Deuteronomy 31:11

Summary

The verse instructs that when all Israel gathers before Yehovah at the place he will choose, the law is to be read aloud in the hearing of the whole people. It sets a temporal condition (arrival, presenting before God) followed by a command to read the text publicly.

Key words

• le.ra.'Ot ("appear", H7200G) — niphal infinitive of the root "to see"; the niphal stem makes this passive/reflexive, so the sense is "to be seen" or "to present oneself," not "to see" actively.
• pe.Nei ("[the] presence of", H6440G) — masculine plural construct of "face," used idiomatically with a following genitive to mean "the presence of."
• yiv.Char ("he will choose", H0977) — qal imperfect, third person, expressing a future or habitual action attributed to Yehovah regarding the place.
• tik.Ra' ("you will read aloud", H7121J) — qal imperfect, second person masculine singular, addressing one reader (commonly understood as an instruction/command in context).
• 'a.ze.nei.Hem ("their ears", H0241H) — feminine dual construct with third person plural suffix; the dual form reflects the paired body part, "ears," belonging to "them."

What the text says

The sentence opens with two chained infinitive clauses marked by prefixed prepositions: be.Vo' ("in the coming," H0935G) of "all Israel" (khol-Yis.ra.'El, H3605/H3478), followed by le.ra.'Ot ("to appear," H7200G) "before the presence" ('et-pe.Nei, H6440G) of Yehovah "your God" ('e.lo.Hei.kha, H0430G+H9021) "in the place which he will choose" (ba.ma.Kom 'a.Sher yiv.Char). This temporal framing sets up the main clause: tik.Ra' ("you will read aloud," H7121J) "this law" (et-ha.to.Rah ha.Zot, H8451+H2063) "before all Israel" (Ne.ged kol-Yis.ra.'El) "in their ears" (be.'a.ze.nei.Hem, H0241H).

The niphal form of ra.'Ot is notable: the Hebrew does not say Israel "sees" God's face in an active sense, but rather that Israel "is seen" or "presents itself" before that presence — the grammar frames the encounter as passive/reflexive rather than as direct sight. The double occurrence of khol-Yis.ra.'El ("all Israel") — once for the gathering, once for the audience of the reading — frames the entire collective assembly as both the group approaching Yehovah and the group hearing the law. The dual form 'a.ze.nei.Hem ("their ears") reflects normal Hebrew usage for paired body parts and here reinforces the emphasis on aural reception of the reading.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders tik.Ra' (singular "you will read," H7121J) with ἀναγνώσεσθε, a second-person plural future form ("you [pl.] will read"), and correspondingly renders 'e.lo.Hei.kha ("your [sing.] God") with ὑμῶν ("your [pl.]"), producing a plural addressee where the Hebrew has a singular one. The Vulgate expands the opening clause with convenientibus cunctis ex Israël ("when all from Israel convene"), an addition not directly matching the infinitive construction be.Vo' khol-Yis.ra.'El in the Hebrew, and phrases the reading instruction as leges verba legis hujus ("you shall read the words of this law"), inserting verba ("words") where the Hebrew simply has ha.to.Rah ha.Zot ("this law").