Deuteronomy 6:9

Summary

Deuteronomy 6:9 instructs writing certain words (referred to by the pronominal suffix "them") on the doorposts of the house and on the gates. The verse continues a sequence of actions tied together by the sequential verb form.

Key words

• khe.tav.Ta ("you will write", H3789) — qal perfect with sequential force, meaning it continues a chain of prior commands as the next action in sequence, rather than a standalone command.
• m ("them", H9038) — pronominal suffix attached to the verb, referring back to words established earlier in the passage; the object itself is not restated here, only referenced.
• me.zu.Zot ("doorposts of", H4201) — feminine plural noun in construct state, meaning it must be followed by another noun to complete its meaning ("doorposts of ___").
• bei.Te.kha ("your house", H1004B + H9021) — masculine singular noun in construct with a second-person masculine singular suffix, specifying whose house is meant.
• sh.'a.Rei.kha ("your gates", H8179G + H9021) — masculine plural noun in construct with the same suffix, paralleling "your house" and extending the instruction to a second location.

What the text says

The verse opens with the conjunction u ("and", H9001) attached to the verb khe.tav.Ta ("you will write", H3789), forming a sequential perfect. This grammatical form signals that the action of writing follows logically or temporally from previous instructions, functioning as part of an ongoing chain rather than an isolated statement. The suffix m ("them", H9038) on the verb indicates a plural object that was specified earlier in the broader passage; the verse itself does not name what is to be written, relying on prior context.

The two locations for this writing are structured in parallel using construct chains. me.zu.Zot ("doorposts of", H4201), a feminine plural noun, is placed in construct with bei.Te.kha ("your house", H1004B), a masculine singular noun bearing the second-person singular suffix kha ("your", H9021). This construct phrase literally reads "doorposts of your house." The second location, sh.'a.Rei.kha ("your gates", H8179G), also carries the same suffix kha, and is joined to the first phrase by the conjunction u ("and", H9002) with the preposition vi ("on", H9003). The grammatical parallelism between "doorposts of your house" and "your gates" gives the instruction a symmetrical two-part structure, both locations marked with the same second-person singular possessive ending.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew bei.Te.kha ("your house", H1004B) is singular, but the BSB renders it as "houses" (plural). The Vulgate reads "in limine, et ostiis domus tuae" ("on the threshold, and on the doors of your house"), which structures the two locations differently than the Hebrew's "doorposts...and gates" pairing. The LXXSWETE Greek text appears fragmentary in the provided data ("τῶν οἱ καὶ τῶν πυλῶν"), showing an irregular construction compared to the Hebrew's clearer parallel structure.