Deuteronomy 11:21

Summary

The verse states the purpose of the preceding commandments: that the days of the addressees and their children may increase on the land which Yehovah swore to their ancestors to give them. The duration of this increase is compared to "the days of the heavens over the earth."

Key words

• le.Ma'an ("so that", H4616) — a subordinating particle introducing the purpose clause governing the rest of the verse; it links this verse to what precedes it as a stated goal.
• yir.Bu ("they may increase", H7235A) — qal jussive, third person masculine plural; the jussive form expresses a wish or intended result rather than a simple future statement.
• nish.Ba' ("he swore", H7650) — niphal perfect, third person masculine singular; the niphal stem here carries a reflexive/passive-oath sense ("swore himself"), and the perfect aspect marks the oath as a completed past action.
• 'a.da.Mah ("land", H0127G) — feminine singular noun with the definite article (ha-, H9009) attached, specifying "the land" as a particular referent rather than land in general.
• sha.Ma.yim ("heavens", H8064) — masculine plural noun, used in the closing comparative clause ki.mei ha.sha.Ma.yim ("like the days of the heavens").

What the text says

The clause structure is built around the purpose particle le.Ma'an (H4616), which sets up a subordinate clause explaining why the preceding instructions matter. Within this clause, the verb yir.Bu (H7235A) is jussive, a form used for wishes, intentions, or purposed outcomes — grammatically distinct from a plain future indicative. Its subject is compound: yemei-Khem ("your days", H3117G + H9026) and vi.mei ve.nei-Khem ("and the days of your sons", H3117G + H1121A + H9026), both construct-form plural nouns meaning "days of X."

The location is marked by 'al ha-'a.da.Mah ("upon the land," H5921A + H0127G with the definite article), followed by a relative clause introduced by 'a.sher (H0834A, "which") that specifies this land as the one nish.Ba' (H7650) — Yehovah "swore" — to the ancestors ('a.vo.tei-Khem, H0001G + H9026). The niphal perfect of nish.Ba' frames the oath as a completed, prior act on which the present promise depends. The infinitive La.tet ("to give", H5414G) expresses the content of the oath — that Yehovah swore to give the land.

The final comparative clause, ki.mei ha.sha.Ma.yim 'al ha-'A.retz ("like the days of the heavens over/above the earth," H3117G + H8064 + H5921A + H0776G), uses the construct "days of the heavens" as a duration standard against which the increase of human days is measured.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the second-person plural pronominal suffixes (Khem, H9026) attached to "days" as second-person singular in the opening phrase (μακροημερευσητε, "you may live long"), while the Hebrew consistently uses plural forms (yemei-Khem, "your days," referring to a plural "you"). The Vulgate similarly shifts to singular ("dies tui," "your day") for the first occurrence, then reverts to plural for "filiorum tuorum" ("of your sons"), producing a mixed number pattern not present in the Hebrew, which maintains plural addressees throughout.