Deuteronomy 28:44

Summary

The verse describes a reversal of economic and social status: the foreigner will lend to the addressee, but the addressee will not lend to him. The foreigner will occupy the position of "head," while the addressee will occupy the position of "tail."

Key words

• hu' ("he", H1931) — independent personal pronoun, used twice (positions 1 and 9) to emphasize the subject in contrast to 'atah ("you").
• yalveKha ("he will lend to you", H3867B) — hiphil (causative) imperfect of the root meaning "to lend/borrow," with causative sense "cause to borrow," i.e., "lend," plus the pronominal suffix -kha ("you," m.).
• talVennu ("you will lend to him", H3867B) — same hiphil verb, imperfect, second person, negated by lo' ("not", H3808), with the suffix -nu ("him").
• Rosh ("head", H7218H) — masculine singular noun following the preposition le ("into/as", H9005), forming the predicate "will become as head."
• zaNav ("tail", H2180) — masculine singular noun, also following le, forming the parallel predicate "will become as tail."

What the text says

The verse is built as two parallel clauses, each opening with an independent pronoun (hu', "he") that is contrasted with 'atah ("you"). This use of independent pronouns alongside the verbal conjugation (which already encodes person) creates emphatic contrast — the Hebrew grammar highlights the opposition between "he" and "you" more forcefully than the verb endings alone would require. The same hiphil verb yalveKha / talVennu (from the root behind H3867B) appears in both directions: first affirmatively ("he will lend to you"), then negated by lo' ("not") ("you will not lend to him"). This repetition of the same verb root in opposite polarity underlines the reversal of roles.

The second half of the verse repeats the same structure with the verb yihyeh / tihyeh ("he/you will become," from H1961, qal imperfect), followed by the preposition le ("into/as") plus a noun — Rosh ("head") for "he," and zaNav ("tail") for "you." The preposition le here marks entry into a state or role, so the construction literally expresses "will become as head" and "will become as tail," describing a transformation of status rather than a simple identity statement.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the second clause with ἴσῃ ("you will be equal to" or "you will be like"), which differs in nuance from the Hebrew tihyeh plus le-zanav ("will become as tail"); the Vulgate follows the Hebrew structure more closely with eris in caudam ("you will be into a tail"). Modern translations (BSB, RV1909, SBLIBRE) render the Hebrew construction as "will be the tail," consistent with the Vulgate's phrasing.