Deuteronomy 12:13

Summary

Deuteronomy 12:13 warns the addressee to be careful not to offer burnt offerings in any place he might choose at will. The verse uses a reflexive warning verb followed by a negative purpose clause restricting where such offerings may be brought.

Key words

• hiShamer ("take heed", H8104J) — niphal imperative, giving the verse its warning tone; the niphal stem frames the action as something the subject must guard against happening to himself.
• ta'aLeh ("you should offer up", H5927I) — hiphil imperfect, causative form meaning literally "cause to go up," the standard verb for presenting an offering on an altar.
• 'oloTeikha ("your burnt offerings", H5930A) — feminine plural noun in construct with the 2nd person suffix, naming the specific offering type ('olah, that which "goes up" in smoke) belonging to the addressee.
• makom ("place", H4725) — masculine singular noun in construct with the following relative clause, denoting an unspecified location.
• tir'Eh ("you will see", H7200G) — qal imperfect, describing an act of personal choice or perception, here determining which "place" is meant.

What the text says

The verse opens with hiShamer lekha ("take heed to yourself"), a niphal imperative with the added dative-like preposition le ("to") plus the suffix kha ("you," masculine), reinforcing the reflexive nuance already present in the niphal stem — the warning is directed inward, at the addressee's own conduct. This is followed by pen ("lest," H6435), a subordinating particle introducing a negative purpose or result clause: the imperative "take heed" governs what must not happen, namely, ta'aleh 'olotekha ("you should offer up your burnt offerings"). The verb ta'aleh is hiphil imperfect, causative in force — the offerer causes the offering to "go up," matching the etymology of 'olah itself, which comes from the same root (H5927/H5930) meaning "to ascend."

The restriction is spatial: bekhol-makom 'asher tir'eh ("in every place that you will see"). Here khol ("every/all," H3605) construct with makom ("place," H4725) creates the phrase "any place," and the relative clause 'asher tir'eh ("which you will see") uses a qal imperfect of ra'ah ("to see," H7200G), denoting an act of personal choice — the place selected by the offerer's own sight or judgment, as opposed to a place designated through another means. The grammar thus sets up a contrast between offerings performed at any self-selected location and some other, unstated criterion for a proper location, which is not specified within this verse itself.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders tir'eh ("you will see") as ἴδῃς ("you might see"), preserving the visual/perceptual sense. The Vulgate's quem videris ("which you will have seen") likewise keeps the verb of sight. The Spanish RV1909 and SBLIBRE render bekhol-makom as "en cualquier lugar" / "en todos los lugares," both conveying "every/any place," consistent with the Hebrew construct phrase kol-makom.