Deuteronomy 12:9

Summary

The verse states that the people addressed have not yet, up to that moment, entered "the resting place" and "the inheritance" that Yehovah their God is giving them. It uses a negated perfect verb combined with a temporal marker to stress that entry has not yet occurred, even though the process of giving is already underway.

Key words

• ba'tem ("you have come", H0935) — qal perfect, 2nd person masculine plural; a completed-aspect verb here negated by lo' (H3808), producing "you have not come," marking non-entry as a settled fact up to the reference point.
• 'ad-'attah ("until now", H5704 + H6258) — preposition + adverb forming a temporal boundary phrase, anchoring the negated verb to a specific moment ("now") rather than describing an eternal state.
• menuchah ("resting place", H4496) — feminine singular noun with definite article; names a specific, singular destination rather than a general concept of rest.
• nachalah ("inheritance", H5159) — feminine singular noun with definite article, paired with menuchah through the conjunction ve (H9002), presenting two distinct but linked destinations.
• noten ("is about to give / giving", H5414) — qal participle, masculine singular; participles express ongoing or imminent action, so the giving is presented as a continuing/near process rather than a single completed event.

What the text says

The sentence is built on a causal/explanatory particle ki ("for", H3588A) that connects this verse to what precedes it, explaining a prior statement. The core clause negates the perfect verb ba'tem: the perfect aspect normally marks completed action, but negation plus the temporal phrase 'ad-'attah narrows the claim to "not yet, up to this point," rather than "never." Two objects follow, both introduced by the preposition 'el ("to", H0413) and both marked with the definite article: ha-menuchah and ha-nachalah. Their coordination with ve presents them as two named targets of the same movement, not as synonyms explained by each other.

The relative clause 'asher Yehovah 'Eloheikha noten lakh ("which Yehovah your God is giving to you") modifies "the inheritance" (and by extension the pairing with "resting place"). The participle noten keeps the giving in a durative or imminent frame, distinct from a completed grant — the Hebrew grammar presents the giving as a process rather than a finished act, even while the receiving (movement into the land) is still pending.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew uses second-person singular suffixes throughout: 'Eloheikha ("your God", singular -kha) and lakh ("to you", singular). The LXX reads Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν ("the LORD our God"), replacing "your" with "our," and ὑμῖν ("to you," plural) at the end. The Vulgate has Dominus Deus vester ("the Lord your God," plural vester) and vobis ("to you," plural). Both LXX and Vulgate thus render the address in plural forms and diverge from each other on "your" versus "our," while the Hebrew consistently marks singular address.