Deuteronomy 27:11

Summary

Deuteronomy 27:11 records a narrative statement that Moses gave a command to the people on a specific day. The verse functions as an introductory formula, setting up the instructions that follow in the subsequent verses.

Key words

• va-yTzav ("and he commanded", H6680) — piel stem verb with narrative vav, indicating an intensive or emphatic command, moving the story forward in sequence.
• Mosheh ("Moses", H4872) — proper noun, the subject who performs the commanding action.
• 'et- (H0853) — direct object marker, untranslated in English, signaling that ha'am is the grammatical object of the verb.
• ha'Am ("the people", H5971A) — definite noun, masculine singular, identifying the recipients of the command.
• le'Mor ("saying", H0559) — qal infinitive construct, introducing the content of speech that follows (though the actual words are given in the next verses, not within this verse itself).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence follows a standard narrative structure: verb-subject-object-adverbial phrase-infinitive. The verb yTzav ("he commanded", H6680) appears in the piel stem, which often carries an intensive or causative nuance compared to the simpler qal stem — here suggesting a formal, authoritative act of command rather than casual instruction. The narrative vav prefix on the verb ties this action directly to the preceding context, presenting it as the next event in a sequence.

The object of the command, ha'am ("the people", H5971A), is marked by the direct object marker 'et- (H0853), which has no independent meaning but clarifies the grammatical relationship between verb and object in Hebrew, a function that Greek and Latin achieve through case endings or word order instead.

The temporal phrase ba-Yom ha-Hu' ("on that day", H3117G + H1931) uses the demonstrative pronoun Hu' ("that", H1931) to point back to a day already established in the surrounding narrative, anchoring this command to a specific moment rather than presenting it as a general or repeated instruction.

The final word, le'Mor ("saying", H0559), is a qal infinitive construct functioning here as a formulaic introduction to reported speech — a common Hebrew narrative device that signals direct discourse is about to begin, even though the content of that discourse follows in subsequent verses rather than within this one.

Differences between versions

The LXX places the temporal phrase "ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ" ("in that day") after the object "τῷ λαῷ" ("to the people"), differing from the Hebrew word order where the temporal phrase follows the object as well, but the Vulgate and Hebrew both maintain object-then-time sequence similarly. The SBLIBRE Spanish translation moves the temporal phrase to the beginning of the sentence ("Ese mismo día..."), a stylistic reordering not present in the Hebrew, LXX, or Vulgate structures, which all place Moses' action first.