Deuteronomy 10:18

Summary

The verse describes actions attributed to Yehovah (continuing from the preceding context): he executes judgment on behalf of the fatherless and the widow, and he loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.

Key words

• 'oSeh ("[he is] doing/bringing about", H6213A) — qal participle, masculine singular, describing an ongoing characteristic action, here in construct with mishPat.
• mishPat ("judgment of", H4941H) — masculine singular construct noun, linking directly to yaTom ("fatherless one") as its object of judgment.
• 'oHev ("[he is] loving", H0157G) — second qal participle, masculine singular, paralleling 'oSeh and forming the second half of the verse's structure.
• Ger ("a sojourner", H1616) — masculine singular noun, the direct object of 'oHev, distinct from yaTom and 'almaNah.
• Lechem ("food", H3899G) and simLah ("clothing", H8071) — the two items given, joined by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built on two parallel participial clauses, each headed by a qal participle: 'oSeh ("doing/bringing about") and 'oHev ("loving"). Participles in this construction function as ongoing, characteristic descriptions rather than single completed actions — the subject is portrayed as one who habitually does these things. The first clause, 'oSeh mishPat yaTom ve'almaNah, uses the construct noun mishPat ("judgment of") to link directly to two beneficiaries, yaTom ("fatherless one", H3490) and 'almaNah ("widow", H0490), joined by ve.

The second clause shifts to a different object, Ger ("sojourner", H1616), and adds a purpose/result clause introduced by the preposition la ("to") plus the infinitive tet ("to give", H5414G): laTet lo Lechem veSimLah — "to give to him food and clothing." The pronominal suffix on lo ("to him") refers back to Ger, tying the giving specifically to the sojourner rather than to all three figures named in the verse. The infinitive construction with la- expresses the aim or outcome of the loving action described by 'oHev.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) reorders and regroups the three figures: it places proselytō ("sojourner/proselyte") first alongside orphanō ("orphan") and chēra ("widow") under the single verb poiōn krisin ("doing judgment"), then repeats ton proselyton ("the sojourner") as the object of agapa ("loves"). This differs from the Hebrew structure, where Ger appears only once, exclusively as the object of 'oHev ("loving"), not of mishPat ("judgment of"). The Vulgate follows a structure closer to the Hebrew, pairing pupillo et viduae ("orphan and widow") with judicium ("judgment") and peregrinum ("foreigner") with amat ("loves"), matching the Hebrew's distribution of beneficiaries between the two clauses.