You shall remember that you were a bondservant in Egypt: and you shall observe and do these statutes.
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The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.
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You shall remember that you were a bondservant in Egypt: and you shall observe and do these statutes.
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.
And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall keep and do these statutes.
unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).
Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.
You shall remember that you were a bondservant in Egypt: and you shall observe and do these statutes.
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and carefully follow these statutes.
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and carefully follow these statutes.
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a seruant in Egypt: therefore thou shalt obserue and doe these ordinances.
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in Egypt: and thou shalt keep and do the things that are commanded.
and thou hast remembered that a servant thou hast been in Egypt, and hast observed and done these statutes.
and you have remembered that you have been a servant in Egypt, and have observed and done these statutes.
You will call to mind that you were a slave in Egypt; you must observe and do these statutes.
And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall keep and do these statutes.
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and thou shalt keep and do these statutes.
You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt. You shall observe and do these statutes.
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bond-man in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.
Don't forget that you were once slaves in Egypt, and be careful to follow these regulations.
And you will keep in mind that you were a servant in the land of Egypt: and you will take care to keep all these laws.
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt; and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.
Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).
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These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →
Grammatical profile
Verb forms
Hebrew & Septuagint length
In English translation the verse runs 18 words from the Hebrew and 22 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.
A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.
Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.
In the original languages it is 10 Hebrew tokens and 15 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.
Topical passages linked to Deuteronomy 16:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.
Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).
The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.
These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.
וְזָ֣כַרְתָּ֔ כִּי עֶ֥בֶד הָיִ֖יתָ בְּמִצְרָ֑יִם וְשָׁמַרְתָּ֣ וְעָשִׂ֔יתָ אֶת הַֽחֻקִּ֖ים הָאֵֽלֶּה
You shall remember that you were a bondservant in Egypt: and you shall observe and do these statutes.
World English Bible · Public Domain
καί μιμνήσκω ὅτι οἰκέτης εἰμί ἐν γῆ αἴγυπτος καί φυλάσσω καί ποιέω ὁ ἐντολή οὗτος
And you shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and you shall observe and do these commands.
LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain
Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →
The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.
וְתִדְכַּר אֲרֵי עַבְדָא הֲוֵיתָא בְּמִצְרָיִם וְתִטַר וְתַעְבֵּד יָת קְיָמַיָא הָאִלֵין
(no public-domain English translation for this verse)
Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
וְתֶהֱווֹן דְּכִירִין אֲרוּם מְשַׁעְבְּדִין הֲוֵיתוּן בְּמִצְרַיִם וְתִיטְרוּן וְתַעַבְדוּן יַת קְיָימַיָא הָאִלֵין
Remember that you were servants in Mizraim; so shall you observe and perform these statutes.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.
Deuteronomy, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 10 words (10 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is chôq (“statute”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.
Commentary
Notes on Deuteronomy 16:12 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.
Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →
Trapp's Complete Commentary
John Trapp
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Joseph Benson's Commentary
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill's Exposition
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Rashi
Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)
Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.
Ramban (Nachmanides)
Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (Ramban / Nachmanides)
Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.