Deuteronomy 18:5

Summary

The verse states that Yehovah (H3068) chose a particular tribe — referred to only by the pronoun "him" — out of all the tribes of Israel, so that this tribe and its descendants might stand and serve in the name of Yehovah permanently, "all the days" (H3117).

Key words

• bo (H9033) — the preposition be ("in") plus 3rd person masculine singular suffix "him," marking the object of the choosing verb; the antecedent (the tribe) is not named in this verse and must be supplied from context.
• baChar ("he has chosen", H0977) — qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular: a completed, decisive act of choosing performed by the subject Yehovah.
• la'aMod ("to stand", H5975G) — qal infinitive with prefixed preposition le, expressing purpose: the goal of the choosing is "to stand."
• lesharet ("to serve", H8334) — piel infinitive with prefixed le, also expressing purpose; the piel stem intensifies the verbal action of serving.
• kol-hayaMim ("all the days", H3605 + H3117G) — construct phrase meaning the totality of days, i.e., an unbroken temporal span.

What the text says

The sentence is built as a causal clause introduced by ki ("for/that", H3588A), explaining a reason connected to what precedes it in the chapter. The core statement is bo bachar Yehovah Elohekha mikol-shevatekha — "him has Yehovah your God chosen from all your tribes." The object pronoun bo appears before the verb bachar, a common Hebrew word-order pattern for emphasis, foregrounding "him" as the one selected. The identity of "him" is not stated in this verse itself; it depends on the preceding verses for its referent.

Two purpose infinitives follow: la'amod ("to stand") and lesharet ("to serve"), both governed by the preposition le, indicating the function for which the choice was made — standing and serving be-shem-Yehovah ("in the name of Yehovah", H8034 + H3068G). The clause then specifies who performs this: hu' u-vanav ("he and his sons"), using the personal pronoun hu' (H1931) for emphasis, followed by u-vanav ("and his sons", H1121G) with a possessive suffix. The temporal phrase kol-hayamim ("all the days") closes the verse, indicating the duration is not limited to a single generation but continues without interruption.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint adds elements not present in the Hebrew: ἔναντι κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ ("before the Lord God") after "to stand," and εὐλογεῖν ("and to bless") alongside "to serve." Where the Hebrew closes with kol-hayamim ("all the days"), the LXX instead reads ἐν τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραήλ ("among the sons of Israel"). The Vulgate renders kol-hayamim as in sempiternum ("forever"), a temporal rendering consistent with the Hebrew idiom. The BSB inserts "Levi and his sons" explicitly, supplying the antecedent of bo that the Hebrew leaves as a pronoun alone.