Deuteronomy 30:11

Summary

The verse states that the commandment given to the addressee on that day is neither nifle't ("too difficult", H6381) nor rechokah ("far away", H7350). It affirms accessibility to something described as a commandment given directly by the speaker.

Key words

• mitzVah ("commandment", H4687) — feminine singular noun, definite by the article ha (H9009) and further specified by the demonstrative zot ("this", H2063), marking a specific, identified commandment rather than a general category.
• metzaveKha ("commanding you", H6680 + H9031) — Piel participle of the verb, construct with the 2nd person masculine singular suffix; the Piel stem gives intensive/directive force ("to command" as an act of authority), and the participle form frames it as an ongoing act situated "this day" (hayYom, H3117G).
• nifLet ("too difficult", H6381) — Niphal perfect, 3rd feminine singular, agreeing with mitzVah. The Niphal stem casts the verb passively/reflexively, describing the commandment's inherent quality rather than an action performed by someone.
• hi' ("it/she", H1931) — personal pronoun repeated twice (after each negated predicate), reinforcing the subject mitzVah independently for each clause.
• rechoKah ("far away", H7350) — feminine singular adjective, paired grammatically with nifLet through the repeated negation lo' (H3808), forming two parallel negative predicates.

What the text says

The sentence opens with the subordinating particle ki (H3588A, "for/that"), introducing a clause whose grammatical subject is hamitzVah hazZot ("this commandment") — a noun made specific by both the article and the demonstrative. This subject is further defined by a relative clause: asher anoKhi metzavveKha hayYom ("which I am commanding you this day"), where the independent pronoun anoKhi ("I", H0595) precedes the Piel participle metzaveKha, giving emphasis to the speaker as agent of the command in the present moment (hayYom, "this day").

The main predicate follows in two parallel negated clauses, each with its own restated pronoun hi' ("it," H1931): lo'-nifLet hi' mimmeKha ("it is not nifLet from you") and ve'lo' rechoKah hi' ("and it is not rechoKah"). The verb nifLet is a Niphal perfect of H6381, a root elsewhere associated with concepts of being extraordinary or wondrous, here negated to describe something as not exceeding normal capacity. The preposition attached to the second occurrence of Kha (H4480A + H9031, "from you") specifies the point of reference for the first negated quality. The adjective rechoKah ("far away," H7350) parallels nifLet structurally, both agreeing in feminine singular with mitzVah, and each negation is stated independently, giving the sentence a doubled, emphatic rhythm rather than a single compound predicate.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders nifLet ("too difficult," H6381) as hyperonkos ("burdensome/excessive"), a different semantic emphasis than the Hebrew root's association with something extraordinary or hard to grasp. The Vulgate renders the same term as "non supra te est" ("is not above you"), diverging spatially rather than qualitatively from the Hebrew's abstract sense of difficulty.