Deuteronomy 18:15

Summary

The verse states that Yehovah will raise up a prophet from among the community, described as being "like" the speaker (Moses), and instructs the audience to listen to that prophet. The construction places emphasis on both the divine origin of the prophet's appointment and the collective duty to heed him.

Key words

• na.Vi' ("a prophet", H5030) — absolute singular noun, the subject being raised up; unmodified by article, leaving the identity indefinite in Hebrew.
• kir.be.kha ("midst", H7130) — construct form meaning "midst of," combined with the suffix -kha ("your") to yield "from your midst," specifying the prophet's origin within the group addressed.
• ya.Kim ("he will raise up", H6965) — hiphil (causative) imperfect, third person masculine singular; the causative stem indicates that the subject (Yehovah) causes the prophet to arise, rather than the prophet arising on his own.
• 'e.lo.Hei.kha ("God", H0430) — masculine plural noun in construct form with suffix -kha ("your"), producing "your God"; the plural form of the noun is standard in Hebrew for this divine title despite referring to a singular referent, paired here with the singular verb ya.Kim.
• tish.ma.'Un ("you will listen", H8085) — qal imperfect, second person masculine plural, with a paragogic nun ending that adds emphasis to the plural command/expectation of listening.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence structure fronts the object na.Vi' ("a prophet") before naming the subject Yehovah, a common feature in Biblical Hebrew word order for emphasis on the object being introduced. The phrase mi.kir.be.kha me.'a.chei.kha ("from your midst, from your brothers") uses two prepositional constructs in apposition, both narrowing the source of the prophet to the addressee's own community. The comparative ka.Mo.ni ("like me") attaches directly to the noun phrase describing the prophet, drawing a parallel between this future figure and the speaker without further grammatical elaboration—the comparison is left syntactically simple, a bare simile.

The verb ya.Kim is causative (hiphil), meaning the raising up is an action performed by Yehovah upon the prophet, not a self-initiated event. The final clause 'e.La.v tish.ma.'Un ("to him you shall listen") ends the verse with the plural imperfect verb marked by the paragogic nun, a suffix that in Biblical Hebrew often intensifies or gives solemn weight to the verbal form, here reinforcing the directive nature of the statement toward the plural audience.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate reads "Prophetam de gente tua et de fratribus tuis" ("a prophet from your nation and from your brothers"), adding "de gente tua" ("from your nation") as a phrase with no direct counterpart in the Hebrew, which reads only mi.kir.be.kha me.'a.chei.kha ("from your midst, from your brothers"). The LXX renders the clause as "ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν σου" ("from your brothers"), omitting a separate rendering of mi.kir.be.kha ("from your midst") and instead compressing both Hebrew phrases into one. The LXX also inserts a dative pronoun "σοί" ("to you") after "ὁ θεός σου," which functions similarly to the Hebrew le.Kha ("for you") but is placed differently in the Greek sentence structure.