Deuteronomy 12:18

Summary

Deuteronomy 12:18 instructs that certain offerings must be eaten "before Yehovah" (lifnei Yehovah), specifically at the place Yehovah will choose, and lists who participates in this meal: the household head, his children, servants, and the local Levite. The verse closes with a command to rejoice before Yehovah in connection with "every undertaking of your hand."

Key words

• lifnei (from panim, H6440G) "before/face of" — construct plural noun forming a fixed idiom meaning "in the presence of," used twice to frame the passage (eating and rejoicing both occur in this location).
• yivchar ("he will choose", H0977) — qal imperfect, marking a future/ongoing divine action; the place is not fixed by the speaker but by Yehovah's selection.
• to'khelennu ("you will eat it", H0398 + H9033) — qal imperfect with 3ms suffix "it," indicating the object (the sacrificial portion mentioned earlier in context) that must be consumed at the chosen site.
• sama'chta ("you will rejoice", H8055) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain of commands; the vav here is a narrative/sequential vav (H9001) rather than simple "and."
• mishlach yadekha ("undertaking of your hand", H4916A + H3027U) — construct chain literally "the sending-out of your hand," an idiom for one's labor or activity, governed by bekhol ("in every", H3605).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the double particle ki 'im (H3588B + H0518B), a conditional/restrictive construction meaning "except" or "but rather," which signals a contrast with a preceding negative statement not included in this verse's word list. This construction sets up an exclusive condition: the eating must happen lifnei Yehovah 'eloheikha ("before Yehovah your God"), not elsewhere.

The verb to'khelennu carries a 3ms object suffix -nu ("it"), pointing back to something already specified earlier in the chapter. The location is further defined by a relative clause: bamakom 'asher yivchar Yehovah 'eloheikha bo ("in the place which Yehovah your God will choose in it"), where the imperfect yivchar expresses an action pending from Yehovah's decision. The participant list — "you, your son, your daughter, your servant, your female servant, and the Levite who is in your gates" — is joined by simple conjunctions (vav, H9002), each figure in construct with the second-person suffix -kha, showing they belong to the addressee's household or jurisdiction.

The final clause shifts verb form: sama'chta is a sequential perfect (introduced by the narrative vav, H9001), continuing the sequence of instructions rather than being a separate coordinated action. The rejoicing is likewise located lifnei Yehovah 'eloheikha and extended bekhol mishlach yadekha — "in every undertaking of your hand," a construct chain idiomatically referring to the person's activities or labor.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) renders the divine name as "Τυρίου" ("kyriou," i.e., "Lord") rather than a transliteration, consistent with its general practice for the tetragrammaton. Where the Hebrew lists "the Levite who is in your gates" (halevi 'asher bish'areikha), the LXX reads "ὁ προσήλυτος ὁ ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν ὑμῶν" ("the resident alien who is in your cities"), differing from the Hebrew's specific reference to the Levite and using "cities" (plural, second person plural pronoun) instead of "gates" (second person singular). The Vulgate follows the Hebrew more closely with "Levites qui manet in urbibus tuis" ("the Levite who dwells in your cities"), matching the Hebrew's referent (Levite) but rendering she'areikha ("your gates") as "urbibus tuis" ("your cities").