Deuteronomy 6:2
לְמַעַן תִּירָא אֶת־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לִשְׁמֹר אֶת־כָּל־חֻקֹּתָיו וּמִצְוֹתָיו אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוֶּךָ אַתָּה וּבִנְךָ וּבֶן־בִּנְךָ כֹּל יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ וּלְמַעַן יַאֲרִכֻן יָמֶֽיךָ׃
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✦ The same verse in five languages
לְמַ֨עַן תִּירָ֜א אֶת־יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֗יךָ לִ֠שְׁמֹר אֶת־כָּל־חֻקֹּתָ֣יו וּמִצְוֹתָיו֮ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אָנֹכִ֣י מְצַוֶּךָ֒ אַתָּה֙ וּבִנְךָ֣ וּבֶן־בִּנְךָ֔ כֹּ֖ל יְמֵ֣י חַיֶּ֑יךָ וּלְמַ֖עַן יַאֲרִכֻ֥ן יָמֶֽיךָ׃
ἵνα φοβῆσθε Κύριον τὸν θεὸν ὑμῶν· φυλάσσεσθε πάντα τὰ δικαιώματα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ ὅσας ἐγὼ ἐντέλλομαί σοι σήμερον, σὺ καὶ οἱ υἱοί σου καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν υἱῶν σου πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ζωῆς σου, ἵνα μακροημερεύσητε.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
ut timeas Dominum Deum tuum, et custodias omnia mandata et præcepta ejus, quæ ego præcipio tibi, et filiis, ac nepotibus tuis, cunctis diebus vitæ tuæ, ut prolongentur dies tui.
para que temas a Yehová, tu Dios, y guardes todos sus estatutos y sus mandamientos, que yo te mando a ti, a tu hijo y al hijo de tu hijo, todos los días de tu vida, y para que tus días se prolonguen.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Para que temas á Jehová tu Dios, guardando todos sus estatutos y sus mandamientos que yo te mando, tú, y tu hijo, y el hijo de tu hijo, todos los días de tu vida, y que tus días sean prolongados.
so that you and your children and grandchildren may fear the LORD your God all the days of your lives by keeping all His statutes and commandments that I give you, and so that your days may be prolonged.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Deuteronomy 6:2 states the purpose of transmitting the commandments: that the addressee, his son, and his grandson may fear Yehovah by keeping His statutes and commandments throughout their lives, and so that their days may be prolonged. The verse is built as two nested purpose clauses framing a chain of generational addressees.
Key words
- le.Ma'an ("so that", H4616) — a subordinating particle introducing purpose; it opens the verse and reappears in word 33, creating two parallel purpose clauses ("so that you fear... and so that your days be prolonged").
- ti.Ra' ("you may fear", H3372) — qal jussive, 2nd person masculine singular; despite the jussive form, after le.Ma'an it functions as a subordinate purpose verb, "that you fear."
- shmor ("keep", H8104) — qal infinitive construct with prefixed li ("to"); expresses the means by which the fearing is carried out — "by keeping."
- chuqoTav / mitzvoTav ("his statutes" / "his commandments", H2708 / H4687) — feminine plural nouns in construct with the 3ms suffix "his," referring back to Yehovah, not to the addressee.
- ya.'a.ri.Khu-n ("they may be long", H0748 + H9013) — hiphil jussive plural with a paragogic nun, an archaic/emphatic ending reinforcing the wish that the days be extended.
What the text says
The sentence opens with le.Ma'an tiRa, "so that you may fear," governing a string of appositional subjects that follow later: attah ("you," word 20), u.vinkha ("and your son"), and u.ven-binkha ("and your son's son"). Grammatically, these three terms are all in apposition to the second-person singular suffix already embedded in tiRa, meaning the singular verb form covers three generations addressed as a collective "you." The infinitive lishmor ("to keep") does not introduce a separate command but explains the manner of fearing — fearing is enacted through keeping the statutes and commandments. The construct chain kol chuqoTav u-mitzvoTav ("all his statutes and his commandments") uses the 3ms suffix "his," pointing to Yehovah as the source of the statutes, distinct from the "your" suffixes used for the human addressees. The clause asher anokhi metzavveKha ("which I am commanding you") is a participial relative clause identifying the speaker (Moses) as the one currently transmitting these statutes. The second le.Ma'an clause, closing the verse, shifts to the emphatic plural jussive ya'arikhun, marked by the paragogic nun, expressing the resulting wish that "your days" (plural noun yamekha) be prolonged.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders the Hebrew singular jussive tiRa and infinitive lishmor with plural imperative-type forms, φοβῆσθε ("you all fear") and φυλάσσεσθε ("you all guard"), shifting the grammatical number from a singular verb with appositional subjects to explicit plural verbs. The LXX also adds σήμερον ("today"), a temporal word not present in the Hebrew text as given. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew singular structure more closely (timeas... custodias) and does not include an equivalent to "today."
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.