Deuteronomy 3:19

Summary

Moses tells the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh that while their armed men cross ahead to fight, their wives, children, and livestock may remain behind in the cities already allotted to them. The verse explains that Moses is aware of the size of their livestock holdings, which justifies letting the herds stay in these towns.

Key words

• rak ("only", H7535) — a restrictive adverb that isolates the group being addressed (wives, children, livestock) from the rest of the population who will proceed to battle.
• ne.shei.khem ("wives of you", H0802H + H9026) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, forming a possessive chain "your wives," the first item in the list of those staying behind.
• ya.Da'.ti ("I know", H3045, qal perfect) — first-person completed-action verb; the perfect aspect frames this as a settled, present state of knowledge rather than a new realization.
• ye.she.Vu ("they will remain", H3427, qal imperfect) — third-person plural imperfect verb, indicating an action that is future or ongoing; here it is the main predicate governing the initial subject list (wives, children, livestock).
• na.Ta.ti ("I have given", H5414G, qal perfect) — first-person completed-action verb, marking the cities as already assigned by the time of speaking.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence begins with rak ("only", H7535), which sets apart the subjects — ne.shei.khem ("your wives"), tap.pe.khem ("your little ones," H2945+H9026), and miq.ne.khem ("your livestock," H4735+H9026) — as a distinct group. These three nouns, each in construct form with the second-person plural suffix -khem (H9026), form a chain of possession before the verb appears. The main verb governing this list, ye.she.Vu ("they will remain," H3427), occurs later in the verse (position 16), after an intervening clause. This word order — subject list first, verb postponed — is typical of Hebrew syntax placing topicalized elements before the predicate.

Between the subject list and its verb, the text inserts a parenthetical clause: ya.Da'.ti ki miq.Neh rav la.khem ("I know that livestock [is] much to you"). Here ya.Da'.ti (H3045, qal perfect) expresses a completed state of knowledge, and ki (H3588A) functions as a subordinating particle introducing the content of what is known. The adjective rav ("much," H7227A) modifies miq.Neh ("livestock," H4735) with the preposition la.khem ("to you," H9005+H9036) indicating possession. This inserted clause interrupts the main sentence, explaining why livestock is grouped with wives and children as staying behind. The verse closes with asher na.Ta.ti la.khem ("which I have given to you"), a relative clause with the perfect verb na.Ta.ti (H5414G) marking the giving of the cities as an already-completed act relative to the speech.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders tap.pe.khem ("your little ones," H2945) as τὰ τέκνα ὑμῶν ("your children"), while the Vulgate uses parvulis ("little ones"), both consistent with the Hebrew sense of dependents. The Vulgate adds debebunt ("they ought/must"), introducing a note of obligation not explicitly marked by the Hebrew imperfect ye.she.Vu, which simply indicates future or ongoing action without a modal sense of duty.