Deuteronomy 32:7

Summary

The verse gives four parallel imperative commands urging the addressee to recall ancient time and consult prior generations — first "days of old," then "years of generation and generation," then a father, then elders — each framed as a source of transmitted memory. The grammar moves between singular and plural address forms across the four commands.

Key words

• zekhor ("remember", H2142) — qal imperative, singular "you," opening command directed at one addressee.
• binu ("consider", H0995) — qal imperative, but plural "you all," marking a shift in addressee within the same verse.
• dor ("a generation", H1755) — masculine singular noun, repeated with va ("and", H9002) to form the doubled expression "generation and generation."
• yagedkha ("he will tell you", H5046) — hiphil (causative) imperfect with vav, expressing a resulting or purposed action following the request to the father.
• ke on avikha — the whole word avikha ("your father", H0001G + H9021) is a construct noun with 2nd person masculine singular suffix, indicating the addressee has one specific father in view.

What the text says

The verse consists of two verse-halves, each containing a pair of imperatives. The first half moves from a singular command zekhor ("remember") to a plural command binu ("consider"), even though both share the same grammatical addressee in translation as "you." This alternation between singular and plural imperative forms is a feature of the Hebrew text itself and is not always preserved in translation. The object of zekhor is yemot olam ("days of antiquity"), a construct phrase, while the object of binu is shenot dor-vador ("years of a generation and a generation"), where dor is repeated with the conjunction va to express successive generations rather than a single one.

The second half shifts to two more imperatives, she'al ("ask") and the causative yagedkha ("he will tell you"), plus a further causative-style construction with yomeru ("they will say"). The hiphil form of yagedkha indicates that the "father" is not merely a passive source but the causer of the report — the telling is presented as an effect that follows from the asking. The final clause repeats this structure with zekeneikha ("your elders", H2205G, construct plural with 2nd person suffix) as the subject who "will say" (yomeru) to the addressee, marked by the prepositional suffix lakh ("to you").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders both opening commands as plural (μνήσθητε, σύνετε), where the Hebrew alternates singular (zekhor) and plural (binu). The Vulgate instead uses singular imperatives throughout (Memento, cogita, interroga), diverging from the Hebrew's mixed number pattern. For the doubled expression dor va-dor ("generation and generation"), the LXX uses plural forms γενεῶν γενεαῖς ("of generations, to generations"), while the Vulgate reads generationes singulas ("each generation"), both differing in construction from the Hebrew's singular-noun repetition joined by "and."