Hebrew Form Guide

תְּצַוֻּם֙ (tə·ṣaw·wum) in Deuteronomy 32:46: Verb - Piel - Imperfect - second person masculine plural | third person masculine plural

תְּצַוֻּם֙ (tə·ṣaw·wum) in Deuteronomy 32:46

Source Word

תְּצַוֻּם֙tə·ṣaw·wumVerb - Piel - Imperfect - second person masculine plural | third person masculine plural

Deuteronomy 32:46 row 13 aligns the H6680 Piel imperfect and plural suffix with you may command your children in Moses' final charge.

How The Form Affects Interpretation

You may command your children links taking the words to heart with handing them on, so instruction grows from a community first addressed by the law. You renders the plural subject, command expresses the directed instruction, and the suffix represented by your children points to the plural next generation.

How To Communicate It

Identify the plural people as instructors and their children as recipients, then connect the purpose clause backward to take to heart and forward to carefully follow.

What Not To Say

  • Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
  • Do not detach parental authority from the community's own submission to the word or make morphology justify harshness.
  • The imperfect receives purpose force from so that in the larger sentence.
  • The form does not make children passive property, reduce teaching to issuing orders, or transfer Moses' authority wholesale to any parent or leader.

What Does The Label Mean?

Profile

Hebrew-verb

Part of Speech

Verb

Form Label

Verb - Piel - Imperfect - second person masculine plural | third person masculine plural

Stem

Piel

Aspect

Imperf

Person

Second

Gender

Masculine

Number

Plural

State

Not applicable

Suffix

Third person masculine plural

Aspect Note

The Piel imperfect marks the addressed Israelites as a second-person masculine plural subject and carries a third-person masculine plural suffix for their children. The purpose wording so that you may gives the command its role in transmitting the law.

Verse Role

The form assigns the present generation responsibility to direct their children toward careful obedience to every word of the law.

What The Form Does In This Verse

Attached To

Moses' charge that the people take to heart all the words solemnly declared that day

Governed By

The conclusion of the song, where internal reception leads to deliberate instruction of the next generation

Role In The Phrase

The form assigns the present generation responsibility to direct their children toward careful obedience to every word of the law.

What It Is Not Doing

The form does not make children passive property, reduce teaching to issuing orders, or transfer Moses' authority wholesale to any parent or leader.

How Much The Form Matters Here

Interpretive Weight

High: The form turns received covenant testimony toward deliberate intergenerational transmission at the close of Moses' song.

Syntax Profile

The Piel imperfect marks the addressed Israelites as a second-person masculine plural subject and carries a third-person masculine plural suffix for their children. The purpose wording so that you may gives the command its role in transmitting the law.. The form assigns the present generation responsibility to direct their children toward careful obedience to every word of the law.. Attached to Moses' charge that the people take to heart all the words solemnly declared that day. Governed by the conclusion of the song, where internal reception leads to deliberate instruction of the next generation. The form does not make children passive property, reduce teaching to issuing orders, or transfer Moses' authority wholesale to any parent or leader.

Reader Question

Why are the Israelites to command their children in Deuteronomy 32:46? They are to transmit the words they themselves must take to heart so their children carefully follow the covenant law.

Translation Effect

Direct: You renders the plural subject, command expresses the directed instruction, and the suffix represented by your children points to the plural next generation.

Where Caution Is Needed

The imperfect receives purpose force from so that in the larger sentence. The suffix identifies the children as objects of instruction but does not prescribe every method by which that instruction is carried out.

Fallacies To Avoid

The object suffix treated as if it encoded possession and method instead of identifying the children being instructed: Do not detach parental authority from the community's own submission to the word or make morphology justify harshness. command your children isolated from taking the words to heart or used to authorize coercion unrelated to careful obedience to this law: Keep "you may command" connected to תְּצַוֻּם֙, row 13, and the full Deuteronomy 32:46 clause.

How The Interpretation Is Derived

Textual Witness

Deuteronomy 32:46 row 13 aligns the H6680 Piel imperfect and plural suffix with you may command your children in Moses' final charge.

Lexical Identity

This row 13 H6680 witness concerns Israel instructing the next generation, unlike Deuteronomy 18:18 where the Lord commands the singular prophet.

Grammar In Context

The Piel imperfect marks the addressed Israelites as a second-person masculine plural subject and carries a third-person masculine plural suffix for their children. The purpose wording so that you may gives the command its role in transmitting the law.

Passage Meaning

Deuteronomy 32:44-47 closes the song with a charge to internalize its words, command children to observe the law, and recognize that this word is Israel's life.

Canonical Fit

The instruction belongs to covenant transmission in Israel and echoes Deuteronomy's intergenerational concern; contemporary application should preserve both heartfelt reception and faithful teaching.

Communication Use

Identify the plural people as instructors and their children as recipients, then connect the purpose clause backward to take to heart and forward to carefully follow.

Do Not Derive

Do not detach parental authority from the community's own submission to the word or make morphology justify harshness.