Deuteronomy 31:24

Summary

The verse marks a narrative transition: it states that Moses finished writing down the words of "this law" on a scroll, completing the text in its entirety. It functions as an introduction to the instructions that follow concerning that written document.

Key words

• va-yehi ("and it was", H1961) — narrative vav + qal verb, the standard formula opening a new narrative unit ("and it came to pass").
• kekhallot ("when he finished", H3615G) — piel infinitive with prefix ke ("when/as"); the piel stem intensifies the verb, marking full completion rather than a partial or ongoing action.
• likhtov ("to write", H3789) — qal infinitive with prefix li ("to"), indicating the purpose/content of Moses' finishing action — the act of writing itself.
• divrei ha-Torah ha-zot ("the words of this law", H1697G + H8451 + H2063) — construct chain divrei ("words of") governing ha-Torah, "the law," specified further by the demonstrative ha-zot, "this," pointing to a defined, delimited body of text.
• tummam ("their completion/being finished", H8552 + H9048) — qal infinitive with 3rd person plural suffix "them," referring back to divrei ("the words"), stressing that all the words reached completion.

What the text says

The sentence opens with the narrative formula va-yehi ("and it was"), which in Biblical Hebrew regularly introduces a new episode following a temporal clause. Here the temporal clause is built with ke- ("when") plus the piel infinitive kekhallot ("finishing"), whose subject is Mosheh ("Moses"). The piel stem of kalah ("to finish") conveys thorough, intensive completion, not merely stopping an action.

The content of what Moses finished is expressed through a second infinitive, likhtov ("to write"), governing the object marked by 'et (the untranslated direct object marker) and the construct phrase divrei ha-Torah ha-zot — literally "the words of this law." The construct noun divrei ("words of") ties directly to ha-Torah ("the law"), and the demonstrative ha-zot ("this") specifies that the referent is a particular body of teaching, distinguished from law in general.

The phrase 'al sefer ("on a book/scroll," H5612H) locates the writing physically on a scroll rather than describing an abstract composition. The closing temporal clause, 'ad tummam ("until they were completed"), uses the qal infinitive tummam with a 3rd person plural suffix referring back to divrei ("the words"), reinforcing that the writing continued until all the specified words had been fully set down.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the phrase with πάντας τοὺς λόγους ("all the words"), inserting an explicit "all" not present as a separate lexeme in the Hebrew, though the sense of totality is conveyed in Hebrew through tummam ("their completion"). The Vulgate's atque complevit ("and completed [it]") corresponds to the same completion idea but shifts it into a finite verb rather than an infinitive construction as in the Hebrew. The BSB's "from beginning to end" is an expanded rendering of 'ad tummam ("until they were finished"), making explicit an idea that in Hebrew is conveyed more compactly through the infinitive with suffix.