Deuteronomy 6:20

Summary

Deuteronomy 6:20 introduces a hypothetical future scene: a son asks his father to explain the meaning of the "testimonies," "statutes," and "judgments" that Yehovah commanded. The verse sets up the question that the following verses (21 onward) will answer, framing generational transmission of legal/religious content as a matter of explanation prompted by a child's curiosity.

Key words

• ki ("if", H3588A) — a conditional/subordinating particle opening the verse; it frames the entire scene as a future contingency ("when/if this happens").
• yish'alekha ("he will ask you", H7592 + suffix) — qal imperfect, marking an action not yet completed, i.e., a future or recurring event; the pronominal suffix -kha makes "you" (singular masculine) the object of the asking.
• 'edot, chukkim, mishpatim ("testimonies", H5713B; "statutes", H2706G; "judgments", H4941G) — three plural nouns, each preceded by the definite article ha- (H9009), forming a triad that the son's question groups together as a single category to be explained.
• tzivah ("he commanded", H6680) — piel perfect, denoting a completed, authoritative act of command (piel often intensifies or gives official/legal force to the action).
• 'etkhem ("you", H0853 + H9036) — the direct object marker with a second-person masculine plural suffix, marking the recipients of the command as "you" in the plural, distinct from the singular "your son" (vinkha, H1121A + H9021) earlier in the verse.

What the text says

The sentence begins with the conditional particle ki (H3588A), followed by a qal imperfect verb yish'alekha (H7592), which indicates a future or hypothetical act of asking rather than a completed one. The subject is vinkha ("your son", H1121A + H9021), with machar ("tomorrow", H4279) marking the temporal setting as forthcoming. The infinitive le'mor ("saying", H0559) introduces direct speech, the son's own question, which is built around the interrogative mah ("what?", H4100).

The son's question groups three definite plural nouns — ha'edot, ha-chukkim, ha-mishpatim — connected by the conjunction ve- (H9002), each preceded by the article ha- (H9009), presenting them as a known, bounded set rather than indefinite items. The relative particle 'asher (H0834A) introduces a clause describing what was done to this set: tzivah Yehovah Eloheinu ("Yehovah our God commanded", H6680 + H3068G + H0430G with suffix "our"). The final word, 'etkhem (H0853 + H9036), uses a second-person plural suffix, shifting from the singular addressee ("your son") to a plural "you" as the object of the command — grammatically distinguishing the son's singular relationship to the speaker from the plural group who received the command.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew ends with 'etkhem ("commanded you", plural), placing the recipients of the command as "you" rather than the speaker's own group. The LXX renders this clause with ἡμῖν ("to us"), and the Vulgate similarly has "nobis" ("to us"), both shifting the object from second-person plural to first-person plural. This changes who, grammatically, is presented as having received the command — "you" in the Hebrew versus "us" in the LXX and Vulgate.