Deuteronomy 30:20

Summary

The verse closes a series of infinitive clauses describing what it means to choose life: loving Yehovah, listening to his voice, and clinging to him. It grounds this in the claim that Yehovah himself is "life" and "length of days," tied to dwelling on the land promised by oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Key words

• 'a.ha.Vah ("loving", H0157G) — qal infinitive construct with prefixed le ("by/to"), forming a purpose clause: "by loving."
• sh.Mo.a' ("listening", H8085H) — qal infinitive construct, parallel structure to the previous verb, "by listening to his voice."
• da.ve.kah ("cleaving", H1692) — qal infinitive construct joined by ve- ("and"), completing the third of three coordinated infinitives that define the required posture toward Yehovah.
• chai.Yei.kha ("your life", H2416E) — masculine plural construct noun with 2nd-person suffix; plural form used idiomatically for the abstract concept "life," predicated of the pronoun hu' ("he", H1931), identifying Yehovah as the subject.
• nish.Ba' ("he swore", H7650) — niphal perfect, marking a completed oath-action; niphal here carries the reflexive/passive sense often used for self-binding oaths.

What the text says

The verse is built on three parallel infinitive-construct clauses, each introduced by the preposition le ("by/to"): le'ahavah ("by loving"), lishmoa' ("by listening"), and uledavkah ("and by cleaving"). This triple infinitive structure functions as the content of the "life" choice referenced earlier in the chapter — love, obedience, and attachment are presented as three linked actions rather than separate commands, sharing one grammatical form (qal infinitive construct with prefixed preposition).

The clause ki hu' chaiyeikha ve'orekh yameikha ("for he [is] your life and the length of your days") uses the personal pronoun hu' ("he", H1931) to identify the referent — Yehovah — as the predicate noun chaiyeikha ("your life"), a masculine plural construct noun with singular abstract meaning, paired with 'orekh yameikha ("length of your days"), a construct chain of 'orekh ("length", H0753) governing yamei- ("days of", H3117G) plus suffix. This creates an equation between the deity and the concept of a full lifespan, rather than merely promising life as a reward.

The final section shifts to a ki ("for/that")-less relative clause introduced by 'asher ("which", H0834A), describing the land via the niphal perfect verb nish.Ba' ("he swore", H7650), whose grammatical voice suggests self-binding action by the subject, here explicitly Yehovah (H3068G). The chain of proper names — 'Avraham, Yitzchak, Ya'akov — each governed by repeated le ("to"), lists the recipients of the oath individually rather than as a collective group.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the divine name transliterated oddly as "Τύριον" in this apparatus text (likely a scribal/transmission variant for κύριον, "Lord"), where the Hebrew has Yehovah (H3068G). The LXX also renders the "life" clause as ὅτι τοῦτο ἡ ζωή σου ("for this is your life"), using a neuter demonstrative τοῦτο instead of a personal pronoun, differing from the Hebrew's masculine personal pronoun hu' ("he", H1931), which grammatically identifies Yehovah himself, not an abstract "this," as the referent of "life." The Vulgate follows the Hebrew personal-pronoun structure with "ipse est enim vita tua" ("for he himself is your life").