Deuteronomy 6:18

Summary

The verse instructs the addressee to do what is ha-yashar ("the right") and ha-tov ("the good") in the eyes of Yehovah, with the stated purpose that things go well for him, that he enter, and that he take possession of the good land Yehovah swore to the ancestors. The syntax links moral conduct to entry into and possession of the land through a chain of sequential verb forms.

Key words

• 'a.Si.ta ("you will do", H6213A) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain begun elsewhere in the passage; expresses an action to be completed.
• ya.Shar ("right", H3477G) — masculine singular adjective with definite article, functioning as a substantive ("the right [thing]").
• 'ei.Nei ("eyes of", H5869H) — feminine dual construct noun, forming the idiom "in the eyes of," indicating perspective or judgment.
• le.Ma.'an ("so that", H4616) — subordinating particle introducing purpose/result for the preceding command.
• nish.Ba' ("he swore", H7650) — niphal perfect, a completed oath-action attributed to Yehovah.

What the text says

The verse opens with ve.'a.Si.ta ("and you will do"), a sequential perfect that continues a chain of instructions begun in prior verses. Its object is a pair of adjectives, ha-yashar ("the right", H3477G) and ha-tov ("the good", H2896A), both bearing the definite article ha (H9009) and functioning as substantives — "the right thing" and "the good thing" — rather than modifying a noun. These are qualified by the phrase be'einei Yehovah ("in the eyes of Yehovah", H5869H + H3068G), using the construct dual noun for "eyes" to express evaluative standard: the action is measured from Yehovah's perspective.

The particle lema'an (H4616) introduces the purpose clause that follows: yitav lakh ("it may go well for you"), built on a jussive verb form (H3190) expressing a wished-for or resulting state rather than a simple future. The subsequent verbs vata ("you will go", H0935G) and yarashta ("you will take possession of", H3423H) are both sequential perfects joined by the narrative vav (H9001), continuing the same chain as the opening verb — entering and possessing are presented as consequences flowing from the initial command.

The relative clause asher-nishba' Yehovah la'avoteikha ("which Yehovah swore to your ancestors") uses the niphal perfect nishba' (H7650), a passive/reflexive stem denoting the act of swearing as a completed event, attached to the noun avoteikha ("your ancestors", H0001G construct plus H9021 suffix).

Differences between versions

The LXX renders be'einei Yehovah ("in the eyes of Yehovah") as ἐναντίον Κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ ὑμῶν ("before the Lord your God"), adding "your God" and shifting the "eyes" idiom to a spatial "before." The Vulgate uses "in conspectu Domini" ("in the sight of the Lord"), closer to the Hebrew idiom than the LXX's addition. The LXX and some translations (BSB) also insert "your God" after "Yehovah" near the end, where the Hebrew text as given has only Yehovah (H3068G) without a possessive "your God" at that point.