Deuteronomy 11:9

Summary

Deuteronomy 11:9 states the purpose clause connected to the preceding commandments: prolonging days on the land that Yehovah swore to give to the ancestors and their offspring, described as a land flowing with milk and honey.

Key words

• le.Ma.'an ("so that", H4616) — subordinating particle introducing a purpose clause; it links the verse to the preceding instructions as their intended result.
• ta.'a.Ri.khu ("you may prolong", H0748) — hiphil (causative) form, second person masculine plural; the causative stem indicates the subject causes the prolonging of days, rather than merely experiencing it.
• nish.Ba' ("he swore", H7650) — niphal perfect, third person masculine singular; the niphal stem here carries a reflexive/passive nuance associated with oath-taking, and the perfect aspect marks the swearing as a completed past action.
• za.Vat ("flowing of", H2100G) — qal participle, feminine singular construct; as a participle it describes an ongoing characteristic of the land ("flowing"), and the construct form links it directly to cha.Lav ("milk", H2461) and de.Vash ("honey", H1706).
• 'a.vo.tei.Khem ("your ancestors", H0001G + H9026) — plural construct noun with second-person masculine plural suffix, identifying whose ancestors received the oath.

What the text says

The verse opens with the conjunction u ("and", H9002) attached to le.Ma.'an ("so that", H4616), forming a purpose clause that depends grammatically on prior material not included in this verse. The hiphil verb ta.'a.Ri.khu ("you may prolong", H0748) is causative, addressed to a plural "you," meaning the days themselves are the object being extended — the grammatical subject causes the extension rather than simply enduring long days.

The relative clause beginning with 'a.Sher ("which", H0834A) modifies ha.'a.da.Mah ("the land", H9009+H0127G), specifying that this is the land Yehovah swore (nish.Ba', niphal perfect, H7650) to the ancestors ('a.vo.tei.Khem, H0001G+H9026). The infinitive la.Tet ("to give", H5414G) expresses the content of the oath — what Yehovah swore to do — directed toward two recipients marked by pronominal suffixes: la.Hem ("to them", H9038) and le.zar.'Am ("to their offspring", H2233H+H9028).

The final phrase, 'E.retz za.Vat cha.Lav u.de.Vash ("a land flowing of milk and honey"), uses the qal participle za.Vat ("flowing", H2100G) in construct with cha.Lav ("milk", H2461) and, joined by u ("and", H9002), with de.Vash ("honey", H1706). The participle form presents "flowing" as a continuous, characteristic feature of the land rather than a one-time event.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ta.'a.Ri.khu yamim ("you may prolong days") with the single compound verb μακροημερεύσητε ("you may live long"), collapsing the Hebrew's separate verb-plus-noun construction into one Greek verb. The Vulgate similarly renders it as multoque in ea vivatis tempore ("that you may live a long time in it"), also merging the phrase into a temporal expression rather than preserving the Hebrew's causative "prolong days" structure.