Exodus 29:46

Summary

The verse states that Israel "will know" that Yehovah is their God, the one who brought them out of Egypt for the purpose of dwelling among them. The sentence closes with a restatement of the same divine formula that opens it, framing the clause about the exodus and indwelling.

Key words

• ya.de.'U ("they will know", H3045) — qal sequential perfect; continues a preceding narrative chain, presenting the coming recognition as a further link in a sequence of actions/events rather than an isolated statement.
• 'a.Ni ("I", H0589) — independent personal pronoun, used twice (once at the start of the ki-clause, once at the very end); its use alongside the verbal/nominal predicate Yehovah adds emphatic identification, not merely "I" as subject of a verb.
• ho.Tze.ti ("I brought out", H3318H) — hiphil (causative) perfect, marking a completed act with a causative sense: not simply "I went out" but "I caused [them] to go out."
• sha.khe.N ("dwell", H7931) with suffix -i ("my") — infinitive construct governed by the preposition le- ("to/for"), with a pronominal suffix functioning as the subject of the infinitive: literally "for my dwelling," not a finite verb.
• 'e.Lo.hei ("God", H0430G) — construct plural noun ("God of..."), grammatically plural in form though referring to a single deity, followed by the suffix -hem ("their").

What the text says

The clause opens with ve-yade'u ("and they will know"), a sequential perfect that ties this statement to prior narrated material rather than presenting it as a freestanding declaration. What follows ki ("that") is the content of that knowledge: the identity formula 'ani Yehovah 'elohei-hem ("I [am] Yehovah their God"), followed by a relative clause introduced by 'asher ("who") describing the action hotze'ti otam me-'eretz Mitzrayim ("I brought them out from the land of Egypt"). The purpose of that action is expressed through the infinitive construct le-shokh-ni be-tokham ("for my dwelling in their midst") — grammatically a nominalized action with a pronominal-suffix subject, rather than a finite subjunctive or purpose-verb form. The verse ends by repeating verbatim the opening formula 'ani Yehovah 'elohei-hem, creating a bracketing (inclusio) structure around the whole statement.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew infinitive construction le-shokhni ("for my dwelling") is rendered by the Vulgate as a subjunctive purpose clause, ut manerem ("that I might remain"), which supplies a finite verbal mood not present in the Hebrew infinitive. The modern translations (BSB "so that I might dwell," RV1909 "para habitar," SBLIBRE "para vivir") similarly convert the Hebrew infinitive-plus-suffix phrase into finite purpose clauses in their respective target languages, a shift required by the grammar of those languages rather than a difference in underlying meaning.