Deuteronomy 30:6

Summary

The verse describes a future divine action: Yehovah will "circumcise" the heart of the addressee and of his offspring. The stated purpose of this act is love for Yehovah with the whole heart and whole being, and the stated result is life.

Key words

• Mal ("he will circumcise", H4135A) — qal sequential perfect; continues the narrative chain from the preceding verses, here functioning with future/promissory force ("[Yehovah] will circumcise").
• levav ("heart", H3824) — masculine singular construct, appearing twice (vv. 7, 22): first for "your heart," then for "the heart of your offspring," making the heart the direct object of the circumcision.
• zera' ("offspring", H2233H) — masculine singular construct with pronominal suffix, extending the action from the individual addressee to his descendants.
• 'ahavah ("love", H0157G) — qal infinitive with prefixed le- ("to love"), forming a purpose clause: the circumcising of the heart is for the sake of loving Yehovah.
• lema'an ("for the sake of", H4616) — subordinating particle introducing the final clause "for the sake of your life," linking the whole action (circumcision → love) to the outcome of life.

What the text says

The sentence is built as a chain of purpose clauses. The main clause states that Yehovah will "circumcise" (Mal, H4135A) the levav ("heart", H3824) of the addressee and of his zera' ("offspring", H2233H). This action is followed by an infinitive construct, le-'ahavah ("to love", H0157G), which expresses the intended result of the circumcision: loving Yehovah "with all your heart (levav) and with all your nefesh" ("being/soul", H5315G). The clause closes with lema'an chayeikha ("for the sake of your life", H4616 + H2416E), a final purpose particle tying the entire sequence — circumcision, then love — to the outcome of life. Grammatically, the repeated construct forms (levav-, nefesh-, chayei-) all carry the second-person suffix -kha ("your", H9021), keeping the focus on the addressee and his descendants throughout.

Differences between versions

The LXX uses περικαθαριεῖ ("will thoroughly cleanse/purify") where the Hebrew has Mal ("he will circumcise", H4135A) — a different verbal image (purification rather than circumcision). The Vulgate's Circumcidet matches the Hebrew's circumcision imagery directly. The Vulgate also adds possis ("you may be able") in "ut possis vivere," an addition not present in the Hebrew lema'an chayeikha ("for the sake of your life"), which contains no verb of ability. The LXX's ἵνα ζῇς σύ ("that you may live") corresponds more directly to the Hebrew purpose construction without this added nuance of capability.