Deuteronomy 25:17

Summary

The verse opens a command to remember what Amalek did against Israel "on the way" during the exodus from Egypt. The Hebrew phrasing uses an emphatic infinitive form of "remember" combined with a completed-action verb describing Amalek's deed, framed by a temporal clause about Israel's departure from Egypt.

Key words

• zakhor ("remember", H2142) — qal absolute infinitive; this form intensifies the command, functioning as a forceful imperative rather than a simple verb form.
• 'asher ("that/which", H0834A) — relative particle introducing the clause describing what Amalek did.
• 'asah ("it did", H6213A) — qal perfect, third person; marks the action as completed, referring to a specific past event.
• 'Amaleq ("Amalek", H6002G) — proper name identifying the agent of the action, functioning as subject of 'asah.
• tzet'khem ("your coming out", H3318G with H9046 suffix) — qal infinitive with second person plural suffix, forming a temporal clause ("when you came out") that anchors the event in time.

What the text says

The verse begins with zakhor ("remember", H2142) in the infinitive absolute form, a grammatical construction in Biblical Hebrew that intensifies or emphasizes the command it conveys, functioning here as a strong imperative directed at the addressee. This is followed by the object marker 'et (H0853, untranslated) and the relative clause introduced by 'asher ("which", H0834A), which specifies the content to be remembered: the action performed by Amalek.

The verb 'asah ("it did", H6213A) appears in the qal perfect, indicating a completed action in the past, with Amalek ('Amaleq, H6002G) as its grammatical subject. The prepositional phrase lekha ("to you", H9005 + H9031) identifies the second-person addressee as the recipient of Amalek's action. The location of this action is specified as ba-derekh ("on the way", H9003 + H1870L), a common noun indicating a journey or path.

The final clause, introduced by be-tzet'khem mi-Mitzrayim ("when you came out from Egypt"), uses an infinitive construct (tzet, H3318G) with a second-person plural suffix (H9046) governed by the preposition be ("when", H9003), creating a temporal subordinate clause. This clause places the entire event within the specific timeframe of the departure from Egypt (Mitzrayim, H4714G).

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'asher ("which", H0834A) as ὅσα ("as much as/whatever"), a broader relative expression than the Hebrew's simple relative particle. The Hebrew verb tzet'khem ("your coming out", H3318G + H9046) is second-person plural, but the LXX uses the genitive singular participle ἐκπορευομένου σου ("of you going out"), and the Vulgate similarly renders it as second-person singular egrediebaris ("you were going out"), differing from the Hebrew's plural form.