Deuteronomy 16:11

Summary

The verse commands rejoicing "before Yehovah your God" at the place he will choose, listing the full household and community: sons, daughters, servants, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. It closes by identifying that place as the one where Yehovah causes his name to dwell.

Key words

• sa.mach.Ta ("you will rejoice", H8055) — qal sequential perfect, 2nd masc. singular, continuing the narrative sequence of commands begun earlier in the chapter; grammatically it functions as an instruction directed at the addressee (the male head of household), though the persons who must rejoice are listed afterward.
• li.f.Nei ("before/to the face of", H6440) — masculine plural construct noun with preposition li ("to", H9005), forming the idiom "before the face of," i.e. in the presence of.
• Yah.weh ("Yehovah", H3068) — divine name, here in construct relation with 'e.lo.Hei.kha ("your God", H0430 + H9021).
• ha.Ger ("the sojourner", H1616), ha.ya.Tom ("the fatherless one", H3490), ha.'al.ma.Nah ("the widow", H0490) — each definite masculine/feminine singular nouns, joined by repeated ve ("and", H9002), forming a list of dependent persons distinct from the household proper.
• yiv.Char ("he will choose", H0977) — qal imperfect, 3rd masc. singular, expressing an action not yet completed or habitual, referring to Yehovah's future/ongoing choice of the place.
• le.sha.Ken she.M-o ("to cause his name to dwell", H7931 + H8034) — piel infinitive construct with pronominal suffix "his," an intensive/causative verbal form indicating that the name is made to dwell, followed by the construct noun "name of him."

What the text says

The sentence opens with the sequential verb sa.mach.Ta ("you will rejoice", H8055) governed by the vav-conjunction that links it to prior commands in the chapter, then specifies the setting with li.f.Nei Yah.weh 'e.lo.Hei.kha ("before Yehovah your God"). The subject of the rejoicing is expanded through a chain of items joined by ve ("and", H9002): "you" ('a.Tah, H0859), son, daughter, male servant, female servant — each noun in construct form with the pronominal suffix -kha ("your", H9021), showing possession by the addressee. The list then shifts to persons not possessed by the addressee but associated with the community: "the Levite who is in your gates" (using the relative particle 'a.Sher, H0834, plus the preposition bi, H9003), "the sojourner," "the fatherless," and "the widow who is in your midst" — this last group introduced again by 'a.Sher with the preposition be, H9003, "in the midst of you" (be.kir.Be.kha, H7130).

The final clause names the location: "in the place that he will choose" ('a.Sher yiv.Char, using the imperfect H0977, indicating a future or repeated choosing) "Yehovah your God, to cause his name to dwell there" (le.sha.Ken she.mo Sham). The piel infinitive le.sha.Ken (H7931) carries a causative sense — the name is made to dwell, rather than dwelling on its own — followed by the construct noun "name of him" (she.mo, H8034 + H9023) and the adverb Sham ("there", H8033).

Differences between versions

The LXX reads ἐπικληθῆναι τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐκεῖ ("that his name be called there"), while the Hebrew le.sha.Ken she.mo Sham speaks of the name being caused "to dwell" there — a different verbal image (calling vs. dwelling). The Vulgate follows the Hebrew sense with "ut habitet nomen ejus ibi" ("that his name may dwell there"). The Vulgate also translates sa.mach.Ta (H8055, "you will rejoice") as "epulaberis" ("you shall feast"), narrowing the general sense of rejoicing to a specific act of feasting, which is not present in the Hebrew verb itself.