. It was a seasonable memento, calculated to animate their faith in the accomplishment of other parts of the divine promise.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 10. Ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.] This was the promise God made to Abraham, Ge 15:5-6; and Moses considers it now as amply fulfilled. But was it really so? Many suppose the expression to be hyperbolical; and others, no friends to revelation, think it a vain empty boast, because the stars, in their apprehension, amount to innumerable millions. Let us consider this subject. How many in number are the stars which appear to the naked eye? for it is by what appears to the naked eye we are to be governed in this business, for God brought Abraham forth abroad, i. e., out of doors, and bade him look towards heaven, not with a telescope, but with his naked eyes, Ge 15:5. Now I shall beg the objector to come forth abroad, and look up in the brightest and most favourable night, and count the stars-he need not be terrified at their abundance; the more they are, the more he can count; and I shall pledge myself to find a male Israelite in the very last census taken of this people, Num. xxvi., for every star he finds in the whole upper hemisphere of heaven. The truth is, only about 3,010 stars can be seen by the naked eye in both the northern and southern hemispheres; and the Israelites, independently of women and children, were at the above time more than 600,000. And suppose we even allow that, from the late discoveries of Dr. Herschel and others with telescopes which have magnified between 35 and 36,000 times, there may be 75 millions of stars visible by the help of such instruments, which is the highest calculation ever made, yet still the Divine word stands literally true: St. Matthew says, Mt 1:17, that the generations from Abraham to Christ were 42; now we find at the second census that the fighting men among the Hebrews amounted to 603,000; and the Israelites, who have never ceased to be a distinct people, have so multiplied as far to exceed the number of all the fixed stars taken together.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

10. the Lord your God] See on Deu_1:6.

as the stars in heaven] So Deu_10:22; Deu_28:62; and Gen_22:17; Gen_26:4; Exo_32:13, in contexts that otherwise betray the editorial hand. It is one of the many hyperboles in D and is not found in the parallel E, Exodus 18.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

The Lord your God hath multiplied you,.... Which was the reason why he could not bear them, or the government of them was too heavy for him, because they were so numerous, and the cases brought before him to decide were so many:

and, behold, you are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude; whereby it appeared that the promise to Abraham was fulfilled, Gen 15:5, they were now 600,000 men fit for war, besides women and children, and those under age, which must make the number of them very large.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

והנכם היום ככוכבי השמים AND, BEHOLD, YE ARE THIS DAY AS THE STARS OF THE HEAVEN — But were they that day as the stars of the heaven? Were they not, indeed, only sixty myriads? What, then, is the meaning of “And, behold, ye are this day (היום lit., the day)"? It means: Behold ye may be compared to the day (the sun), existing for ever just as the sun and the moon and the stars (cf. Sifrei Devarim 10:1).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Deuteronomy, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 9 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is kôwkâb (“star”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “star” (kôwkâb) contribute to the verse as a whole?
How does Genesis 1:16, which shares the word «star», read alongside this verse?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
«הִרְבָּ֣ה» is a Hiphil Perfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how The Pulpit Commentary and Tyndale Open Study Notes read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 9 Hebrew ↔ 17 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 10 words in this verse.
9 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 9 words in this verse.