Exodus 13:9

Summary

Exodus 13:9 states that the observance just commanded will function as a sign on the hand and a reminder between the eyes, with the purpose that the teaching of Yehovah remain in the mouth. The verse closes with the reason: Yehovah brought the addressee out of Egypt "by a strong hand."

Key words

• ha.Yah ("it will become", H1961) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain begun by the preceding verses; it sets up "it will be to you" as an ongoing state, not a single event.
• 'ot ("a sign", H0226H) — feminine singular noun marked by the preposition le ("for/into"), indicating the function or purpose the thing takes on for the addressee.
• zi.ka.rOn ("a reminder", H2146) — masculine singular noun paired with 'ot via u-le ("and into"), giving two parallel functions (sign / reminder) for the same referent.
• tih.Yeh ("it may be", H1961) — qal jussive (third person feminine, agreeing with torah), introduced by le.Ma.'an ("so that"), expressing the intended result rather than a plain future.
• ho.tzi.'a. ("he brought out", H3318H) — hiphil perfect (causative, completed action), the causative stem marking Yehovah as the one who caused the exit, with the object suffix -kha ("you") attached directly to the verb.

What the text says

The verse opens with ve.ha.Yah ("and it will become"), a sequential perfect that links this statement to the preceding instructions as their continuing consequence. The subject of "it will become" is not stated by an explicit noun here but is picked up from context; what follows are two prepositional phrases marking its double function: le.Kha le.'ot ("for you, into a sign") 'al yade.kha ("upon your hand"), and u.le.zi.ka.rOn ("and into a reminder") bein 'einei.kha ("between your eyes"). Both 'ot and zi.ka.rOn are governed by the preposition le, which in Hebrew marks the resulting role or purpose of a thing, distinct from simple equivalence — the object is not identical to a "sign," but functions "as" one.

The clause introduced by le.Ma.'an ("so that") states purpose using the jussive tih.Yeh ("it may be"), agreeing grammatically with the feminine noun to.Rat ("law/teaching of", construct form), which itself is bound to Yehovah and located be.Fi.kha ("in your mouth"). The construct chain to.Rat Yehovah ties the "law" directly to the divine name without an intervening word. The final clause is introduced by ki ("for/because"), providing the causal ground: be.Yad chazakah ("by a strong hand"), using the adjective cha.za.Kah ("strong") modifying yad ("hand"), followed by the hiphil perfect ho.tzi.'a.kha ("he brought you out"), with Yehovah as explicit subject and Egypt as the source marked by mi- ("from").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders torah as nomos ("law") and uses hina/hopōs type purpose construction (hopōs an genētai, "so that it may become"), matching the Hebrew jussive sense of tih.Yeh. The Vulgate adds quasi ("as if/like") before "sign" and "reminder," a comparative nuance not present in the Hebrew construct-with-le construction, which marks function rather than mere resemblance. The Vulgate also inserts semper ("always") before "in your mouth," a temporal marker without a corresponding word in the Hebrew text. Modern versions such as BSB and SBLIBRE render bein 'einekha ("between your eyes") as "on your forehead," an interpretive rendering not literally present in the Hebrew phrase, which names the eyes rather than the forehead.