Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lee R. Martin" <lmartin AT vol.com>]

Professor Niccacci and others,
Please advise me regarding my analysis of Deuteronomy 6:4-20

1  imperative,  command =Hear, O Israel:
2  nominal , description  =The LORD is our God; the LORD is one:
3  weqatal , instruction = You shall love the LORD thy God
                                       with all thine heart,
                                        and with all thy soul,
                                         and with all thy might.
4  weqatal , instruction = And these words . . .  shall be in thine
heart
5  asher+ptc.  , relative clause =  which I am commanding thee this day
6  weqatal , instruction = And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy
children,
7  weqatal , instruction = and shalt talk of them
8  infinitive , temporal  =  when thou sittest in thine house,
9  infinitive , temporal  =  and when thou walkest by the way,
10 infinitive , temporal  =  and when thou liest down,
11 infinitive , temporal  =  and when thou risest up.
12 weqatal, instruction = And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine
hand,
13 weqatal, instruction = and they shall be as frontlets between thine
eyes.
14 weqatal, instruction = And thou shalt write them upon the posts of
thy house, and on thy gates.

15 weqatal, new parag. = And it shall be,
16 ki+yiqtol, protasis  = when the LORD thy God brings thee into the
land
17 asher+qatal,  relative cl.=   which he sware unto thy fathers,
                               apposition =   to Abraham, to Isaac, and
to Jacob,
18 infinitive , obj.compl. =   to give thee great and goodly cities,
19 asher+qatal , relative cl. =    which thou buildedst not,
20        =   And houses full of all good things,
21 asher+qatal , relative cl. =    which thou filledst not,
22    ,    =   and wells digged,
23 asher+qatal , relative cl. =    which thou diggedst not,
24        =   vineyards and olive trees,
25 asher+qatal , relative cl. =    which thou plantedst not;
26 weqatal ,apodosis  = then you shall eat
27 weqatal ,hendiadys = and be satisfied;

28 imperative , command=  Guard yourself
29 pen+yiqtol, future  =  lest thou forget the LORD,
30 asher+qatal,  relative cl.=    who brought thee forth out of the land
of Egypt . . . .
31 x+yiqtol , instruction = The LORD thy God you shall fear,
32 x+yiqtol , instruction = and him you shall serve,
33 x+yiqtol , instruction = and on his name you shall swear.
34 lo'+yiqtol , neg.injunct. = Ye shall not go after other gods, of the
gods of the people
35 nominal , relative cl. =  which are round about you;
36 ki+nominal , reason  =  Because the LORD thy God is a jealous God
among you.
37 pen+yiqtol ,future   = lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled
against thee,
38 weqatal, future   = and he will destroy thee from off the face of the
earth.
39 lo'+yiqtol,  neg.injunct. = Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God,
40 kasher+qatal ,relative cl. =  as ye tempted him in Massah.
41 inf.+yiqtol, instruction = Ye shall diligently keep the commandments
of the LORD your God,
                                           and his testimonies, and his
statutes,
42 asher+qatal,  relative cl.=   which he hath commanded thee.
43 weqatal, instruction  =And thou shalt do the right and the good in
the sight of the LORD:
44 lam`an+imf., purpose  =  that it may be well with thee,
45 weqatal , instruction = and you shall go in
46 weqatal , instruction = and you shall possess the good land
47 asher+qatal , relative cl. =  which the LORD sware unto thy fathers,
48 infinitive  , obj.compl. =   To cast out all thine enemies from
before thee,
49 asher+qatal , relative cl. =  as the LORD hath spoken.

**Notes**
Line 3: The weqatals in lines 3-14 seem to be instructions (injunctions)
that continue from the imperative in line 1.
Line 15: The weqatal of HYH in line 15 is the macro-syntactic marker.
Line 16 is the protasis and lines 26 and 27 form the apodosis of a
double sentence.  However, all of the six English translations that I
consulted rendered 26-27 as continuations of the protasis and gave 28 as
the apodosis.  28-29 seem to demonstrate the same
grammatical/syntactical structure as 34-37.
Lines 18 and 48 are objects of the verb "swear".
Lines 31-33 have emphasis on x
Lines 45-46 are usually translated as continuations of 44.  I think they
are more instructions on the same level as 43. I am not certain,
however.


--

Lee R. Martin
Pastor, Prospect Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee
Instructor in Hebrew and Old Testament
Church of God Theological Seminary
http://earth.vol.com/~lmartin/