Deuteronomy 10:20

Summary

The verse commands four actions directed toward Yehovah: fearing him, serving him, cleaving to him, and swearing oaths in his name. In each clause, the object (Yehovah, him, his name) is placed before the verb in the Hebrew word order, giving emphasis to the object of these actions.

Key words

• Yahweh ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the divine name, functioning as the direct object of "you will fear," placed first in the clause.
• 'et (H0853) — the untranslated direct object marker, appearing twice (positions 1 and 6), signaling that what follows is the grammatical object of the verb, not the subject.
• tidbak ("you will cleave", H1692) — qal imperfect, describing a durative or future action of clinging/attaching.
• tishavea ("you will swear oaths", H7650) — niphal imperfect; the niphal stem here carries the sense of swearing without a separate active qal form for this meaning in this verb.
• bishmo ("in his name", from H8034 + H9023) — construct noun with pronominal suffix "his," preceded by the preposition bi ("in"), marking the means or authority by which the oath is sworn.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain of four short clauses, each with the pattern object–verb rather than the more common verb–object order. This fronting occurs consistently: 'et-Yehovah 'eloheikha ("Yehovah your God") comes before tira ("you will fear"); 'oto ("him") comes before ta'avod ("you will serve"); bo ("in him") comes before tidbak ("you will cleave"); and bishmo ("in his name") comes before tishavea ("you will swear oaths"). This word order places grammatical emphasis on the object of each verb — Yehovah or what belongs to him — rather than on the action itself.

The four verbs are all imperfect in form, which in Biblical Hebrew can indicate ongoing, habitual, or future action, consistent with a set of standing instructions rather than a single event. The final verb, tishavea, is in the niphal stem, a detail the English glosses do not show; this stem is the form regularly used for this verb when it means "to swear," without necessarily implying a passive sense in this instance.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate adds soli ("only") in "ei soli servies" — "you will serve him only" — a qualifier not present in the Hebrew text or in the LXX. The LXX renders the third clause with κόλλη ("cling") governed by πρὸς αὐτὸν ("toward him"), where the Hebrew uses the preposition bo ("in/to him") with tidbak ("cleave").