Deuteronomy 17:19

Summary

The verse describes what the king must do with his personal copy of the law: keep it with him and read from it every day of his life, so that he learns to fear Yehovah his God and to keep and perform all the words of the law and its statutes.

Key words

• hayetah ("it will be", H1961) — qal sequential perfect; continues the narrative chain from the previous verse, referring back to the scroll of the law.
• qara ("he will read", H7121J) — qal sequential perfect; the king himself is the subject, continuing the same narrative sequence as hayetah.
• lema'an ("so that", H4616) — subordinating particle introducing the purpose clause that follows.
• yilmad ("he may learn", H3925H) — qal jussive; expresses the intended result of the reading, "let him learn."
• la'asotam ("to do them", H6213A) — infinitive construct with 3rd person plural suffix, closing a three-part infinitive chain (le-yir'ah, "to fear"; lishmor, "to keep"; la'asotam, "to do them") that expresses the successive goals of the king's learning.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence continues a narrative sequence begun earlier (marked by the vav-consecutive on hayetah and qara), describing the scroll of the law as remaining with the king and being read by him "all the days of his life" (kol yemei chayyav, H3605/H3117G/H2416E, all construct forms building a genitive chain "all the days of his life"). The purpose of this reading is introduced by lema'an and expressed through a jussive verb, yilmad ("he may learn"), followed by three coordinated infinitives: le-yir'ah ("to fear"), lishmor ("to keep"), and la'asotam ("to do them"). This infinitive chain lays out a progression — fearing Yehovah, keeping the words of the law, and performing the statutes — all governed by the single verb of learning. The object of fear is marked explicitly with the direct object particle 'et before Yehovah 'Elohav ("Yehovah his God"), and the object of keeping is marked the same way before kol divrei ha-Torah ha-zot ("all the words of this law") and ha-chuqqim ha-'elleh ("these statutes").

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) contains both ἀναγνώσεται ("he will read") and γνώσεται ("he will know"), a doubling not present in the Hebrew, which has only qara ("he will read", H7121J). The LXX also renders "your God" (σου) where the Hebrew has 'Elohav ("his God", H0430G with 3rd person suffix), shifting the grammatical person. The Vulgate renders chuqqim ("statutes", H2706G) as "cæremonias" ("ceremonies") and restructures the final clause as "quæ in lege præcepta sunt" ("which are commanded in the law"), differing from the Hebrew's parallel infinitive construction lishmor... la'asotam.