Deuteronomy 11:12

Summary

Deuteronomy 11:12 describes the land as one that Yehovah your God actively attends to, watching over it continuously — "the eyes of Yehovah" remain on it from the start of the year to its end. The verse uses eye imagery to express sustained divine attention toward the land in a way that spans the entire agricultural/annual cycle.

Key words

• do.Resh ("[is] caring for", H1875) — Qal participle, masculine singular. The participle form indicates an ongoing, habitual action rather than a single completed act — "the one who cares for" describes a continuous state, not a past event.
• ta.Mid ("continually", H8548) — a noun functioning adverbially, reinforcing the durative sense already carried by the participle do.Resh. It intensifies the idea of an unbroken action.
• 'ei.Nei ("[the] eyes of", H5869A) — feminine dual construct. The dual form specifically marks "two eyes," and the construct links it to Yehovah — "the eyes of Yehovah."
• re.Shit ("[the] beginning of", H7225G) — feminine singular construct, paired with 'a.cha.Rit ("[the] end of", H0319) to form a merism (beginning...end) expressing totality across the year.
• 'o.Ta + h (" + it/her", H0853 + H9034) — the direct object marker with pronominal suffix confirms that "the land" ('E.retz, feminine) is the grammatical object being cared for.

What the text says

The sentence opens with 'E.retz ("a land", H0776G), introduced by the relative particle 'a.Sher- ("which", H0834A), establishing the land as the subject under discussion, further specified by a relative clause. Within that clause, Yehovah 'e.lo.Hei-kha ("Yehovah your God") functions as the subject of the participle do.Resh, with 'o.Ta-h as its direct object ("it," referring back to the feminine noun 'E.retz). The use of a participle rather than a finite verb conveys an ongoing characteristic of the land, not a one-time event — this is a land habitually attended to.

The second clause restates and intensifies this idea with different grammar: 'ei.Nei Yehovah 'e.lo.Hei-kha ("the eyes of Yehovah your God") stands as subject, followed by the prepositional phrase bah ("in the / on it," H9003 + H9034), specifying location. The dual form of 'ei.Nei is grammatically fixed (eyes naturally occur in pairs) but visually reinforces the image of active watching. The temporal scope is marked by the construct pair me-re.Shit ha-sha.Nah ("from the beginning of the year") and ve-'ad 'a.cha.Rit sha.Nah ("and until the end of a year"), using the prepositions me- ("from", H9006) and 'ad ("until", H5704) to bracket the entire annual cycle as a merism indicating totality.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders do.Resh ("caring for") with ἐπισκοπεῖται ("watches over/inspects"), a term carrying oversight connotations distinct from the Hebrew's more general "seeking/caring" root. The Vulgate's invisit ("visits/looks upon") similarly shifts the semantic focus toward visitation rather than the Hebrew's broader sense of attentive care. Where the Hebrew repeats Yehovah 'e.lo.Hei-kha in full in both clauses, the Vulgate uses the pronoun illius ("his") in the second clause instead of repeating the divine name and title.