Deuteronomy 27:1

Summary

Moses and the elders of Israel jointly command the people to keep the entirety of the commandment that Moses is presently giving them. The verse frames this as a formal act of command (tzavah) introducing a speech that follows.

Key words

• va.yTzav ("he commanded", H6680) — piel verb in narrative form; the piel stem marks this as an authoritative, intensified act of commanding, not a casual request.
• zik.nei ("elders of", H2205G) — construct plural noun, grammatically bound to "Israel"; it links Moses and the elders as joint subjects of the command.
• sha.Mor ("keep", H8104G) — infinitive absolute, a form that in Biblical Hebrew reinforces or intensifies the verbal idea rather than functioning as a normal finite verb; it signals emphatic instruction.
• kol-ha.mitz.Vah ("all the commandment", H3605 + H4687) — mitzvah is singular, and "kol" ("all") modifies this singular noun, producing a collective sense: "the whole of the commandment" rather than "all the commandments."
• 'a.no.Khi me.tza.Veh ("I am commanding", H0595 + H6680) — the independent pronoun 'anokhi combined with the piel participle metzaveh places emphasis on the speaker himself, highlighting that this instruction proceeds from Moses in the present moment ("I, right now, am commanding").

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with a narrative construction: vaYtzav ("and he commanded") governs two coordinated subjects, Mosheh ("Moses") and zikNei Yisra'El ("elders of Israel"), acting together toward a single object, ha'Am ("the people"), marked by the object particle 'et. The infinitive le'Mor ("saying") introduces the reported speech that follows.

Within that speech, the verb form shifts to an infinitive absolute, shaMor ("keep"), which in Hebrew grammar functions to intensify or underscore the command rather than serving as a standard finite verb form. The object of this command is kol-hamitzVah ("all the commandment"), where mitzvah is grammatically singular; the phrase treats the body of instruction as one unified whole rather than a list of separate items. The relative clause 'asher 'anoKhi metzaVeh 'etkhem haYom ("which I am commanding you today") uses the piel participle metzaVeh together with the emphatic independent pronoun 'anoKhi, stressing that the commanding action is ongoing and tied to Moses' present utterance ("today").

Differences between versions

The Hebrew kol-hamitzVah ("all the commandment," singular) is rendered in the LXX as πάσας τὰς ἐντολὰς ταύτας ("all these commandments," plural with a demonstrative "these" not present in the Hebrew). The Vulgate's omne mandatum ("every/the whole commandment," singular) aligns more closely with the Hebrew's singular collective sense. The LXX also specifies γερουσία Ἰσραηλειτῶν ("council of the Israelites") for the Hebrew zikNei Yisra'El ("elders of Israel"), a variation in terminology for the same body of leaders.