Deuteronomy 18:13

Summary

Deuteronomy 18:13 instructs the addressee to be tamim ("blameless", H8549) in relation to Yehovah his God. The sentence is short, built on a single adjective predicated through an imperfect verb of being, followed by a prepositional phrase naming the divine name and a possessive suffix.

Key words

• tamim ("blameless", H8549) — masculine singular adjective, the predicate describing the state the subject is to attain; it carries the core semantic content of the verse.
• tihyeh ("you will be", H1961) — qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular of the verb "to be"; the imperfect aspect frames this as an ongoing or future state rather than a single completed act.
• 'im ("with", H5973A) — preposition indicating association or proximity; it links the required state (tamim) to the referent that follows.
• Yehovah (H3068G) — the tetragrammaton, used here as the relational term to which the addressee's blamelessness is oriented.
• 'elohei-kha ("your God", H0430G + suffix) — masculine plural noun in construct form with a 2nd person masculine singular pronominal suffix, meaning "God of you"; the construct chain ties the divine title directly to the addressee.

What the text says

The clause is minimal in structure: subject (implied "you," 2nd person masculine singular) + predicate adjective (tamim) + copular verb (tihyeh) + prepositional phrase ('im Yehovah 'elohei-kha). The verb tihyeh is imperfect, which in Biblical Hebrew often expresses future, habitual, or continuous states rather than a single momentary event; this gives the statement a durative sense — a state to be maintained rather than a one-time act.

The preposition 'im ("with") establishes a relational or associative sense between the addressee and Yehovah, distinct from prepositions that would indicate motion toward or separation from. The construct phrase 'elohei-kha ("God of you" / "your God") attaches the divine name to the addressee through the possessive suffix -kha, marking a personal or covenantal link between the second-person subject and the deity named.

No verbs of motion, comparison, or moral evaluation beyond tamim itself appear in the Hebrew; the semantic weight rests entirely on the adjective and its association with Yehovah via 'im.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew preposition 'im ("with") is rendered in the LXX as ἐναντίον ("before" / "in the presence of"), which shifts the relational nuance from association to positional presence. The Vulgate translates 'im as "cum" ("with"), matching the Hebrew more closely in that respect, but adds the phrase "et absque macula" ("and without blemish"), an expansion not present in the Hebrew text, which only has the single adjective tamim.