יִשְׁאָלְךָ֥ (yiš·’ā·lə·ḵā) in Deuteronomy 6:20: Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular | second person masculine singular
יִשְׁאָלְךָ֥ (yiš·’ā·lə·ḵā) in Deuteronomy 6:20
Source Word
The Deuteronomy 6:20 BSB+ word-table row 4 anchors יִשְׁאָלְךָ֥ as H7592, V-Qal-Imperf-3ms | 2ms, for the rendering "asks."
How The Form Affects Interpretation
Asks marks both participants in the teaching moment: the son initiates the question, and the attached you identifies the parent responsible to answer from redemption history. Asks renders the projected imperfect action, while the English context supplies son as subject and the suffix supplies you as the addressed parent.
How To Communicate It
Use the verb's subject and suffix to stage the conversation, then continue into the passage's answer rather than treating the child's question as a problem to suppress.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Do not make the imperfect imply skepticism or use this form to silence questions that the passage itself answers with the story of redemption.
- The imperfect projects a future or recurring household situation; it does not indicate uncertainty about whether questions belong in covenant teaching.
- The imperfect does not make the question doubtful or portray inquiry as rebellion; the following verses welcome it with redemptive testimony.
What Does The Label Mean?
Hebrew-verb
Verb
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular | second person masculine singular
Qal
Imperf
Third
Masculine
Singular
Not applicable
Second person masculine singular
The Qal imperfect anticipates a future question from a third-person masculine subject, the son, while the attached second-person suffix marks the parent who is asked.
The form opens a projected conversation in which a son addresses a covenant parent and asks for the meaning of commanded practices.
What The Form Does In This Verse
The future household question about the meaning of the Lord's decrees, statutes, and ordinances
The parent-child teaching scene that leads into Israel's testimony of deliverance from Egypt
The form opens a projected conversation in which a son addresses a covenant parent and asks for the meaning of commanded practices.
The imperfect does not make the question doubtful or portray inquiry as rebellion; the following verses welcome it with redemptive testimony.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The form marks a son as questioner and a parent as the one asked, turning covenant teaching into an intergenerational conversation.
The Qal imperfect anticipates a future question from a third-person masculine subject, the son, while the attached second-person suffix marks the parent who is asked.. The form opens a projected conversation in which a son addresses a covenant parent and asks for the meaning of commanded practices.. Attached to the future household question about the meaning of the Lord's decrees, statutes, and ordinances. Governed by the parent-child teaching scene that leads into Israel's testimony of deliverance from Egypt. The imperfect does not make the question doubtful or portray inquiry as rebellion; the following verses welcome it with redemptive testimony.
Who asks whom in Deuteronomy 6:20, and what opportunity does the question create? A future son asks the covenant parent, opening the way for an answer centered on the Lord's deliverance and commands.
Direct: Asks renders the projected imperfect action, while the English context supplies son as subject and the suffix supplies you as the addressed parent.
The imperfect projects a future or recurring household situation; it does not indicate uncertainty about whether questions belong in covenant teaching. The suffix identifies the addressed parent, while the quoted question uses plural command language rooted in Israel's communal life.
V-Qal-Imperf-3ms | 2ms at Deuteronomy 6:20 treated as the whole interpretation: Do not make the imperfect imply skepticism or use this form to silence questions that the passage itself answers with the story of redemption. the English rendering "asks" detached from its Hebrew form: Keep "asks" connected to יִשְׁאָלְךָ֥, row 4, and the full Deuteronomy 6:20 clause.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The Deuteronomy 6:20 BSB+ word-table row 4 anchors יִשְׁאָלְךָ֥ as H7592, V-Qal-Imperf-3ms | 2ms, for the rendering "asks."
For h7592-deuteronomy-6-20-v-qal-imperf-3ms-2ms, שָׁאַל is the lemma behind "asks" at row 4; this exact token keeps H7592 tied to Deuteronomy 6:20.
The Qal imperfect anticipates a future question from a third-person masculine subject, the son, while the attached second-person suffix marks the parent who is asked.
Deuteronomy 6:20 expects the next generation to ask why Israel lives under these commands, creating an opening for parents to recount the Lord's deliverance and covenant gift.
The anticipated question serves intergenerational testimony within Israel's covenant life; it is not a warning against sincere questions about faith and obedience.
Use the verb's subject and suffix to stage the conversation, then continue into the passage's answer rather than treating the child's question as a problem to suppress.
Do not make the imperfect imply skepticism or use this form to silence questions that the passage itself answers with the story of redemption.