Deuteronomy 5:31

Summary

Yehovah instructs Moses to remain standing beside him so that he may dictate the full set of commandments, statutes, and judgments. Moses is then to teach these to the people, who will carry them out once they are settled in the land that Yehovah is giving them to possess.

Key words

• 'a.Tah ("you", H0859A) — an independent personal pronoun placed emphatically after the conjunction ve, singling out Moses in contrast to the rest of the people, who (per the preceding verses) return to their tents.
• 'a.Mod ("stand", H5975G) — qal imperative, a direct command addressed to Moses alone.
• 'a.da.be.Rah ("let me speak", H1696G) — piel form expressing purpose/result ("so that I may speak"), intensifying the ordinary verb "to speak" and linking Moses' presence to the transmission of the law.
• te.la.me.De ("you will teach", H3925G) — piel imperfect, denoting an intensive, repeated or future teaching activity, with the object suffix -m ("them") referring to the commandments just listed.
• 'a.Su ("they will observe", H6213A) — qal sequential perfect (vav + perfect), continuing the chain of purpose: after Moses teaches, the people will act on what they learn.

What the text says

The verse opens with the disjunctive construction ve-'atah ("but as for you"), which sets Moses apart from the people mentioned in the previous verse who are sent back to their tents. The imperative 'a.Mod ("stand") together with 'i.ma.Di ("with me") establishes Moses' unique position beside Yehovah. The cohortative-purpose form 'a.da.be.Rah ("let me speak") ties this positioning to an intended action: Yehovah's speaking depends on Moses remaining present.

The direct object marked by 'et (H0853, untranslated) introduces three legal categories — ha-mitzvah ("the commandment"), ha-chukkim ("the statutes"), ha-mishpatim ("the judgments") — joined by repeated ve. The relative clause 'asher te.la.me.dem ("which you will teach them") assigns Moses the role of transmitter. The following ve-'asu ("and they will observe/do"), using the sequential perfect after an imperfect verb, marks a logical continuation: teaching leads to doing. The final infinitive le-rish.Tah ("to possess it") explains the purpose of entering the land, with the pronominal suffix -ah ("it/her") referring back to ha-'aretz ("the land").

Differences between versions

The Hebrew 'i.ma.Di ("with me") is rendered in the Vulgate as mecum ("with me"), matching the Hebrew, but the LXX gives only αὐτοῦ στῆθι ("stand there"), omitting an explicit "with me." In the closing phrase, the Hebrew le-rish.Tah ("to possess it") is translated in the LXX as ἐν κλήρῳ ("as an inheritance/by lot"), a phrase not present as such in the Hebrew wording, while the Vulgate's in possessionem ("into possession") stays closer to the Hebrew sense of taking possession.