Deuteronomy 4:40

Summary

Deuteronomy 4:40 instructs the addressee to keep the statutes and commandments being commanded "this day," with the stated purpose that things go well for him and his descendants, and that he prolong his days on the land that Yehovah his God is giving him.

Key words

• sha.mar.Ta ("you will keep", H8104G) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain from previous verses as an ongoing obligation rather than a single event.
• chu.Ka ("statutes", H2706G) — masculine plural construct with the suffix "his" (וֹ), marking these as belonging to the referent introduced earlier in the passage.
• me.tza.ve. ("commanding", H6680) — piel participle, expressing an action in progress: "I am [in the act of] commanding," distinct from a completed command.
• ta.'a.Rikh ("you may prolong", H0748) — hiphil jussive, causative form: the subject causes his own days to be long, linked to le.Ma.'an ("so that", H4616) as purpose.
• no.Ten ("giving", H5414G) — qal participle, presenting the giving of the land as an ongoing or imminent action rather than a past completed grant.

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of purpose clauses attached to the main imperative-like instruction sha.mar.Ta ("you will keep," H8104G). The object markers 'et- (H0853) introduce two paired objects — chu.Ka ("statutes," H2706G) and mitz.vo.Ta ("commandments," H4687) — both marked as construct nouns bearing the third-person suffix "his," linking them to the one who commands. The relative clause 'a.Sher 'a.no.Khi me.tza.ve.Kha ("which I am commanding you," H0834A + H0595 + H6680) uses the piel participle to frame the commanding as a present, continuing act "today" (ha.Yom, H3117G).

The purpose structure follows with a second 'a.Sher clause (H0834A) introducing the result yi.Tav ("it will go well," H3190, qal imperfect), extended to "you and your sons after you" through the construct chain va.Nei.kha 'a.cha.Rei.kha (H1121A + H0310A). A further purpose is added with le.Ma.'an ("so that," H4616) governing the hiphil jussive ta.'a.Rikh ("you may prolong," H0748), a causative form indicating the subject actively extends the duration of "days" (ya.Mim, H3117G) upon "the land" ('a.da.Mah, H0127G). The final relative clause identifies this land as what Yehovah (H3068G) 'e.lo.Hei.kha ("your God," H0430G) is no.Ten ("giving," H5414G) — a qal participle expressing an action presented as ongoing rather than a finished transaction — closing with kol- ha.Yamim ("all the days," H3605 + H3117G).

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the Hebrew sequential perfect sha.mar.Ta ("you will keep") as an imperative plural, φυλάξασθε ("keep," plural), where the Hebrew form is singular. The Vulgate similarly gives Custodi as a direct imperative, differing from the Hebrew's sequential perfect construction that continues a preceding chain rather than issuing a fresh command. The Hebrew participle no.Ten ("is giving") is rendered by the LXX with present δίδωσίν and by the Vulgate with a future periphrastic daturus est ("is about to give"), showing a difference in how the ongoing/future nuance of the Hebrew participle is captured.