Deuteronomy 27:7

Summary

The verse instructs the addressee to sacrifice peace offerings, eat them at that location, and rejoice before Yehovah his God. It presents three consecutive actions tied together in a single sequence of ritual practice.

Key words

• za.vach.Ta ("you will sacrifice", H2076) — qal sequential perfect, continuing a chain of instructions begun earlier in the passage.
• she.la.Mim ("peace offerings", H8002) — masculine plural noun, naming the specific type of sacrifice.
• 'a.Khal.ta ("you will eat [them]", H0398) — qal sequential perfect, the second link in the action chain.
• Sa.mach.ta ("you will rejoice", H8055) — qal sequential perfect, the third and final action in the sequence.
• f.Nei ("before", H6440G) — masculine plural construct noun (literally "face of"), forming the phrase "before/in the presence of."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain of three verbs, each marked by the narrative/sequential vav (H9001) attached to a perfect form: za.vach.Ta ("you will sacrifice"), 'a.Khal.ta ("you will eat"), and Sa.mach.ta ("you will rejoice"). This construction, common in instructional or narrative Hebrew, presents the three actions as a linked sequence rather than isolated commands — each verb picks up from the previous one, producing a flow: sacrifice, then eat, then rejoice.

The object of the first verb, she.la.Mim ("peace offerings", H8002), is a plural noun without an article or possessive suffix in the Hebrew, simply naming the offering type. The adverb Sham ("there", H8033G) locates the eating at a specific place implied by the wider context, though the verse itself does not specify what place.

The final action, rejoicing, is located "before Yehovah your God" — a phrase built from the construct chain li-f.Nei ("to the face of") plus 'e.lo.Hei-kha ("your God"), where 'e.lo.Hei (H0430G) is grammatically plural in form (as is typical for this divine title) but construct with the second-person suffix -kha ("your"). The tetragrammaton Yehovah (H3068G) stands as the direct object of this spatial/relational preposition, marking the setting of the rejoicing.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the sequence with an added element: "you shall eat and be filled (ἐμπλησθήσῃ) and rejoice," inserting a verb of satiety not present in the Hebrew's two verbs 'a.Khal.ta ("you will eat") and Sa.mach.ta ("you will rejoice"). The LXX also relocates the adverb "there" (ἐκεῖ) to the first clause ("you shall sacrifice there"), whereas the Hebrew places Sham ("there", H8033G) with the eating, not the sacrificing. The Vulgate follows a similar three-part structure to the Hebrew (immolabis... comedesque... epulaberis), matching the sequential verb chain without the LXX's added "filled" element.