Deuteronomy 4:10
יוֹם אֲשֶׁר עָמַדְתָּ לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּחֹרֵב בֶּאֱמֹר יְהוָה אֵלַי הַקְהֶל־לִי אֶת־הָעָם וְאַשְׁמִעֵם אֶת־דְּבָרָי אֲשֶׁר יִלְמְדוּן לְיִרְאָה אֹתִי כָּל־הַיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר הֵם חַיִּים עַל־הָאֲדָמָה וְאֶת־בְּנֵיהֶם יְלַמֵּדֽוּן׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
י֗וֹם אֲשֶׁ֨ר עָמַ֜דְתָּ לִפְנֵ֨י יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶיךָ֮ בְּחֹרֵב֒ בֶּאֱמֹ֨ר יְהוָ֜ה אֵלַ֗י הַקְהֶל־לִי֙ אֶת־הָעָ֔ם וְאַשְׁמִעֵ֖ם אֶת־דְּבָרָ֑י אֲשֶׁ֨ר יִלְמְד֜וּן לְיִרְאָ֣ה אֹתִ֗י כָּל־הַיָּמִים֙ אֲשֶׁ֨ר הֵ֤ם חַיִּים֙ עַל־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה וְאֶת־בְּנֵיהֶ֖ם יְלַמֵּדֽוּן׃
ἡμέραν ἢν ἔστητε ἐναντίον Κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν ἐν Χωρὴβ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς ἐκκλησίας, ὅτε εἶπεν Κύριος πρὸς μέ Ἐκκλησίασον πρὸς μὲ τὸν λαόν, καὶ ἀκουσάτωσαν τὰ υ, ὅπως μάθωσιν φοβεῖσθαί με πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἃς αὐτοὶ ζῶσιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτῶν διδάξουσιν.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
a die in quo stetisti coram Domino Deo tuo in Horeb, quando Dominus locutus est mihi, dicens: Congrega ad me populum, ut audiant sermones meos, et discant timere me omni tempore quo vivunt in terra, doceantque filios suos.
el día en que estuviste frente a Yehová tu Dios en Horeb, cuando Yehová me dijo: “Reúne al pueblo hacia mí, y les haré oír mis palabras, para que aprendan a temerme todos los días que vivan sobre la tierra, y para que enseñen a sus hijos.”
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
El día que estuviste delante de Jehová tu Dios en Horeb, cuando Jehová me dijo: Júntame el pueblo, para que yo les haga oir mis palabras, las cuales aprenderán, para temerme todos los días que vivieren sobre la tierra: y las enseñarán á sus hijos;
The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, “ Gather the people before Me to hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach them to their children.”
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse recalls the day the people stood before Yehovah at Horeb, when Yehovah instructed Moses to assemble the people so they could hear his words. The stated purpose is that they learn to fear Yehovah throughout their lives and transmit this teaching to their children.
Key words
- 'a.Mad.ta ("you stood", H5975G) — qal perfect, second person masculine singular, marking a completed past action of standing before Yehovah.
- hak.hel- ("assemble", H6950) — hiphil imperative (causative), a direct command to Moses to cause the people to gather.
- yil.me.Du + paragogic nun ("they will learn", H3925H) — qal imperfect third person masculine plural with an added emphatic nun, expressing future/ongoing learning with heightened emphasis.
- ye.la.me.Du + paragogic nun ("they will teach", H3925G) — piel imperfect (intensive stem) third person masculine plural, again with emphatic nun, indicating an intensive causative action of teaching directed at the next generation.
- chai.Yim ("alive", H2416A) — adjective masculine plural, describing the ongoing state of being alive "on the land" ('a.da.Mah, H0127I).
What the text says
The verse opens with the noun Yom ("day", H3117G) governed by the relative particle 'a.Sher ("when/that", H0834A), forming a temporal clause: "the day that you stood." The verb 'a.Mad.ta (qal perfect) places this standing before Yehovah 'e.lo.hei.kha ("your God") in the past, locating the scene at Horeb. A second temporal clause follows, introduced by be'emor ("when [Yehovah] said", infinitive construct with prefixed preposition), embedding the actual speech of Yehovah to Moses.
Within that speech, the imperative hak.hel-li ("assemble for me") is followed by a chain of purpose clauses linked by the vav-conjunctive imperfect 'ash.mi.'Em ("so I may make them hear", hiphil), then the relative clause with yil.me.Du ("they will learn"). The infinitive le.yir.'Ah ("to fear", H3372H) expresses the goal of that learning — fearing Yehovah — and this fear is qualified by the phrase "all the days that they are alive on the land" (kol ha.Yamim 'a.Sher hem chai.Yim 'al ha.'ada.Mah). The final clause, ve.'et be.nei.hem ye.la.me.Dun ("and their sons they will teach"), uses the piel stem for "teach," an intensive form distinct from the qal used earlier for "learn," marking a grammatical distinction between receiving instruction (qal) and actively imparting it (piel). Both final verbs carry the paragogic nun, a suffix that in Biblical Hebrew often adds rhetorical emphasis to the imperfect form.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders he.qhel ("assemble") as Ekklēsiason and adds the phrase "τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς ἐκκλησίας" ("on the day of the assembly"), an expansion not present in the Hebrew text. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew structure closely, translating hak.hel as "Congrega" and preserving the double temporal clause structure with "quo" and "quando."
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.