Deuteronomy 18:17

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Yahweh said to me, They have well said that which they have spoken.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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הֵיטִ֖יבוּ

yâṭab

H3190

“to be good”

Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural

Appears 112× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 4:7

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 863

to be good, be pleasing, be well, be glad - (Qal) - to be glad, be joyful - to be well placed - to be well for, be well with, go well with - to be pleasing, be pleasing to - (Hiphil) - to make glad, rejoice - to do good to, deal well with - to do well, do thoroughly - to make a thing good or right or beautiful - to do well, do right

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 →

6: words
6: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
1 noun
1 preposition
1 particle

Verb forms

וַיֹּ֥אמֶר Qal · Sequential Imperfect
הֵיטִ֖יבוּ Hiphil · Perfect
דִּבֵּֽרוּ Piel · Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 13 words from the Hebrew and 17 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 6 Hebrew tokens and 9 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 18:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Deuteronomy 5:28 Yahweh heard the voice of your words, when you spoke to me; and Yahweh said to me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken to you: they have well said all that they have spoken.

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 18:17 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיֹּ֥אמֶר יְהוָ֖ה אֵלָ֑י הֵיטִ֖יבוּ אֲשֶׁ֥ר דִּבֵּֽרוּ

Yahweh said to me, They have well said that which they have spoken.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Deuteronomy 18:17 Septuagint · lemma form

καί εἶπον κύριος πρός ἐγώ ὀρθῶς πᾶς ὅσος λαλέω

And the Lord said to me, They have spoken rightly all that they have said to you.

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)

וַאֲמַר יְיָ לִי אוֹטִיבוּ דִי מַלִילוּ

(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)

וַאֲמַר יְיָ לִי אַתְקִינָן מַה דְּמַלֵּילָן

and the Lord said to me, That which they have spoken is right;

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 18:17 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 →

John Gill's Exposition

I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee,.... So that it seems this promise or prophecy was first made at Mount Sinai, but now renewed and repeated, and which is nowhere else recorded; see Deu 18:15 when they were not only made easy for the present by appointing Moses to receive from the Lord all further notices of his mind and will, but were assured that when it was his pleasure to make a new revelation, or a further discovery of his mind and will, in future times, he would not do it in that terrible way he had delivered the law to them; but would raise up a person of their own flesh and blood, by whom it should be delivered, which was sufficient to prevent their fears for the future:

and will put my word in his mouth; the doctrines of the Gospel, which come from God, and are the words of truth, faith, righteousness, peace, pardon, life, and salvation; and which Christ says were not his own, as man and Mediator, but his Father's, which he gave unto him, and put into his mouth, as what he should say, teach, and deliver to others; see Joh 7:16.

and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him; nor did he keep back, but faithfully declared the whole counsel of God; and as he gave him a commandment what he should say, and what he should speak, he was entirely obedient to it; see Joh 12:49.

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

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

17. Jehovah approved their prayer, and he spake no more directly to Israel, but put his message to them in the mouth of the prophet.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

I will raise up a prophet for them

Yahweh appointing a person to be a prophet is spoken of as if Yahweh would raise or lift the person up. (See: Metaphor)

from among their brothers

"from among their fellow Israelites"

I will put my words in his mouth

Yahweh telling the prophet what to say is spoken of as if Yahweh would put words in the prophet's mouth. (See: Metaphor)

speak to them

"speak to the people of Israel"

does not listen to the words of mine that he speaks in my name

Here "my name" represents Yahweh and his authority. AT: "does not listen to him when he speaks my message" (See: Metonymy)

require it of him

"I will hold him responsible" or "I will punish him." Here "him" refers to the person who does not listen to the prophet.

translationWords

word

command

name

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

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 6 words (6 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is yâṭab (“to be good”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word yâṭab carries the sense “to be good.” How does it shape the verse?
Deuteronomy 5:28 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «וַיֹּ֥אמֶר» is Qal Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how John Gill's Exposition and Whedon's Commentary on the Bible read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 6 Hebrew ↔ 9 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 7 words in this verse.
6 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 6 words in this verse.