Deuteronomy 6:21

Summary

Deuteronomy 6:21 gives the answer a father is instructed to give his son: a declaration that "we" were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and that Yehovah brought "us" out of Egypt by a strong hand. The verse functions as the opening line of a historical recitation embedded in a father-to-son dialogue.

Key words

• 'a.mar.Ta ("you will say", H0559) — qal sequential perfect, second person masculine singular; continues the narrative sequence from the preceding verse, indicating a future/habitual speech act ("you will say" / "you shall say").
• 'a.va.Dim ("slaves", H5650) — masculine plural noun, functioning as a predicate nominative with haYinu ("we were") to form the clause "slaves we were."
• ha.Yi.nu ("we were", H1961) — qal perfect, first person plural; a completed state in past time, establishing the condition prior to the exodus.
• i.yo.tzi.'Enu ("he brought us out", H3318H) — hiphil narrative form (causative), first person plural suffix -nu ("us"); the hiphil stem marks Yehovah as the causer of the "going out," not merely an agent of movement.
• Yad chazaKah ("a hand, strong", H3027H + H2389) — noun plus feminine singular adjective in agreement, forming the fixed expression "a strong hand," describing the manner of the deliverance.

What the text says

The verse is structured as two parallel clauses joined by the narrative vav (H9001). The first clause, 'avaDim haYinu leFar'oh beMitzrayim ("slaves we were to Pharaoh in Egypt"), places the predicate noun 'avaDim ("slaves") before the verb haYinu ("we were"), a common Hebrew word order that gives emphasis to the status of servitude itself, rather than to the pronoun "we." The second clause shifts to a narrative sequential form, vaiyotzi'Enu ("and he brought us out"), where the hiphil stem of the root behind H3318H expresses that Yehovah caused the going-out to happen, rather than simply being present at it. The suffix -nu ("us") on this verb and on haYinu creates a first-person plural voice throughout, so the speaker (the father) includes himself among those who were slaves and among those brought out, even though the immediate audience for the speech is "your child" (binKha, H1121A + H9021).

The final phrase, beYad chazaKah ("by a strong hand," H3027H + H2389), uses a noun-adjective pair in grammatical agreement (both feminine singular) to describe the manner of Yehovah's action, without further verbal elaboration in this verse.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders beYad chazaKah with an expanded phrase, "ἐν χειρὶ κραταιᾷ καὶ ἐν ὑψηλῷ" ("with a strong hand and with a high [arm/act]"), adding a second descriptive element not present in the Hebrew text given here, which has only "a strong hand." The Vulgate's "in manu forti" ("with a strong hand") corresponds closely to the Hebrew phrase without the additional element found in the LXX.