Deuteronomy 12:5

KJV1611 – Modern English

But you shall seek the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there, to His habitation you shall come:

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

כִּ֠י אִֽם־אֶל־הַמָּק֞וֹם אֲשֶׁר־יִבְחַ֨ר יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶם֙ מִכָּל־שִׁבְטֵיכֶ֔ם לָשׂ֥וּם אֶת־שְׁמ֖וֹ שָׁ֑ם לְשִׁכְנ֥וֹ תִדְרְשׁ֖וּ וּבָ֥אתָ שָֽׁמָּה׃

Transliteration

kî ʾim-to-the māqôm which-yiḇḥar YHWH ʾĕlōhêḵɛm from-all-šiḇṭêḵɛm to lāśûm ʾet-šəmô there to šiḵnô tidrəšû û-ḇāʾtā there

Grammar Details

• *kî*: conjunction - for/because
• *ʾim*: conjunction - if/but
• *māqôm*: masculine singular noun - place
• *yiḇḥar*: qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular - he will choose
• *YHWH*: divine name
• *ʾĕlōhêḵɛm*: masculine plural noun with 2nd person masculine plural suffix - your God
• *šiḇṭêḵɛm*: masculine plural noun with 2nd person masculine plural suffix - your tribes
• *lāśûm*: preposition + qal infinitive construct - to put/place
• *šəmô*: masculine singular noun with 3rd person masculine singular suffix - his name
• *šiḵnô*: masculine singular noun with 3rd person masculine singular suffix - his dwelling
• *tidrəšû*: qal imperfect 2nd person masculine plural - you shall seek
• *û-ḇāʾtā*: conjunction + qal perfect 2nd person masculine singular - and you shall come

Word Meanings

• *kî* *ʾim*: but rather/except/but only
• *yiḇḥar*: choose/select/elect
• *lāśûm*: to put/to place/to set
• *šiḵnô*: his dwelling/his habitation/his abode
• *tidrəšû*: seek/inquire/require/resort to

Other Translations

• Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

  Instead, seek the place that the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put His name and make His presence dwell, and go there.

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

  But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:

• American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

  But unto the place which Jehovah your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come;

• King James Version with Strong's Numbers

  But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:

• Tyndale Bible (1526/1534)

  but ye shall enquere the place which the Lorde youre God shall haue chosen out of all youre trybes to put his name there and there to dwell.

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  but the place which ye LORDE youre God shal chose out of all yor trybes (that he maye let his name dwell there) shal ye seke,

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  But ye shal seeke the place which the Lord your God shall chose out of all your tribes, to put his Name there, and there to dwell, and thither thou shalt come,

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  But ye shall seeke the place which the Lorde your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, and there to dwell, and thyther thou shalt come:

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

  ¶ But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, [even] unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  But to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even to his habitation shall you seek, and there you shall come;

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  but unto the place which Jehovah your God doth choose out of all your tribes to put His name there, to His tabernacle ye seek, and thou hast entered thither,

• American Standard Version (1901)

  But unto the place which Jehovah your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come;

• American Standard Version (1901)

  But unto the place which Jehovah your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come;

• Bible in Basic English (1941)

  But let your hearts be turned to the place which will be marked out by the Lord your God, among your tribes, to put his name there;

• World English Bible (2000)

  But to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even to his habitation you shall seek, and there you shall come;

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  But you must seek only the place he chooses from all your tribes to establish his name as his place of residence, and you must go there.

Referenced Verses

• Deut 12:11 : 11 Then there will be a place which the LORD your God will choose to make His name dwell there; there you shall bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to the LORD:
• 2 Chr 7:12 : 12 And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night and said to him, I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.
• Deut 16:2 : 2 Therefore you shall sacrifice the Passover to the LORD your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place His name there.
• Deut 26:2 : 2 That you shall take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which you shall bring of your land that the LORD your God gives you, and shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which the LORD your God shall choose to place his name there.
• 1 Kgs 8:29 : 29 That your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you have said, My name shall be there: that you may listen to the prayer which your servant shall make toward this place.
• Ps 78:68 : 68 But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved.
• Josh 18:1 : 1 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them.
• 1 Kgs 8:16 : 16 Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.
• 1 Kgs 8:20 : 20 And the LORD has performed his word that he spoke, and I have risen up in place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.
• 1 Kgs 8:27 : 27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built?
• Deut 12:13 : 13 Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see:
• Exod 15:2 : 2 The LORD is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him a habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.
• Exod 25:22 : 22 There I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the testimony, of everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.
• Num 7:89 : 89 And when Moses went into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with Him, then he heard the voice of One speaking to him from the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubim: and He spoke to him.
• Ps 87:2-3 : 2 The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. 3 Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. Selah.
• Ps 132:13-14 : 13 For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling. 14 This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
• Isa 66:1-2 : 1 Thus says the LORD, The heavens are my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that you build for me? and where is the place of my rest? 2 For all those things my hand has made, and all those things have been, says the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is humble and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word.
• John 4:20-22 : 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. 21 Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
• Acts 7:48-50 : 48 However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says: 49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. What house will you build for me? says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? 50 Has not my hand made all these things?
• Eph 2:20-22 : 20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed together grows to a holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom you also are built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.
• Col 2:9 : 9 For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
• Heb 12:22 : 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,
• Rev 14:1 : 1 And I looked, and behold, a Lamb stood on Mount Zion, and with him one hundred forty-four thousand, having his Father's name written on their foreheads.
• 1 Kgs 14:21 : 21 And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the LORD chose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother's name was Naamah, an Ammonitess.
• 1 Chr 22:1 : 1 Then David said, This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.
• Josh 9:27 : 27 And Joshua made them that day woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation, and for the altar of the LORD, even to this day, in the place which He would choose.