Leviticus 19:37

Summary

This verse closes a legal section with a command to observe and perform two categories of divine instruction — chuqqot ("statutes") and mishpatim ("judgments") — followed by a self-identifying declaration formula, "I am Yehovah."

Key words

• shemarTem ("you will keep", H8104G) — qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural; continues a chain of prior commands, giving the sense of an ongoing obligation rather than a single event.
• chuqqotai ("my statutes", H2708) — feminine plural construct with 1st person suffix (-i, H9020); the construct chain ties these statutes directly to the speaker as possessor.
• mishpatai ("my judgments", H4941G) — masculine plural construct with the same 1st person suffix; paired with chuqqotai to form a double object introduced twice by the object marker 'et (H0853).
• 'asiTem ("you will do", H6213A) — qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural; parallels shemarTem in form, creating a two-verb sequence: keep, then do.
• otam ("them", H0853 + H9038) — object marker with 3rd person masculine plural suffix, referring back to the combined set of statutes and judgments as a single group.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built on two sequential perfect verbs, shemarTem ("you will keep") and 'asiTem ("you will do"), both 2nd person masculine plural, linked by the narrative vav (H9001/H9002) that continues a preceding chain of legal instructions. The object of the first verb is doubled: kol-chuqqotai ("all my statutes") and, joined by ve- ("and"), kol-mishpatai ("all my judgments"), each marked by the untranslated object marker 'et (H0853). Both nouns are construct forms carrying the 1st person suffix -i (H9020), so grammatically the statutes and judgments belong directly to the speaker without an intervening "of" phrase — the construct relationship itself expresses possession.

The second verb, 'asiTem ("you will do"), takes as its object otam ("them", H0853 + H9038), a pronoun referring collectively to both preceding categories. This produces a two-stage instruction: first shemarTem ("keep/guard"), then 'asiTem ("do/perform"), suggesting two distinct verbal actions applied to the same body of statutes and judgments. The verse ends with the independent pronoun 'ani ("I", H0589) followed by the divine name YHWH (H3068G), a nominal clause without a copula in Hebrew, functioning as a self-identification formula.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders chuqqotai ("my statutes") as "πάντα τὸν νόμον μου" ("all my law," singular) rather than a plural term, and adds "ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν" ("your God") after "κύριος" ("Lord"), an addition not present in the Hebrew's simple 'ani YHWH. The Vulgate renders the two Hebrew verbs as imperatives ("Custodite... facite," "keep... do") rather than as sequential perfects functioning as future-oriented commands, and it does not reproduce the object suffix otam ("them") as a separate word.