Deuteronomy 15:10

Summary

Deuteronomy 15:10 instructs that giving to the needy must be done without emotional resistance, and states that Yehovah will bless the giver's work and undertakings specifically because of this act of giving.

Key words

• naton ("certainly ", H5414G) — absolute infinitive paired with the following imperfect verb to intensify the command, producing an emphatic "you shall surely give."
• titTen ("you will give", H5414G) — qal imperfect, second person masculine, forming the emphatic construction with naton.
• yeRa' ("it will sadden", H7489A) — qal imperfect, third person masculine, with lo ("not", H3808) negating any grief of the levav ("heart", H3824).
• begelal ("on account of", from gelal, H1558) — construct noun forming a causal phrase with hadDavar hazZeh ("this thing", H1697M + H2088), marking the reason for the blessing.
• yevarekheKha ("he will bless you", H1288) — piel imperfect, third person masculine, intensive stem denoting the action of blessing performed by Yehovah (H3068G).

What the text says

The verse opens with the construction naton titTen — an infinitive absolute followed by the finite imperfect of the same root H5414G ("to give"). This doubling is a common Biblical Hebrew device that intensifies or emphasizes the verb, here producing something like "you shall certainly give" rather than a simple future statement. The clause continues with a negated imperfect, ve-lo yeRa' levavekha ("and your heart will not be sad"), where levav ("heart", H3824) functions as the grammatical subject of "be sad" (H7489A) — the heart itself is depicted as the one that could become grieved, rather than the person directly.

The second half of the verse is introduced by ki (H3588A), functioning here as a causal connector ("for" or "because"), followed by the phrase biglal hadDavar hazZeh — literally "on account of this thing/matter" — using the construct noun gelal (H1558) to mark cause. This phrase sets up the result clause: yevarekhekha Yehovah Eloheikha ("Yehovah your God will bless you"), where the verb yevarekh (H1288) is in the piel stem, an intensive verbal pattern used for the act of blessing. The blessing is then specified as extending be-khol ma'asekha ("in all your work", H4639G) and be-khol mishlach yadekha ("in every undertaking of your hand", H4916A + H3027U), both construct chains that describe the scope of the blessing as covering the totality of the person's activity and labor.

Differences between versions

The LXX expands the verse considerably, adding phrases such as "ὅσον ἐπιδέεται, καθότι ἐνδεεῖται" ("as much as he needs, according to what he lacks"), which have no corresponding words in the Hebrew text provided. The Vulgate renders the causal clause differently, using "ut benedicat" ("so that he may bless") rather than expressing a direct causal statement of "because," and phrases the scope of blessing as "in omni tempore" ("at all times") rather than corresponding to the Hebrew "in all your work."