Deuteronomy 11:27

Summary

The verse defines the "blessing" mentioned in the preceding context as conditional: it depends on the people obeying the commandments of Yehovah their God, which Moses states he is giving them "this day." The verse is structured as a relative clause qualifying "the blessing" already introduced.

Key words

• berakhah ("blessing", H1293) — feminine singular noun, definite by the article ha (H9009), the object being defined by the relative clause that follows.
• tishme'u ("you will obey", H8085H) — qal imperfect, second person masculine plural; the imperfect aspect marks ongoing or future obedience, not a completed act.
• mitzvot ("commandments of", H4687) — feminine plural construct noun, grammatically bound to Yehovah 'Elohei-khem ("Yehovah your God"), forming a construct chain "commandments of Yehovah your God."
• 'anokhi ("I", H0595) — independent personal pronoun preceding the participle, adding emphasis to the subject performing the action.
• metzavveh ("commanding", H6680) — piel participle, masculine singular; the participle expresses an action presented as ongoing at the moment of speaking ("am commanding"), reinforced by hayom ("this day", H3117G).

What the text says

The verse opens with the direct object marker 'et (H0853) attached to ha-berakhah ("the blessing", H1293), showing that "the blessing" is the grammatical object carried over from the previous verse's structure. This object is then qualified by a relative clause introduced by 'asher ("that", H0834A): "that you will obey (tishme'u, H8085H) the commandments of (mitzvot, H4687) Yehovah your God (Yehovah 'Elohei-khem, H3068G/H0430G)." The imperfect verb form tishme'u does not mark a single completed act but an ongoing or repeated condition — obedience as a continuing state tied to receiving the blessing.

A second relative clause, also introduced by 'asher (H0834A), further specifies which commandments: those that Moses himself is issuing. Here the independent pronoun 'anokhi ("I", H0595) precedes the piel participle metzavveh ("commanding", H6680), a construction that places emphasis on the speaker's identity as the one commanding. The participle form conveys an action in progress, reinforced by hayom ("this day", H3117G) — the commanding is presented as happening at the very moment of speech, not as a past or completed decree.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the conditional relative clause with ἐάν ("if") plus subjunctive (ἀκούσητε), making the conditional sense explicit, whereas the Hebrew uses a relative particle 'asher (H0834A) with an imperfect verb, which carries a similar conditional nuance but without a dedicated conjunction for "if." The Vulgate follows the LXX pattern with si obedieritis ("if you shall have obeyed"), also supplying an explicit conditional marker not present as a separate word in the Hebrew text.