Numbers 15:40

Summary

Numbers 15:40 states a purpose clause: the addressees are told they will remember and carry out all of Yehovah's commandments, and consequently will be holy to their God. The verse closes a section (the passage on the fringes/tassels) by giving its rationale.

Key words

• le.Ma.'an ("so that", H4616) — subordinating particle introducing a purpose clause; it governs the verbs that follow, establishing "in order that" as the logical link to the preceding instructions.
• tiz.ke.Ru ("you may remember", H2142) — qal form, 2nd person masculine plural, marked here as jussive/subjunctive, the mood expected after le.Ma.'an; it expresses intended result rather than a flat statement of fact.
• 'a.si.Tem ("you will observe", H6213A) — qal sequential perfect, 2mp, continuing the chain begun by the jussive; the vav-prefixed perfect after a purpose verb carries forward the same subjunctive-like force ("and that you do").
• mitz.vo.Ta ("commandments", H4687) with suffix -i ("my") — feminine plural construct, "commandments of me," marking the commandments as belonging to the speaker (Yehovah, per the wider context).
• ke.do.Shim ("holy", H6918G) — masculine plural adjective, predicate describing the resulting state of the addressees, linked by the preposition le- ("to") to lo.hei ("God", H0430G) plus suffix -khem ("your"), itself a plural noun form used for the addressees' God.

What the text says

The sentence is built as a purpose/result chain: le.Ma.'an + jussive verb (tiz.ke.Ru) is followed by two verbs in the vav-consecutive perfect ('a.si.Tem, hyi.Tem), a construction in which the perfect forms continue the modal force of the initial jussive rather than describing separate completed actions. This yields a sequence: remembering leads to doing, and doing leads to being. The object of remembering and doing is kol-mitz.vo.Tai ("all my commandments"), with the 1st-person suffix identifying the speaker as the source of these commandments. The final clause states the result using the adjective ke.do.Shim ("holy") with the preposition le- attached to 'Elohei-khem ("your God"), indicating the addressees' holiness is oriented "toward" or "for" their God, using the plural noun form of "God" governed by a plural pronominal suffix agreeing with the plural addressees.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) shifts the grammatical person: where the Hebrew, LXX, and modern translations use 2nd person plural ("you will remember," "you will be"), the Vulgate uses 3rd person plural ("faciant... sintque," "let them do... and let them be"). The Vulgate also renders "my commandments" as præceptorum Domini ("commandments of the Lord"), replacing the Hebrew's 1st-person suffix -ai with an explicit reference to "the Lord" in the third person, differing from the Hebrew's direct first-person voice preserved in the LXX (τὰς ἐντολάς μου, "my commandments").