Deuteronomy 15:6

Summary

The verse states that Yehovah's blessing (already accomplished) becomes the basis for Israel's future economic and political superiority: Israel will lend to nations but not need to borrow, and will rule over nations without being ruled. The sentence is built as a conditional/causal clause followed by a chain of consequences.

Key words

• ki ("for", H3588A) — introduces the clause as either a condition ("if") or a cause ("because"); the ambiguity of this particle shapes how the whole verse is read as promise or premise.
• berakh ("he has blessed", H1288) — piel perfect, marking the blessing as a completed, intensive action already granted by Yehovah.
• ha'avatta ("you will lend to", H5670) — hiphil (causative) sequential perfect; the causative stem makes Israel the cause of lending (making others borrow), continuing the narrative sequence begun by berakh.
• ta'avot ("you will borrow", H5670) — same root as ha'avatta, but in qal (simple) imperfect; the stem shift from hiphil to qal marks the contrast between causing others to borrow and Israel itself borrowing.
• yimsholu ("they will rule", H4910) — qal imperfect, mirroring mashalta ("you will rule", also H4910) to create a symmetrical contrast between Israel ruling and others ruling.

What the text says

The verse opens with ki (H3588A) governing a perfect-tense clause, Yehovah 'eloheikha berakhkha ("Yehovah your God has blessed you"), which sets up either a condition or a rationale for what follows. The comparative clause ka'asher dibber lakh ("as he spoke to you") ties the blessing to a prior divine statement. The consequence is expressed through two sequential perfects (ha'avatta, mashalta), each paired with a qal imperfect negated by lo' (H3808): ve'attah lo ta'avot and uvekha lo yimsholu. The Hebrew text uses the same verbal root twice in each pair (H5670 for lending/borrowing, H4910 for ruling/being ruled), shifting only the stem (hiphil vs. qal) or the grammatical subject, producing a tight structural symmetry that is harder to preserve in translation.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ki (H3588A) as ὅτι ("because"), favoring a causal reading over a conditional one. The Vulgate text supplied omits the opening clause about Yehovah's blessing and the comparative ka'asher dibber lakh entirely, beginning directly with "Foenerabis gentibus multis," suggesting a different verse division in that tradition. The LXX also uses two distinct Greek verb roots (δανι- for lending/borrowing, ἄρχ- for ruling) where the Hebrew repeats a single root in each pair (H5670, H4910), so the wordplay visible in Hebrew is not reproduced in Greek.