Deuteronomy 8:17–18
Don't say “My strength and the might of my hand have made me this wealth”: God gives the strength
Study it word by word17and you say in your heart, “My strength and the might of my hand have made for me this wealth.”
18Remember YHWH your Elohim, for it is he who gives you strength to make wealth, in order to establish his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
In its context
15who led you through the great and fearsome wilderness, with burning serpent and scorpion, and parched ground where there was no water, who brought out for you water from the rock of flint,
16who fed you manna in the wilderness, which your fathers did not know, in order to afflict you and in order to test you, to do you good in the end;
…
19But it will be, if you do forget YHWH your Elohim and go after other gods and serve them and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.
20Like the nations that YHWH makes perish before you, so you will perish, because you did not listen to the voice of YHWH your Elohim.
Its words in the original
- אָמַרְתָּamarta· say
Say, speak. The most common verb for bringing in what someone says; sometimes "think" (say to oneself) or "command".
- לְבָבֶlevave· heart
Heart: the inner part of the person, where one thinks, feels and decides.
- כֹּחִkochi· strength
Strength, power, vigor; also what the ground can produce. A word with the same letters names a large lizard.
- עֹצֶםotsem· strength, body
Strength of the body; also the body itself.
- יָדִyadi· hand, power
Hand. Figuratively, power or control ("into the hand of" = into the power of); also side, part, or share. Also a projecting piece, such as a tenon.
- עָשָׂהasa· do, make
Do, make, in the widest sense: build, produce, carry out, keep (a command), prepare.
- חַיִלchayil· strength; wealth, army
Strength, ability; depending on the passage, wealth, an army, or valor.
- זָכַרְתָּzacharta· remember
Remember, call to mind; also mention. When God "remembers" someone, it is not that he had forgotten: it means he acts in his favor.
- יְהוָהyehva· YHWH
The personal name of the God of Israel, written in Hebrew with four letters, Y-H-W-H, without vowels. Out of reverence Jews stopped pronouncing it and read "Adonai" (Lord), so many Bibles put "the LORD" or "Jehovah". This translation keeps the four letters. The name is related to the verb "to be" (Exodus 3:14-15). He is not a god other than Elohim: "YHWH Elohim" is the same Creator God, called by his name.
- אֱלֹהֶיelohe· Elohim, God, gods
The Hebrew word usually translated "God". This translation keeps "Elohim" when it speaks of the one true God, the Creator, the God of Israel. The word ends like a plural, but it does not mean several: for him the verb is singular ("Elohim created"); the plural form expresses greatness. The same word as a common noun names the "gods" of other peoples, and there it is a true plural, translated "gods". It is also used of mighty ones or judges.
- נֹּתֵןnoten· give, put, set
Give, in a very wide sense: hand over, put, place, grant, allow, make something be.
- הָקִיםhakim· rise, stand, establish
Rise, stand up; also stand firm, establish or fulfill something. "Rise against" is to attack.
- בְּרִיתberit· covenant
Covenant: a solemn commitment between two parties, with promises and obligations. When God makes it, he is the one who offers it and guarantees it.
- נִשְׁבַּעnishba· swear
Swear: bind oneself solemnly, calling on God as witness; in the causative form, make someone swear. In Hebrew the verb looks like the word "seven".
- אֲבֹתֶיavote· father
Father; also ancestor ("our fathers"), and the founder or head of a family or group.
- יּוֹםyom· day
Day: the hours of light, or a whole day from one evening to the next. Also an indefinite time or age ("in the day that...", "in those days").