The Meaning of Deuteronomy 11:18 Explained

Deuteronomy 11:18

KJV: Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

YLT: 'And ye have placed these my words on your heart, and on your soul, and have bound them for a sign on your hand, and they have been for frontlets between your eyes;

Darby: And ye shall lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.

ASV: Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul; and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Therefore shall ye lay up  these my words  in your heart  and in your soul,  and bind  them for a sign  upon your hand,  that they may be as frontlets  between your eyes. 

What does Deuteronomy 11:18 Mean?

Context Summary

Deuteronomy 11:18-32 - The Blessing And The Curse
Never in this world do we reach a position from which it is impossible to fall away. The dew and the rain of God's blessing are contingent on obedience; and one of the strongest incentives to obedience is devout meditation on the Word of God. It is through the letter that we arrive at the spirit; and through the written words at the Eternal Word. We must store up the sacred words of God as a farmer stores up his grain, keeping them before us, making them the familiar topics of home-talk, and exercising ourselves in them. Let us specially ponder Deuteronomy 11:22-25, appropriating them in a spiritual sense, and claiming their equivalents in the inner life.
All along our lives are Ebals and Gerizims, with their "Come, ye blessed" and "Depart, ye cursed." Always we are arriving at the crossways, on the one of which lies the smile, and on the other the frown, of God. Let us be attracted by the one and dissuaded from the other, till we climb the spiral staircase into the land where there is no cooling love or faltering faith. [source]

Chapter Summary: Deuteronomy 11

1  Another exhortation to obedience
2  by their own experience of God's great works
8  by promise of God's great blessings
16  and by threatenings
18  A careful study is required in God's words
26  The blessing and curse set before them

What do the individual words in Deuteronomy 11:18 mean?

Therefore you shall lay up - words of mine these in your heart and in your soul and bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes
וְשַׂמְתֶּם֙ אֶת־ דְּבָרַ֣י אֵ֔לֶּה עַל־ לְבַבְכֶ֖ם וְעַֽל־ נַפְשְׁכֶ֑ם וּקְשַׁרְתֶּ֨ם אֹתָ֤ם לְאוֹת֙ עַל־ יֶדְכֶ֔ם וְהָי֥וּ לְטוֹטָפֹ֖ת בֵּ֥ין עֵינֵיכֶֽם

וְשַׂמְתֶּם֙  Therefore  you  shall  lay  up 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Conjunctive perfect, second person masculine plural
Root: שׂוּמָה 
Sense: to put, place, set, appoint, make.
אֶת־  - 
Parse: Direct object marker
Root: אֹות 
Sense: sign of the definite direct object, not translated in English but generally preceding and indicating the accusative.
דְּבָרַ֣י  words  of  mine 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, first person common singular
Root: דָּבָר  
Sense: speech, word, speaking, thing.
אֵ֔לֶּה  these 
Parse: Pronoun, common plural
Root: אֵהֶל 
Sense: these.
לְבַבְכֶ֖ם  your  heart 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, second person masculine plural
Root: לֵבָב  
Sense: inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding.
וְעַֽל־  and  in 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition
Root: עַל 
Sense: upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against.
נַפְשְׁכֶ֑ם  your  soul 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, second person masculine plural
Root: נֶפֶשׁ  
Sense: soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion.
וּקְשַׁרְתֶּ֨ם  and  bind 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Conjunctive perfect, second person masculine plural
Root: קָשַׁר  
Sense: to bind, tie, bind together, league together, conspire.
לְאוֹת֙  as  a  sign 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, common singular
Root: אֹות  
Sense: sign, signal.
יֶדְכֶ֔ם  your  hand 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, second person masculine plural
Root: יָד  
Sense: hand.
וְהָי֥וּ  and  they  shall  be 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Conjunctive perfect, third person common plural
Root: אֶהְיֶה 
Sense: to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out.
לְטוֹטָפֹ֖ת  as  frontlets 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, feminine plural
Root: טֹוטָפֹת  
Sense: bands, phylacteries, frontlets, marks.
בֵּ֥ין  between 
Parse: Preposition
Root: בַּיִן 
Sense: between, among, in the midst of (with other preps), from between.
עֵינֵיכֶֽם  your  eyes 
Parse: Noun, cdc, second person masculine plural
Root: עֹונָה 
Sense: eye.