Deuteronomy 6:25

Summary

The verse concludes the passage by stating that "righteousness" will belong to the people on condition that they carefully observe all "this commandment," here before Yehovah their God, exactly as he commanded them. It frames obedience to the commandment as the basis for this benefit.

Key words

• tzedakah ("righteousness", H6666) — feminine singular noun, the subject of the sentence; what will "belong" to the people.
• tihyeh ("it will belong", H1961) — qal imperfect, third person feminine, agreeing with tzedakah; expresses future/ongoing action, "it will be."
• nishmor ("we will take care", H8104J) — qal imperfect, first person plural; introduces the conditional clause governed by ki ("if/that", H3588A).
• la'asot ("to do/observe", H6213A) — qal infinitive with prefixed preposition la (H9005), forming a purpose/complementary construction with nishmor: "take care to do."
• tzivvanu ("he commanded us", H6680) — piel perfect, third person masculine singular with first-person plural suffix; piel stem intensifies the sense of commanding, and the perfect marks a completed past action.

What the text says

The clause opens with u-tzedakah tihyeh-lanu ("and righteousness will-be to-us"), placing the noun tzedakah (H6666) at the front as the grammatical subject, with the verb tihyeh (H1961) agreeing with it in gender (feminine) and the prepositional phrase lanu ("to us") indicating who receives it. This is followed by the conditional particle ki (H3588A), which here functions as "if," introducing the condition under which the righteousness applies.

The condition itself uses two verbal forms together: nishmor (H8104J, qal imperfect "we will take care") plus the infinitive la'asot (H6213A, "to do"). This pairing of a finite verb with an infinitive construction ("take care to do") expresses diligence in performance, not just intention. The object of this careful doing is marked by 'et (H0853, untranslated object marker) followed by kol-ha-mitzvah ha-zot ("all the commandment, this"), a singular noun mitzvah (H4687) with the definite article and demonstrative zot (H2063), referring to a singular collective "commandment" rather than plural "commandments."

The action is located lifnei Yehovah Eloheinu ("before Yehovah our God," H6440G construct + H3068G + H0430G construct + suffix), placing the performance in the divine presence. The final clause ka'asher tzivvanu ("as he commanded us") uses the piel perfect tzivvanu (H6680), a completed act of commanding, with the comparative ka'asher (H0834D) linking present obedience to a past command.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew singular ha-mitzvah ha-zot ("this commandment") appears in the LXX as plural, πάσας τὰς ἐντολὰς ταύτας ("all these commandments"), and the Vulgate similarly reads omnia præcepta ejus ("all his precepts"), both pluralizing what the Hebrew presents as one singular commandment. Additionally, where the Hebrew has tzedakah (H6666, "righteousness"), the LXX renders ἐλεημοσύνη ("mercy/charity") and the Vulgate misericors ("merciful"), shifting the concept from righteousness to mercy.