Deuteronomy 12:19

Summary

Deuteronomy 12:19 commands the addressee to be careful not to neglect the Levite. The obligation is defined temporally ("all your days") and spatially ("upon your land").

Key words

• hi.Sha.mer ("take heed", H8104J) — niphal imperative, giving the verse its reflexive-passive force: literally "guard yourself," directing the warning inward toward the listener's own vigilance.
• ta.'a.Zo ("you should neglect", H5800H) — qal imperfect, following the particle pen ("lest", H6435); the imperfect aspect marks a potential future action to be avoided rather than a completed one.
• ha.le.Vi ("the Levite", H3881+H9009) — definite singular gentilic, marked with the direct object marker 'et (H0853), identifying the specific group toward whom the action (or its avoidance) is directed.
• kol-ya.Mei.kha ("all your days", H3605+H3117K+H9021) — construct chain "all of the days of you," expressing temporal totality across the addressee's lifetime.
• 'al-'ad.ma.Te.kha ("on your land", H5921A+H0127G+H9021) — construct noun with possessive suffix, anchoring the temporal clause to a specific territorial context.

What the text says

The verse opens with a niphal imperative, hi.Sha.mer ("take heed", H8104J), combined with the reflexive dative le.kha ("to yourself", H9005+H9031). This construction turns the command inward: the addressee is told to watch over his own conduct, not merely to observe an external rule. The niphal stem itself is passive/reflexive in form, contributing the sense of self-guarding rather than a direct transitive command.

The core prohibition is introduced by pen ("lest", H6435), a subordinating particle that frames the following verb as an outcome to be prevented. The verb ta.'a.Zo ("you should neglect", H5800H) is qal imperfect, denoting an action viewed as ongoing or potential rather than a single completed event — the warning covers not just one instance of neglect but any recurring failure to attend to the Levite over time. The object of this verb, ha.le.Vi ("the Levite", H3881), is marked as definite and singular, referring to the Levite as a representative category rather than one specific individual, though grammatically singular.

The final two phrases, kol-ya.Mei.kha ("all your days", H3605+H3117K+H9021) and 'al-'ad.ma.Te.kha ("on your land", H5921A+H0127G+H9021), are both construct chains with second-person masculine singular suffixes. They bound the command temporally and spatially: the obligation not to neglect the Levite extends across the whole of the addressee's lifetime and is situated specifically "upon your land" — a phrase that ties the instruction to residence in a defined territory.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ha.le.Vi ("the Levite") with the plural τὸν Λευείτην in Greek is actually singular (τὸν Λευείτην), matching the Hebrew singular. The Vulgate similarly uses "Levitem" (singular). Modern translations such as BSB render this as plural "the Levites," generalizing the singular gentilic noun into a collective English plural, a shift not present in the Hebrew, LXX, or Vulgate wording.