Deuteronomy 4:48

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, even to Mount Sion (the same is Hermon),

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

1 hapax legomenon — only here in the Hebrew Bible
1 first appearance in the Hebrew Bible

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שִׂיאֹ֖ן

Sîyʼôn

H7865

“Sion”

Noun, Proper

Appears 1× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H7863

TWOT: None

Sion = "lofty" - another name for Mount Hermon

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 →

11: words
11: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

1 hapax legomenon — a word that appears only here in the entire Hebrew Bible:

שִׂיאֹ֖ן Sion H7865

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

שִׂיאֹ֖ן Sion H7865

Shared distinctive vocabulary

חֶרְמֽוֹן Hermon H2768 occurs in 13 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

7 nouns
1 pronoun
2 prepositions
1 particle

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 21 words from the Hebrew and 20 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 11 Hebrew tokens and 18 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 4:48 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Deuteronomy 3:9 ([which] Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir;)
Deuteronomy 2:36 From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and [from] the city that is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was not a city too high for us; Yahweh our God delivered up all before us:
Deuteronomy 3:12 This land we took in possession at that time: from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, and half the hill-country of Gilead, and the cities of it, gave I to the Reubenites and to the Gadites:
Psalms 133:3 Like the dew of Hermon, That comes down on the hills of Zion: For there Yahweh gives the blessing, Even life forevermore.
Joshua 13:24–33 Moses gave to the tribe of Gad, to the children of Gad, according to their families.

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 4:48 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

מֵעֲרֹעֵ֞ר אֲשֶׁ֨ר עַל שְׂפַת נַ֧חַל אַרְנֹ֛ן וְעַד הַ֥ר שִׂיאֹ֖ן ה֥וּא חֶרְמֽוֹן

from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, even to Mount Sion (the same is Hermon),

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Deuteronomy 4:48 Septuagint · lemma form

ἀπό αροηρ ὅς εἰμί ἐπί ὁ χεῖλος χειμάρρους αρνων καί ἐπί ὁ ὄρος ὁ σηων ὅς εἰμί αερμων

From Aroer, which is on the border of the brook Arnon, even to the mount of Seon, which is Aermon.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

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)

מֵעֲרֹעֵר דִי עַל כֵּיף נַחֲלָא דְאַרְנֹן וְעַד טוּרָא דְשִׂיאֹן הוּא חֶרְמוֹן

(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)

מֵעֲרוֹעֵר דְּעַל גֵּיף נַחֲלֵי אַרְנוֹן וְעַד טַוְורָא דְסִיאוֹן הוּא טַוָור תַּלְגָא

from Aroer on the bank of the river Arnon to the mountain of Saion, which is the Snowy Mount;

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 4:48 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 →

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

4:48 Mount Sirion: The Sidonians used the name Sirion for Mount Hermon.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

48. 49. from Aroer, etc.] These two vv. are a summary, with one addition, of what has been narrated in Deu_2:36, Deu_3:8; Deu_3:17, q.v.

mount Sion] Still another name for Ḥermon (see Deu_3:9), confirmed by LXX. The Pesh. Sirion is probably derived from Deu_3:9. The Heb. Si’ôn (not to be confounded with the Jerusalem Ṣiyyon, A.V. Zion) means elevation.

eastward] ad orientem, P’s equivalent for D’s towards the sunrising. See Deu_4:41.

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

And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward,.... The plains of Moab, on that side of Jordan to the east:

even unto the sea of the plain; the sea of Sodom, the salt sea:

under the springs of Pisgah; that rose from Mount Pisgah, the same with Ashdothpisgah, Deu 3:17.

Next: Deuteronomy Chapter 5

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

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Sion begins here with s, being the northern boundary of the tribe of Manasses, east of the Jordan; whereas the famous Sion, on which the temple was built, is written with ts, and lay on the west side of the Jordan, (Haydock) in the tribe of Juda, chap. iii. 8. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

48. Mount Sion, which is Hermon — See note on Deu_3:9.

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

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 11 words (11 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Sîyʼôn (“Sion”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “Sion” (Sîyʼôn) shape what this verse is saying?
1 word here appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. Why might the author reach for such rare wording?
This is the first place “Sion” appears in Scripture (first appears here). What does its debut here establish?
How does Deuteronomy 3:8, which shares the word «Hermon», read alongside this verse?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
Compare how Tyndale Open Study Notes and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.
1 word makes its first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
This verse counts 11 Hebrew ↔ 18 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 10 words in this verse.
11 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 11 words in this verse.