Deuteronomy 11:32

Summary

This verse instructs the audience to carefully observe all the statutes and judgments that are being set before them on that day. It closes a section of address, marking the transition point where legal material is about to follow.

Key words

• she.mar.Tem ("you will take care", H8104J) — qal sequential perfect, 2nd masculine plural; continues a chain of previous commands with a future/consequential sense ("and you shall keep").
• chu.Kim ("statutes", H2706G) — masculine plural noun, definite via the preceding article ha (H9009); refers to a category of enactments distinct from mishpatim.
• mish.pa.Tim ("judgments", H4941G) — masculine plural noun, also definite, paired with chuqqim by the conjunction ve (H9002) to form a two-part legal category.
• no.Ten ("[am] setting", H5414H) — qal participle, masculine singular; expresses an ongoing action ("the one giving/setting"), attached to the first-person pronoun 'a.no.Khi ("I", H0595) for emphasis.
• ha.Yom ("this day", H3117G + H9009) — definite noun marking the temporal reference point of the giving described by the participle.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative vav u (H9001) attached to she.mar.Tem, linking it as a continuation of prior instructions rather than a standalone command. The verb form is a sequential perfect, which in this narrative chain functions with future or obligatory force — "and you shall keep." This is followed by the infinitive la'asot ("to observe", H6213A) with the preposition la (H9005), forming a purpose construction: "keep in order to do."

The object of this keeping is introduced twice by the untranslated direct object marker 'et (H0853), once before kol-hachuqqim ("all the statutes") and once before hamishpatim ("the judgments"). The construct form kol (H3605) governs the following definite noun hachuqqim, producing "all of the statutes." The two nouns chuqqim and mishpatim are joined by ve (H9002), presenting them as a paired category, both marked with the definite article ha (H9009).

The relative clause 'asher 'anokhi noten ("which I am setting", H0834A + H0595 + H5414H) uses the participle noten, which denotes an action in progress rather than a completed one — the giving is presented as happening at the time of speaking. This is reinforced by lifnei-khem ("before you", H6440G + H9026), a construct noun with pronominal suffix meaning literally "to the face of you," and by hayom ("this day", H3117G), the definite noun marking the moment as the immediate present of the speech.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders chuqqim ("statutes") with the addition of a possessive, "τὰ προστάγματα αὐτοῦ" ("his ordinances"), where the Hebrew has no possessive pronoun on hachuqqim. The LXX also adds "ταύτας" ("these") before "κρίσεις" ("judgments"), a demonstrative not present in the Hebrew text's hamishpatim. The Vulgate renders the two paired nouns as "cæremonias atque judicia" ("ceremonies and judgments"), where "cæremonias" broadens or shifts the sense of chuqqim ("statutes") compared to the Hebrew term itself.