Deuteronomy 4:14

Summary

Deuteronomy 4:14 describes Yehovah commanding Moses (marked by the first-person object 'oti) at a specific time to teach the people statutes and judgments, so that they might carry them out in the land they are about to cross into and possess.

Key words

• tzi.Vah ("he commanded", H6680) — piel perfect, third person masculine singular; the intensive stem marks a formal, authoritative act of commanding, completed as a single event.
• la.Med ("teach", H3925G) — piel infinitive with prefixed le- ("to"); expresses the purpose of the command — the content and goal of what was commanded.
• chu.Kim ("statutes", H2706G) and mish.pa.Tim ("judgments", H4941G) — both masculine plural nouns, joined by ve- ("and"), forming the direct object of the teaching infinitive; they name two categories of legal material to be transmitted.
• 'a.so.te. ("observe", H6213A) — qal infinitive with suffix -khem ("you all"), introduced by le- ("to"); expresses the further purpose — not just learning but doing the statutes and judgments.
• 'oe.Rim ("about to pass over", H5674A) — qal participle, masculine plural, describing the addressees as those currently in the act/state of crossing, paired with the adverb sha.ma ("there", H8033G) and directional -h ("toward") pointing to the land.

What the text says

The verse opens with ve-'oti ("and me"), the direct object marker plus first-person suffix placed before the verb — a fronted object that emphasizes "me" (Moses) as the one commanded, distinguishing this from the broader instruction given to the people themselves. The subject Yehovah (H3068) follows the verb tzi.Vah ("he commanded", H6680), a piel perfect indicating a completed, intensified act of command. The temporal phrase ba-'et ha-hi' ("at that time") anchors this command to a specific past moment already established in the narrative.

Two infinitive purpose clauses follow, both formed with the preposition le- ("to"): first le-lammed ("to teach", H3925G) governing the direct object 'et-khem ("you") and the nouns chuqqim ("statutes", H2706G) and mishpatim ("judgments", H4941G); second la-'asotekhem ("for you to observe", H6213A) with the pronominal suffix -khem built directly into the infinitive, marking the people themselves as the subject of the "doing." This creates a chain: Yehovah commanded Moses → to teach the people → so that they would do what was taught. The final clause locates this teaching-and-doing in ha-'aretz ("the land", H0776G) that the addressees, described by the qal participle 'ovrim ("crossing", H5674A), are in the process of crossing into, with le-rishtah ("to possess it", H3423H) stating the ultimate purpose of the crossing.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders chuqqim and mishpatim as dikaiōmata ("statutes/righteous acts") and kriseis ("judgments"), a fairly close semantic match. The Vulgate uses caeremonias ("ceremonies") for chuqqim and judicia ("judgments") for mishpatim, where "ceremonies" narrows the sense of the Hebrew term toward ritual practice rather than the broader category of "statutes." The Hebrew participle 'ovrim ("you are crossing") is rendered by the LXX with a present tense verb (eisporeuesthe, "you are entering") and by the Vulgate with a future periphrastic (possessuri estis, "you are about to possess"), shifting emphasis from the ongoing crossing to the anticipated possession.