Deuteronomy 28:68

Summary

The verse describes Yehovah causing the people to return to Egypt by ship, along a route the speaker had told them they would never see again. There, the people will offer themselves as slaves to their enemies, but no buyer will be found for them.

Key words

• he.shi.ve.kha ("he will make return", H7725G) — hiphil causative form: Yehovah is the direct agent causing the return, not the people returning on their own.
• 'oniyyot ("ships", H0591) — feminine plural noun specifying the manner of return, an unexpected detail since the earlier exodus was on foot.
• lir'otah ("to see it", H7200G) — qal infinitive with feminine suffix referring back to derekh ("way", H1870L); grammatically "the way" is feminine, so "seeing it" means seeing that road again.
• hitmakartem ("you will sell yourselves", H4376) — hithpael (reflexive/middle) sequential perfect: the verbal stem places the action as something the subjects do to/for themselves, rather than a passive act done to them.
• ve.'ein qoneh ("and there is no buyer", H0369 + H7069) — construct noun 'ein ("there is not") governing the participle qoneh ("the one buying"), forming a negated existential clause: no such person exists.

What the text says

The sentence opens with a sequential perfect verb, heshivkha ("he will make you return", H7725G), in the hiphil stem, marking Yehovah as the causative subject acting upon "you" (second person masculine singular suffix, -kha, H9031). The object of return is Mitzrayim ("Egypt", H4714G), and the means is specified by ba'oniyyot ("by ships", H0591) — a prepositional phrase adding an unusual detail to the return journey. This is followed by a relative clause: baderekh 'asher 'amarti lekha ("by the way which I said to you", H1870L + H0834A + H0559), where the speaker (grammatically first person) recalls a prior statement using the negated hiphil imperfect lo'-tosif od lir'otah ("you will not again continue to see it", H3254G + H5750 + H7200G) — a construction combining "to add/continue" with an infinitive to express "never again."

The second half shifts to a hithpael sequential perfect, hitmakartem ("you will sell yourselves", H4376), addressed to a plural "you" (second person masculine plural). The hithpael stem marks the action as reflexive or self-directed, distinct from a simple passive "you will be sold." The recipients of this transaction are le'oyeveikha ("to your enemies", H0341 with suffix H9021), and the resulting status is expressed through two parallel prepositional phrases, la'avadim ("for slaves", H5650) and velishfachot ("and for female slaves", H8198), covering both masculine and feminine plural forms. The clause closes with the existential negation ve'ein qoneh ("and there is no buyer", H0369 + H7069), a construct + participle structure stating flatly that no purchaser exists.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders hitmakartem with a passive form (πραθήσεσθε, "you will be sold"), where the Hebrew hithpael more naturally suggests self-offering ("you will sell yourselves"). The Vulgate similarly uses the passive venderis ("you will be sold"). The BSB reflects the Hebrew's reflexive nuance with "you will sell yourselves," while RV1909 and SBLIBRE follow the passive tradition of the LXX/Vulgate ("seréis vendidos" / "se ofrecerán").