Deuteronomy 15:8

Summary

Deuteronomy 15:8 instructs that when a person is in need, one's hand must certainly be opened toward him, and a loan must certainly be given, corresponding to whatever he lacks. The verse uses two doubled Hebrew verb constructions to stress the certainty of the action described.

Key words

• patoach ("certainly ", H6605A) — infinitive absolute paired with the following verb to intensify the action, expressing certainty/emphasis rather than tense.
• tiftach ("you will open", H6605A) — qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular, the finite verb that the infinitive absolute reinforces.
• ha'avet ("certainly ", H5670) — hiphil (causative) infinitive absolute, paired with ta'avitennu to intensify the causative sense "cause to receive a loan."
• ta'avitennu ("you will lend to him", H5670) — hiphil imperfect with 3rd person masculine singular suffix "him," the finite causative verb reinforced by ha'avet.
• dei machsoro ("sufficiency of his lack", H1767 + H4270) — construct chain literally "sufficiency of his lack," an idiomatic way of expressing "enough to cover what he needs."

What the text says

The verse is built on two parallel emphatic constructions, each formed by an infinitive absolute followed by the same verb in the imperfect: patoach tiftach ("opening you will open," i.e., "you shall surely open") and ha'avet ta'avitennu ("lending you will lend," i.e., "you shall surely lend"). This doubling is a common Biblical Hebrew device that Hebrew grammar uses to mark certainty or insistence on the action, rather than adding new information about tense or aspect. The finite verbs themselves are qal imperfect (tiftach, "you will open") and hiphil imperfect (ta'avitennu, "you will lend," from a causative root meaning "to cause to borrow").

The object of the lending is expressed through the construct phrase dei machsoro ("sufficiency of his lack"), further specified by the relative clause asher yechsar lo ("which will be lacking to him"), using the qal imperfect yechsar ("it will be lacking," H2637). The construct chain plus relative clause together describe an amount defined by the recipient's actual deficiency, rather than a fixed measure.

Differences between versions

The LXX mirrors the Hebrew's doubling pattern with ἀνοίγων ἀνοίξεις ("opening you shall open") and δάνιον δανιεῖς ("a loan you shall loan"), preserving the emphatic repetition found in the Hebrew infinitive absolute constructions. The Vulgate, by contrast, renders both actions with single verbs — aperies ("you will open") and dabis mutuum ("you will give a loan") — without reproducing the doubled emphasis. Modern translations such as the BSB ("freely loan") and RV1909 ("liberalmente") attempt to capture this intensifying nuance through adverbs rather than verb repetition.