Deuteronomy 31:12

Summary

Deuteronomy 31:12 records a command to assemble the entire community — men, women, children, and resident foreigners — so that they hear, learn, fear Yehovah, and carefully observe all the words of this law. The verse links hearing and learning to a resulting fear of Yehovah and to the practical keeping of the law.

Key words

• hak.Hel ("assemble", H6950) — Hiphil (causative) imperative: the addressee is commanded to cause the people to gather, not merely to gather himself.
• 'a.na.Shim ("men", H0582), na.Shim ("women", H0802G), Taf ("little one[s]", H2945) — three coordinated nouns listing the categories of people included, each preceded by the definite article.
• ge.re.Kha ("your sojourner", H1616 + H9021) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, specifying the resident foreigner as belonging to "your" community, further defined by 'a.Sher bi.sh.'a.Rei.kha ("who is in your gates").
• le.Ma.'an yish.me.'U ("so that they may hear", H4616 + H8085G) and le.Ma.'an yil.me.Du ("so that they may learn", H4616 + H3925H) — two purpose clauses with jussive verbs, stating the intended outcomes of the assembly.
• ya.re.'U ("they will fear", H3372H) and sha.me.Ru ("they will take care", H8104J) — sequential perfects (vav + perfect) that continue the chain begun by the jussives, presenting fearing and keeping as further links in the same sequence of results.

What the text says

The verse opens with a single imperative verb, hak.Hel ("assemble", H6950), in the causative (Hiphil) stem, addressed to one person (masculine singular), instructing him to bring about the gathering of others rather than to gather himself. The object of this assembling is ha.'Am ("the people", H5971A), which is then broken down into four groups joined by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002): "the men," "the women," "the little ones," and "your sojourner," each marked by the definite article except the last, which instead carries a pronominal suffix (ge.re.Kha, "your sojourner") and is further specified by a relative clause, 'a.Sher bi.sh.'a.Rei.kha ("who is in your gates").

The purpose of the assembly is given through two parallel clauses introduced by le.Ma.'an ("so that", H4616), each governing a jussive verb: yish.me.'U ("they may hear", H8085G) and yil.me.Du ("they may learn", H3925H). After these two purpose clauses, the grammar shifts: the text moves to sequential perfect forms (ve + perfect) — ya.re.'U ("they will fear", H3372H) and sha.me.Ru ("they will take care", H8104J) — which continue the narrative chain rather than repeating the le.Ma.'an construction. This shift indicates that fearing Yehovah and keeping the law are presented as the resulting continuation of hearing and learning, rather than as separate, independently stated purposes. The final clause, la.'a.Sot 'et-kol-div.Rei ha.to.Rah ha.Zot ("to do all the words of this law"), uses an infinitive construction (la.'a.Sot, H6213A) dependent on sha.me.Ru, specifying the content of what is to be "taken care of."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the divine name with the Greek transliteration Τύριον here (as shown in the provided LXX text) alongside "the God of you," while the Hebrew has Yah.weh ("Yehovah", H3068G) followed by 'e.lo.hei.Khem ("your God", H0430G). The Vulgate uses "Dominum Deum vestrum" ("the Lord your God") for the same phrase. The LXX also combines the purpose clauses differently, linking "hear" and "learn to fear the God of you" as one purpose (ἵνα ἀκούσωσιν καὶ ἵνα μάθωσιν φοβεῖσθαι), whereas the Hebrew keeps yish.me.'U and yil.me.Du as two separate jussive purposes, with fearing and keeping following afterward via sequential perfects rather than as part of the initial purpose clauses.