Deuteronomy 11:7

Summary

The verse addresses the audience directly, asserting that they themselves witnessed with their own eyes the entirety of Yehovah's great deed(s). It functions as the basis (introduced by ki) for exhortations surrounding it, appealing to firsthand experience rather than report.

Key words

• ki ("for", H3588A) — subordinating particle that frames the whole verse as a reason or ground for what precedes/follows in the passage.
• 'eineikhem ("your eyes", H5869A + H9026) — feminine dual noun with 2nd person masculine plural suffix; the dual form specifically marks "eyes" as a natural pair, and the suffix makes the seeing personal and collective ("you" as a group).
• ha-ro'ot ("the ones seeing/that saw", H7200G) — qal participle, feminine plural, matching 'eineikhem in gender/number; functions as a substantive predicate rather than a finite verb.
• ma'aseh ("work of", H4639G) — masculine singular construct noun, governed by kol ("all of"), forming the phrase "all the work of Yehovah" as a single collective object.
• asher asah ("which he did", H0834A + H6213A) — relative particle plus qal perfect verb, closing the noun phrase with a completed-action clause modifying "the great work."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence has no finite main verb for "saw." Instead, it uses a nominal (participial) construction: 'eineikhem ha-ro'ot literally reads "your eyes, the ones-seeing," meaning "your eyes are the seeing ones" or "it is your eyes that see/saw." This construction places emphasis on the eyes themselves as the acting subject, foregrounding direct personal witness rather than simply reporting a past event with a normal past-tense verb.

The object is kol-ma'aseh Yehovah ha-gadol, "all the work of Yehovah, the great one" — a construct chain where ma'aseh ("work") is singular, treating Yehovah's actions as one unified deed rather than a list of separate acts. The adjective ha-gadol ("the great") carries the definite article, agreeing with the definiteness that the construct chain receives from the proper name Yehovah (H3068G). The final clause, asher asah ("which he did"), uses the qal perfect to mark the action as completed, tying the entire noun phrase to a finished, historical deed.

Differences between versions

The LXX (ἑώρακαν, "have seen") and Vulgate (viderunt, "saw") both render the Hebrew participial construction ha-ro'ot with an ordinary finite past-tense verb, obscuring the emphatic "your eyes are the seers" nuance of the Hebrew. The LXX also pluralizes the object as panta ta erga ("all the works"), whereas the Hebrew kol-ma'aseh keeps "work" singular, treating Yehovah's acts as one collective deed. The LXX additionally adds "to you today" (ὑμῖν σήμερον), a phrase not present in the Hebrew text as given.