Deuteronomy 6:22

Summary

The verse describes Yehovah giving/producing great and harmful signs and wonders against Egypt, against Pharaoh, and against his entire household, an event witnessed directly by the speakers ("our eyes"). It continues the narrative recounting of the exodus events within Moses' speech.

Key words

• va-yiTen ("and he gave", H5414G) — qal narrative verb with vav-consecutive, marking the next event in a sequential chain of past narrative action.
• 'otot ("signs", H0226G) — feminine plural noun, paired with mofetim to form a common fixed expression for divine acts.
• mofetim ("wonders", H4159) — masculine plural noun; joined to 'otot by the conjunction u- ("and", H9002), forming a two-part phrase.
• ge.doLim ("great", H1419A) and ra'im ("bad/harmful", H7451A) — masculine plural adjectives modifying both 'otot and mofetim together, since the adjectives agree in gender/number with the preceding nouns as a combined set.
• le-'einei-nu ("to our eyes", H5869J + H9025) — construct noun 'einei ("eyes of") with 1st person plural suffix -nu ("our"), forming an idiom meaning "in our sight" or "before us."

What the text says

The clause opens with the narrative verb va-yiTen ("and he gave"), which places the action in sequence with prior narrated events, and its subject is Yehovah (H3068G), stated explicitly by name rather than by pronoun. The direct object is a doubled noun phrase, 'otot u-mofetim ("signs and wonders"), joined by the conjunction ve- (H9002). Both nouns are masculine/feminine plural respectively, but the two adjectives that follow, ge.doLim ("great") and ra'im ("bad"), are masculine plural and modify the compound object as a unit, not each noun separately.

The location and targets of these signs are expressed through a chain of three prepositional phrases all governed by be- ("on/in", H9003): be-Mitzrayim ("on Egypt"), be-Far'oh ("on Pharaoh"), and u-ve-khol-beito ("and on all his household"). The last phrase uses the construct chain kol beit-o ("all the house of him"), with the pronominal suffix -o ("his") attached to beit ("household", H1004M) in construct form. The final phrase, le-'einei-nu ("to our eyes"), uses the construct dual noun 'einei ("eyes of") with the suffix -nu ("our"), an idiomatic construction meaning direct eyewitness experience rather than literal reference to physical eyes alone.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders va-yiTen ("he gave") with ἔδωκεν ("he gave"), matching the Hebrew verb closely. The Vulgate uses fecit ("he made/did"), shifting the verb from "giving" to "making/doing." The BSB rendering "inflicted" diverges further stylistically, framing the signs as an infliction rather than as something "given," though the underlying Hebrew verb natan (H5414G) carries the neutral sense of "giving" or "placing."