וּבִנְךָ֣ (ū·ḇin·ḵā) in Deuteronomy 6:2: Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
וּבִנְךָ֣ (ū·ḇin·ḵā) in Deuteronomy 6:2
Source Word
Deuteronomy 6:2 token 2 is וּבִנְךָ֣, H1121, parsed Conj-w | N-msc | 2ms and aligned with and your children.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The compact kinship form begins a widening generational horizon, moving the command from the present hearer toward children and grandchildren.
How To Communicate It
Use the construct relation to explain intergenerational responsibility, then distinguish faithful nurture from control, guarantee, or gender-based exclusion.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- The masculine singular form expresses your son in the Hebrew sequence; it must not be used to exclude daughters from covenant formation.
- The verse calls for faithful intergenerational teaching but does not guarantee or coerce another person's response.
- Do not shame parents, people without children, adoptive families, single adults, or other households by turning this kinship form into a spiritual hierarchy.
What Does The Label Mean?
Hebrew-nominal
Noun
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Masculine
Singular
Construct
Conj-w
Second person masculine singular
The waw adds the next generation to the singular you addressed by Moses, while the construct noun and second-person suffix form your son. The BSB uses the collective English children because the verse immediately expands the line to a son's son, rendered grandchildren.
The noun begins a three-generation sequence in which reverence and covenant obedience are to extend through the household over a lifetime.
What The Form Does In This Verse
The waw joins your son to the singular addressee, and the following son of your son extends the line another generation.
The purpose clause calling the covenant community to lifelong fear of the Lord and command keeping.
It introduces the first descendant generation within a multigenerational pattern of covenant instruction.
It does not exclude daughters, reduce formation to biological parenthood, guarantee descendants' obedience, or assign parents total control over another person's response.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The construct and suffix open a three-generation formation pattern in a foundational covenant-teaching passage.
Waw-linked masculine singular construct with second-person suffix. adds the addressee's child before extending to the next generation. Attached to the singular covenant addressee. Governed by the purpose of lifelong fear and obedience. English pluralization communicates the broader sequence rather than changing the source morphology.
How can the Hebrew say your son while the BSB says your children? This singular form begins a sequence that immediately adds a son's son; the translation presents the resulting generations as children and grandchildren.
Interpretive: Children renders the first singular kinship form collectively in light of the generation-expanding phrase that follows.
The second-person masculine singular suffix reflects the discourse's representative address. Grammatical masculine does not establish lesser covenant standing for daughters. A call to teach across generations is not a promise of automatic response.
Only sons are included: Read the masculine form within the whole-community address and do not turn grammatical gender into spiritual exclusion. faithful parents guarantee faithful children: The verse commands durable formation but does not remove each person's agency and responsibility. parenthood gives higher covenant status: Do not marginalize nonparents or varied households; intergenerational teaching belongs to the covenant community.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
Deuteronomy 6:2 token 2 is וּבִנְךָ֣, H1121, parsed Conj-w | N-msc | 2ms and aligned with and your children.
בֵּן names a son or descendant relation; here the construct form plus suffix identifies the addressee's child within a sequence of generations.
The singular your son is followed by son of your son, creating a generational chain that the BSB communicates as children and grandchildren.
Moses calls Israel to enduring reverence and obedience that is taught and embodied across generations in the land.
Scripture addresses households and communities while also treating each person as morally responsible; faithful teaching is not mechanical control over another's response.
Emphasize durable, communal formation across generations while including daughters, nonparents, and varied households in the covenant community's teaching responsibility.
Do not infer male spiritual superiority, promise automatic faith in descendants, blame parents simplistically for a child's choices, or marginalize people without biological children.