Deuteronomy 16:6

Summary

The verse restricts the sacrifice of the Passover to a single specific location: the place that Yehovah will choose to make his name dwell. It further specifies the timing of the sacrifice: in the evening, at sunset, at the time that corresponds to the exodus from Egypt.

Key words

• ki ("that", H3588B) + 'im ("except", H0518B) — together form the restrictive construction "except/only," excluding all other locations and setting up the sole legitimate site.
• yiv.Char ("he will choose", H0977) — qal imperfect, third person masculine; expresses a future/ongoing divine action, the choosing of the place, presented as not yet fixed to a named site in this verse.
• sha.Ken ("cause to dwell", H7931) — piel infinitive; the intensive stem indicates a caused action (to make dwell), attached to le- ("to"), forming a purpose clause: "to cause his name to dwell."
• tiz.Bach ("you will sacrifice", H2076) — qal imperfect, second person masculine singular; the addressee is directly commanded/described as the one who performs the sacrificial act.
• mo.'Ed ("the time of", H4150G) construct + tze.te-kha ("your coming out", H3318G with suffix H9041) — a construct chain meaning "the time of your going out," linking the evening sacrifice to the historical moment of departure from Egypt.

What the text says

The sentence opens with the double particle ki 'im (H3588B + H0518B), a restrictive formula meaning "except" or "only," which negates all alternative locations implied by a preceding context and isolates one permitted place: ha-maqom ("the place", H4725). This place is qualified by a relative clause introduced by 'asher (H0834A), "which," followed by yivchar (H0977), an imperfect verb form indicating that Yehovah's choice of place is expressed as a future or repeated action rather than a completed one. The purpose of that choice is given by the infinitive construction le-shaken shemo — literally "to cause his name to dwell" — where the piel stem of shaken (H7931) conveys a causative, intensified sense of dwelling, distinct from a plain "to dwell."

The main clause resumes with sham ("there", H8033G) resuming the location, followed by the second-person imperfect verb tizbach ("you will sacrifice", H2076), which addresses the reader/listener directly. The object is et-ha-Pesach (H0853 + H6453), "the Passover," marked with the untranslated direct object marker 'et. The timing is given twice, first generally as ba-'Arev ("in the evening", H6153) and then more precisely through the infinitive clause ke-vo ha-shemesh ("when the sun goes/comes", H0935K + H8121), meaning "as the sun sets." Finally, a construct chain mo'ed tze'tekha mi-Mitzrayim ("the appointed time of your going out from Egypt", H4150G + H3318G + H4714G) ties this evening timing to the time of the exodus, using a construct noun mo'ed ("time of") governing the infinitive-with-suffix tze'tekha ("your going out").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders mo'ed tze'tekha ("the time of your going out") with ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ᾧ ἐξῆλθες ("at the time when you went out"), shifting the Hebrew's construct-infinitive phrase into a relative clause with a finite verb. The Vulgate's quando egressus es ("when you went out") follows a similarly finite construction. The Hebrew ba-'Arev ("in the evening") and ke-vo ha-shemesh ("as the sun sets") appear in the LXX as ἑσπέρας πρὸς δυσμὰς ἡλίου, preserving both temporal expressions in sequence, as does the Vulgate's vespere ad solis occasum.