Deuteronomy 6:12

Summary

The verse warns the addressee (Israel, second person singular) to be careful not to forget Yehovah, identified as the one who brought him out of the land of Egypt, described as "a house of slaves." It is structured as a warning clause introduced by a reflexive imperative followed by a negative purpose clause.

Key words

• hi.Sha.mer ("take heed", H8104J) — niphal imperative, giving the verb a reflexive/passive nuance: "guard yourself," directed at the addressee's own vigilance rather than an external object.
• pen- ("lest", H6435) — subordinating particle introducing a negative purpose/result clause, linking the warning to the danger it guards against.
• tish.Kach ("you should forget", H7911) — qal imperfect, marking an action not yet completed, here potential or feared future forgetting.
• ho.tzi.'a ("he brought out", H3318H) — hiphil perfect, causative form indicating a completed act performed by Yehovah upon the addressee ("caused you to go out").
• 'a.va.Dim ("slaves", H5650) — masculine plural noun, in construct with Beit ("house of", H1004B), forming the phrase "house of slaves" describing Egypt.

What the text says

The sentence opens with hi.Sha.mer lekha ("take heed to yourself"), a niphal imperative combined with the preposition le ("to", H9005) and the pronominal suffix kha ("your", H9031), producing a reflexive command directed at self-vigilance. This is followed by pen-tishkach ("lest you forget"), where the particle pen (H6435) introduces the qal imperfect tishkach (H7911), expressing the outcome the addressee must avoid — an unfinished or potential act of forgetting.

The object of that forgetting is marked by the direct object marker 'et (H0853, untranslated) followed by Yahweh (H3068G). A relative clause introduced by 'asher ("who", H0834A) then describes Yehovah through the hiphil perfect hotzi'akha ("he brought you out", H3318H), a causative verb form indicating a completed action performed directly upon the addressee (the pronominal suffix kha, H9031, "you"). The geographic origin of this action is given through two parallel construct phrases: me'Eretz Mitzrayim ("from the land of Egypt", H0776G/H4714G) and mibbeit 'avadim ("from a house of slaves", H1004B/H5650), the second phrase functioning as a descriptive apposition to the first, characterizing Egypt not by name alone but by its condition of servitude.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text uses only the tetragrammaton Yahweh (H3068G), while the LXX renders it as Κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου ("Lord your God"), adding a possessive and a divine title not present in the Hebrew wording of this verse. The Vulgate text provided does not correspond to Deuteronomy 6:12 but appears to reflect different verse content ("and you have eaten and been satisfied"), so no direct comparison can be made from the data given.