Hebrew Form Guide

אֲצַוֶּֽנּוּ׃ (’ă·ṣaw·wen·nū) in Deuteronomy 18:18: Verb - Piel - Imperfect - first person common singular | third person masculine singular

אֲצַוֶּֽנּוּ׃ (’ă·ṣaw·wen·nū) in Deuteronomy 18:18

Source Word

אֲצַוֶּֽנּוּ׃’ă·ṣaw·wen·nūVerb - Piel - Imperfect - first person common singular | third person masculine singular

Deuteronomy 18:18 row 15 aligns H6680 with I command him after the Lord promises to put his words in the prophet's mouth.

How The Form Affects Interpretation

Everything I command him makes the promised speaker accountable to words received from the Lord rather than to private authority. I voices the Lord's first-person agency, command expresses authoritative instruction, and him renders the suffix whose antecedent is the singular prophet.

How To Communicate It

Trace I to the Lord and him to the prophet, then connect command with words placed in his mouth and with the testing instructions that follow.

What Not To Say

  • Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
  • Do not use the suffix as a shortcut around the passage's literary setting, prophetic tests, or later canonical interpretation.
  • The imperfect belongs to the Lord's future promise in this discourse.
  • The form does not authorize a prophet to invent content, identify every claimant as genuine, or settle the full identity and fulfillment of the promised prophet by morphology alone.

What Does The Label Mean?

Profile

Hebrew-verb

Part of Speech

Verb

Form Label

Verb - Piel - Imperfect - first person common singular | third person masculine singular

Stem

Piel

Aspect

Imperf

Person

First

Gender

Common

Number

Singular

State

Not applicable

Suffix

Third person masculine singular

Aspect Note

The Piel imperfect carries the Lord's first-person common singular subject and a third-person masculine singular suffix for the promised prophet. The following speech clause identifies the content as everything the Lord commands him.

Verse Role

The form binds the prophet's message to the Lord as commander and the singular prophet as recipient of that instruction.

What The Form Does In This Verse

Attached To

The Lord's promise to place his words in the mouth of a prophet raised from among Israel's brothers

Governed By

The contrast between forbidden divination and the authorized prophetic word Israel must hear

Role In The Phrase

The form binds the prophet's message to the Lord as commander and the singular prophet as recipient of that instruction.

What It Is Not Doing

The form does not authorize a prophet to invent content, identify every claimant as genuine, or settle the full identity and fulfillment of the promised prophet by morphology alone.

How Much The Form Matters Here

Interpretive Weight

High: The form places prophetic authority under the Lord's command at the precise point where the prophet's message is defined.

Syntax Profile

The Piel imperfect carries the Lord's first-person common singular subject and a third-person masculine singular suffix for the promised prophet. The following speech clause identifies the content as everything the Lord commands him.. The form binds the prophet's message to the Lord as commander and the singular prophet as recipient of that instruction.. Attached to the Lord's promise to place his words in the mouth of a prophet raised from among Israel's brothers. Governed by the contrast between forbidden divination and the authorized prophetic word Israel must hear. The form does not authorize a prophet to invent content, identify every claimant as genuine, or settle the full identity and fulfillment of the promised prophet by morphology alone.

Reader Question

What limits the promised prophet's speech in Deuteronomy 18:18? He is to tell the people everything the Lord commands him, so his speech remains derivative of the Lord's own words.

Translation Effect

Direct: I voices the Lord's first-person agency, command expresses authoritative instruction, and him renders the suffix whose antecedent is the singular prophet.

Where Caution Is Needed

The imperfect belongs to the Lord's future promise in this discourse. The suffix identifies the singular prophet locally, but morphology alone does not exhaust the passage's fulfillment horizon.

Fallacies To Avoid

The singular suffix made to identify a specific later person without the passage or canonical context doing that work: Do not use the suffix as a shortcut around the passage's literary setting, prophetic tests, or later canonical interpretation. I command him used to validate a modern speaker without the passage's tests of divine authorization and truthful fulfillment: Keep "I command him" connected to אֲצַוֶּֽנּוּ׃, row 15, and the full Deuteronomy 18:18 clause.

How The Interpretation Is Derived

Textual Witness

Deuteronomy 18:18 row 15 aligns H6680 with I command him after the Lord promises to put his words in the prophet's mouth.

Lexical Identity

This row 15 H6680 witness concerns the Lord's instruction to the promised prophet, distinct from Israel commanding children in Deuteronomy 32:46.

Grammar In Context

The Piel imperfect carries the Lord's first-person common singular subject and a third-person masculine singular suffix for the promised prophet. The following speech clause identifies the content as everything the Lord commands him.

Passage Meaning

Deuteronomy 18:15-22 promises a prophet like Moses, locates his words under the Lord's command, and gives Israel standards for hearing and testing prophetic speech.

Canonical Fit

This command belongs to Deuteronomy's ordered provision for prophetic mediation; later fulfillment claims require attention to the wider canonical witness.

Communication Use

Trace I to the Lord and him to the prophet, then connect command with words placed in his mouth and with the testing instructions that follow.

Do Not Derive

Do not use the suffix as a shortcut around the passage's literary setting, prophetic tests, or later canonical interpretation.