Deuteronomy 16:12

Summary

The verse instructs the addressee to remember having been a slave in Egypt, and connects that memory to the obligation of keeping and performing "these statutes." The three verbs form a chain: remembering leads to guarding and doing.

Key words

• Za.khar.ta ("you will remember", H2142) — qal sequential perfect, continuing a chain of instructions; the sequential form links this act to what precedes in the passage.
• 'E.ved ("a slave", H5650) — masculine singular noun, used as a predicate describing the past status of the addressee.
• ha.Yi.ta ("you were", H1961) — qal perfect (completed action), marking the slavery as a finished past state, distinct from the ongoing sequential verbs that follow.
• sha.mar.Ta ("you will take care", H8104J) — qal sequential perfect, the second link in the verb chain, denoting careful observance.
• 'a.Si.ta ("you will observe", H6213A) — qal sequential perfect, the third link, denoting active performance.
• chu.Kim ("statutes", H2706G) — masculine plural noun, definite (marked by ha., H9009 and object marker 'et-, H0853), the object of the guarding/doing.

What the text says

The verse opens with a narrative vav (ve., H9001) attached to Za.khar.ta, forming a sequential perfect that continues a chain of commands from the preceding context. This is followed by a subordinating particle ki- ("that", H3588A) introducing the content of what is to be remembered: the clause 'E.ved ha.Yi.ta be.mitz.Ra.yim — "a slave you were in Egypt." Here the verb ha.Yi.ta is a simple perfect, not a sequential form, marking it as a distinct, completed background fact rather than part of the ongoing sequence.

After this subordinate clause, the text resumes the sequential chain with two more narrative-vav perfects: sha.mar.Ta ("you will take care") and 'a.Si.ta ("you will observe"). These three sequential perfects (Za.khar.ta, sha.mar.Ta, 'a.Si.ta) form a linked series of actions presented as consequences or continuations of one another — remembering, then guarding, then doing. The object of the final two verbs is marked by 'et- (H0853), the untranslated direct object marker, followed by the definite noun phrase ha.chu.Kim ha.'E.leh — "these statutes" — where the article ha. (H9009) appears twice, once on the noun and once implied with the demonstrative 'E.leh ("these", H0428), tying the statutes explicitly to a demonstrative reference.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'E.ved ("a slave") with οἰκέτης ("household servant/domestic"), a narrower term than the Hebrew's general word for slave. The Vulgate uses servus ("slave"), closer to the Hebrew sense. The LXX and Vulgate both render the Hebrew singular "slave" as singular ("servant/slave"), while the BSB translation renders it as plural ("slaves"), diverging from the Hebrew singular 'E.ved.