Deuteronomy 17:9

Summary

The verse instructs the addressee to go to the levitical priests and to the judge in office at that time, to inquire, and states that they will declare to him "the word of the verdict." It describes a procedure of consultation with a judicial/priestly authority for obtaining a ruling.

Key words

• va.Ta ("you will go", H0935G) — qal sequential perfect, continuing a chain of instructions begun earlier in the passage; expresses an action that follows logically/temporally from what precedes.
• ko.ha.Nim ("priests", H3548) — masculine plural noun, in construct-like apposition with ha.l.vi.Yim ("the Levites", H3881), identifying the priests by their levitical lineage.
• sho.Fet ("judge", H8199) — qal participle, masculine singular, literally "the one judging," used substantivally as "the judge."
• da.rash.Ta ("you will enquire", H1875) — qal sequential perfect, same chain form as va.Ta, marking the act of inquiry as the next step in sequence.
• de.Var ha.mish.Pat ("word of the verdict", H1697J + H4941G) — construct phrase: de.Var ("word of") governs ha.mish.Pat ("the verdict"), forming a compound expression, "the word/matter of the judgment."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain of sequential perfects (va.Ta, da.rash.Ta, hi.Gi.du) linked by the narrative vav (H9001/H9002), a construction that presents each verb as following the previous one in a continuous procedural sequence: "and you will go... and you will enquire... and they will tell." This chaining structure gives the verse the sense of a step-by-step legal procedure rather than isolated commands.

The object of the journey is двойной: ha.ko.ha.Nim ha.l.vi.Yim ("the priests, the Levites") and ha.sho.Fet ("the judge"), joined by ve'el ("and to", H9002+H0413), indicating two distinct authorities addressed together. The judge is further specified by a relative clause, 'a.Sher yih.Yeh ba.ya.Mim ha.Hem ("who will be in those days"), using the qal imperfect yih.Yeh (H1961) to denote whoever holds that office at the relevant time, without naming a specific individual.

The final clause uses the hiphil verb hi.Gi.du ("they will tell", H5046), a causative form indicating that the priests and judge cause information to be made known to the addressee (le.Kha, "to you", H9005+H9031). The direct object is marked by 'et (H0853) before the construct phrase de.Var ha.mish.Pat, literally "the word of the verdict," describing what is communicated as the substance of the judicial decision.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders ko.ha.Nim ha.l.vi.Yim as "sacerdotes Levitici generis" ("priests of Levitical lineage"), spelling out the genealogical relation explicitly, whereas the Hebrew places the two nouns in apposition without an explicit genitive marker. The LXX (Swete text given) omits mention of the priests altogether, reading only "πρὸς τὸν κριτὴν" ("to the judge"), where the Hebrew and Vulgate both include the priests alongside the judge.