Deuteronomy 29:18
New International Version
Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.

New Living Translation
I am making this covenant with you so that no one among you—no man, woman, clan, or tribe—will turn away from the LORD our God to worship these gods of other nations, and so that no root among you bears bitter and poisonous fruit.

English Standard Version
Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the LORD our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit,

Berean Standard Bible
Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit,

King James Bible
Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;

New King James Version
so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood;

New American Standard Bible
so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.

NASB 1995
so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.

NASB 1977
lest there shall be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; lest there shall be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.

Legacy Standard Bible
lest there be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from Yahweh our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.

Amplified Bible
so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the [false] gods of these nations; so that there will not be among you a root [of idolatry] bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood (bitterness).

Christian Standard Bible
Be sure there is no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Be sure there is no root among you bearing poisonous and bitter fruit.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Be sure there is no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Be sure there is no root among you bearing poisonous and bitter fruit.

American Standard Version
lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from Jehovah our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Lest there is in you a man or a woman or a family or a tribe whose heart turns away today from LORD JEHOVAH our God to go to work for the gods of those nations, lest there is in you a root that causes bitterness and wormwood to spring up:

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Lest there be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart has turned aside from the Lord your God, having gone to serve the gods of these nations; lest there be in you a root springing up with gall and bitterness.

Contemporary English Version
So make sure that everyone in your tribe remains faithful to the LORD and never starts worshiping gods of other nations. If even one of you worships idols, you will be like the root of a plant that produces bitter, poisonous fruit.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Lest perhaps there should be among you a man or a woman, a family or a tribe, whose heart is turned away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations: and there should be among you a root bringing forth gall and bitterness.

English Revised Version
lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Make sure there is no man, woman, family, or tribe among you today who turns from the LORD our God to worship the gods of those nations. Make sure that no one among you is the source of this kind of bitter poison.

Good News Translation
Make sure that no man, woman, family, or tribe standing here today turns from the LORD our God to worship the gods of other nations. This would be like a root that grows to be a bitter and poisonous plant.

International Standard Version
Be alert so there is no man, woman, family, or a tribe whose heart is turning away from the LORD your God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Be alert so there will be no root among you that produces poisonous and bitter fruit,

JPS Tanakh 1917
lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;

Literal Standard Version
lest there be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart is turning from our God YHWH today, to go to serve the gods of those nations, lest there be in you a root bearing the fruit of gall and wormwood;

Majority Standard Bible
Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit,

New American Bible
There may be among you a man or woman, or a clan or tribe, whose heart is now turning away from the LORD, our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; there may be among you a root bearing poison and wormwood;

NET Bible
Beware that the heart of no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you turns away from the LORD our God today to pursue and serve the gods of those nations; beware that there is among you no root producing poisonous and bitter fruit.

New Revised Standard Version
It may be that there is among you a man or woman, or a family or tribe, whose heart is already turning away from the LORD our God to serve the gods of those nations. It may be that there is among you a root sprouting poisonous and bitter growth.

New Heart English Bible
lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns away this day from the LORD our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that bears gall and wormwood;

Webster's Bible Translation
Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;

World English Bible
lest there should be among you man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart turns away today from Yahweh our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that produces bitter poison;

Young's Literal Translation
lest there be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart is turning to-day from Jehovah our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations, lest there be in you a root fruitful of gall and wormwood:

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Covenant in Moab
17You saw the abominations and idols among them made of wood and stone, of silver and gold. 18Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is no root among you that bears such poisonous and bitter fruit, 19because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.’ This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.…

Cross References
Hebrews 12:15
See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.

Deuteronomy 13:6
If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods" (which neither you nor your fathers have known,

Deuteronomy 29:19
because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, 'I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.' This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.

Deuteronomy 32:32
But their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poisonous; their clusters are bitter.

Psalm 69:21
They poisoned my food with gall and gave me vinegar to quench my thirst.

Jeremiah 8:14
Why are we just sitting here? Gather together, let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there, for the LORD our God has doomed us. He has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.

Jeremiah 9:15
Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: "Behold, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.


Treasury of Scripture

Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that bears gall and wormwood;

among you man

Deuteronomy 11:16,17
Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; …

Deuteronomy 13:1-15
If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, …

Deuteronomy 17:2-7
If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, …

among you a root

Jeremiah 9:15
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

Hosea 10:4
They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.

Amos 6:12
Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock:

gall and wormwood.

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Deuteronomy 29
1. Moses exhorts them to obedience, reminding of the works they had seen
10. All are presented before the Lord to enter into his covenant
18. The great wrath on him who flatters himself in his wickedness
29. Secret things belong unto God














(18) Lest there should be.--The connection with Deuteronomy 29:15 seems to be this. "I make this covenant binding with all your generations, in case there should even now be any root of idolatry among you which may grow up and bring forth fruit in later times, and bring a curse upon your whole country." That there were such roots of idolatry is only too plain from Deuteronomy 31:16, and from what followed after the death of the elders of this generation. (Comp. Judges 2:10-12.)

A root that beareth gall and wormwood.--The same two words occur in Lamentations 3:19, and one of them (gall) in Psalm 69:21. From whatever root it came, there was One to whom it was given to drink. The LXX. form of this expression, "lest there is among you any root that springeth up in gall and bitterness," is incorporated into the warning in Hebrews 12:15 : "Looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled." . . .

Verse 18. - Lest there should be among you; rather, See that there be not among you, etc. The part. פֵן, lest, at the beginning of a sentence, sometimes implies a prohibition or dissuasion, as Job 32:13, "say not;" Isaiah 36:18," beware of saying" (Gesenius, Noldius in voc.). Gall. The Hebrew word so rendered (רלֺאשׁ) is supposed by Gesenius to be the poppy plant, by Celsius to be the hemlock (it is so rendered, Hosea 10:4; Amos 6:12, and by AEdman to be colocynth. It is probably a general name for what is poisonous and bitter; for it is used of poison generally (Deuteronomy 32:32) and of the venom of asps (Deuteronomy 32:33; Job 20:16), as well as of poisonous roots and bitter fruits (see Kitto, 'Bibl. Cycl.,' 3:701). Coupled here with wormwood, it must be a plant that is referred to; and the union of the two affords "a striking image of the destructive fruit borne by idolatry" (Keil).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Make sure there is
יֵ֣שׁ (yêš)
Adverb
Strong's 3426: Being, substance, existence, is

no
פֶּן־ (pen-)
Conjunction
Strong's 6435: Removal, lest

man
אִ֣ישׁ (’îš)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 376: A man as an individual, a male person

or woman,
אִשָּׁ֞ה (’iš·šāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 802: Woman, wife, female

clan
מִשְׁפָּחָ֣ה (miš·pā·ḥāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 4940: A family, circle of relatives, a class, a species, sort, a tribe, people

or
אוֹ־ (’ōw-)
Conjunction
Strong's 176: Desire, if

tribe
שֵׁ֗בֶט (šê·ḇeṭ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7626: Rod, staff, club, scepter, tribe

among you
בָּ֠כֶם (bā·ḵem)
Preposition | second person masculine plural
Strong's Hebrew

today
הַיּוֹם֙ (hay·yō·wm)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3117: A day

whose
אֲשֶׁר֩ (’ă·šer)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

heart
לְבָב֨וֹ (lə·ḇā·ḇōw)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 3824: Inner man, mind, will, heart

turns away
פֹנֶ֤ה (p̄ō·neh)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 6437: To turn, to face, appear, look

from
מֵעִם֙ (mê·‘im)
Preposition-m
Strong's 5973: With, equally with

the LORD
יְהוָ֣ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

our God
אֱלֹהֵ֔ינוּ (’ĕ·lō·hê·nū)
Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

to go
לָלֶ֣כֶת (lā·le·ḵeṯ)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

and worship
לַעֲבֹ֔ד (la·‘ă·ḇōḏ)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 5647: To work, to serve, till, enslave

the gods
אֱלֹהֵ֖י (’ĕ·lō·hê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

of those
הָהֵ֑ם (hā·hêm)
Article | Pronoun - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1992: They

nations.
הַגּוֹיִ֣ם (hag·gō·w·yim)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 1471: A foreign nation, a Gentile, a troop of animals, a flight of locusts

Make sure there is
יֵ֣שׁ (yêš)
Adverb
Strong's 3426: Being, substance, existence, is

no
פֶּן־ (pen-)
Conjunction
Strong's 6435: Removal, lest

root
שֹׁ֛רֶשׁ (šō·reš)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 8328: A root

among you
בָּכֶ֗ם (bā·ḵem)
Preposition | second person masculine plural
Strong's Hebrew

that bears
פֹּרֶ֥ה (pō·reh)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 6509: To bear fruit, be fruitful

such poisonous
רֹ֖אשׁ (rōš)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7219: A poisonous plant, the poppy, poison

and bitter fruit,
וְלַעֲנָֽה׃ (wə·la·‘ă·nāh)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 3939: Wormwood


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OT Law: Deuteronomy 29:18 Lest there should be among you man (Deut. De Du)
Deuteronomy 29:17
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