Deuteronomy 26:17
אֶת־יְהוָה הֶאֱמַרְתָּ הַיּוֹם לִהְיוֹת לְךָ לֵֽאלֹהִים וְלָלֶכֶת בִּדְרָכָיו וְלִשְׁמֹר חֻקָּיו וּמִצְוֹתָיו וּמִשְׁפָּטָיו וְלִשְׁמֹעַ בְּקֹלֽוֹ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
אֶת־יְהוָ֥ה הֶאֱמַ֖רְתָּ הַיּ֑וֹם לִהְיוֹת֩ לְךָ֨ לֵֽאלֹהִ֜ים וְלָלֶ֣כֶת בִּדְרָכָ֗יו וְלִשְׁמֹ֨ר חֻקָּ֧יו וּמִצְוֹתָ֛יו וּמִשְׁפָּטָ֖יו וְלִשְׁמֹ֥עַ בְּקֹלֽוֹ׃
ἦτόν θεὸν ἑλοῦ σήμερον εἶναί σου καὶ πορεύεσθαι ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτοῦ, καὶ φυλάσσεσθαι τὰ δικαιώματα καὶ τὰ κρίματα, καὶ ὑπακούειν τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ·
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Dominum elegisti hodie, ut sit tibi Deus, et ambules in viis ejus, et custodias cæremonias illius, et mandata atque judicia, et obedias ejus imperio.
Hoy has declarado que Yehová es tu Dios, y que quieres andar por sus caminos, guardar sus estatutos, sus mandamientos y sus ordenanzas, y escuchar su voz.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
A Jehová has ensalzado hoy para que te sea por Dios, y para andar en sus caminos, y para guardar sus estatutos y sus mandamientos y sus derechos, y para oir su voz:
Today you have proclaimed that the LORD is your God and that you will walk in His ways, keep His statutes and commandments and ordinances, and listen to His voice.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse states that on that day the addressee has "declared" Yehovah (H3068) to be their God, using a chain of infinitive clauses that specify what this declaration entails: walking in his ways, keeping his statutes, commandments and judgments, and listening to his voice.
Key words
- he'emarta ("you have declared", H0559) — Hiphil perfect of the common verb "to say" ('amar); the Hiphil (causative) stem shifts the meaning from simple speech to a formal, causative act of affirmation or avowal.
- lihyot ("to become/to be", H1961) — Qal infinitive construct, the first in a series of four infinitives governed by the preposition le- ("to/for"), stating the content of what was declared.
- Elohim ("God", H0430G) — grammatically plural noun, here functioning with singular reference as the object of the preposition le-, "as God" or "for God."
- chuqav, mitzvotav, mishpatav ("his statutes", H2706G; "his commandments", H4687; "his judgments", H4941G) — three plural construct nouns, each carrying the 3rd-person masculine singular suffix "his" (word 22, 25, 28), forming a triple list joined by ve- ("and").
- qolo ("his voice", H6963A) — singular construct noun with the same 3ms suffix, closing the list with a term in the singular, contrasting with the preceding plurals.
What the text says
The sentence has one finite verb, he'emarta (H0559), preceded by the direct object marker 'et- (H0853) attached to Yehovah (H3068) — so the grammatical object of the declaring is Yehovah himself. Everything that follows is built on four parallel infinitive-construct clauses, each introduced by the preposition le-: lihyot ("to become," H1961), lalekhet ("to walk," H1980I), lishmor ("to keep," H8104G), and lishmoa ("to listen," H8085H). These infinitives are not separate commands but function together as the content of what has been "declared" — they answer the question "declared what?"
The three nouns chuqav, mitzvotav, mishpatav are all plural construct forms bound to the same 3ms suffix "his" (referring back to Yehovah), listed in sequence and joined by the conjunction ve- (H9002). The final term, qolo ("his voice," H6963A), is singular, marking a shift from the plural legal terms to a single collective reference to Yehovah's speech as a whole.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew verb he'emarta (H0559) is a causative form of "to say," rendered here as "you have declared/affirmed." Both the LXX (ἑλοῦ, "you have chosen") and the Vulgate (elegisti, "you have chosen") render this verb with a term of choosing rather than declaring or saying, diverging from the Hebrew root's semantic base in speech.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.