Deuteronomy 3:21

Summary

Moses recounts that at that time he commanded Joshua, telling him that his own eyes had witnessed what Yehovah had done to the two kings, and that Yehovah would do the same to all the kingdoms Joshua was about to cross into.

Key words

• tzi.Vei.ti ("I commanded", H6680) — piel perfect, 1st person singular: an intensive completed action, "I" as subject (Moses), establishing the report as a past command.
• ro.'Ot ("[ones which] have seen", H7200G) — qal participle, feminine plural, agreeing with 'ei.Nei.kha ("your eyes", H5869A + H9021): a participle describing an ongoing/completed state of perception rather than a simple past verb.
• 'a.Sah ("he did", H6213A) — qal perfect, 3rd person singular: a completed act attributed to Yehovah in the past regarding the two kings.
• ya.'a.Seh ("he will do", H6213A) — qal imperfect, 3rd person singular: the same root as 'a.Sah but in the imperfect form, marking future/ongoing action — the parallel promise for the kingdoms ahead.
• 'o.Ver ("[are] about to pass over", H5674A) — qal participle, masculine singular, describing Joshua/Moses' addressee as one currently/about to be in the process of crossing.

What the text says

The verse is built around a reported speech introduced by tzi.Vei.ti... le.'Mor ("I commanded... saying", H6680 + H0559), where Moses shifts from narrating in his own voice to quoting the content of what he told Joshua. The quoted material contains two parallel clauses using the same root 'a.Sah (H6213A) in two different aspects: the perfect 'a.Sah ("he did") for what Yehovah has already done to "these two kings" (ha.mme.la.Khim ha.'Elleh), and the imperfect ya.'a.Seh ("he will do") for what Yehovah will do to "all the kingdoms" (khol ha.mam.la.Khot). This repetition of the same verbal root in contrasting tenses creates a structural parallel between the completed past event and the anticipated future one, without needing an explicit comparative particle beyond ken ("thus", H3651C).

The phrase 'ei.Nei.kha ha.ro.'Ot ("your eyes, the ones that have seen", H5869A + H7200G) uses a participle rather than a finite verb, which frames the seeing as a state or established fact tied to the addressee's own eyes as the acting subject, syntactically distinct from a straightforward past-tense statement. Similarly, the participle 'o.Ver ("about to pass over", H5674A) at the end describes the addressee's crossing as an ongoing or imminent action rather than a simple future event, situating Joshua at the threshold of that action at the moment of speaking.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'ei.Nei.kha ha.ro.'Ot with a finite verb, ἑωράκασιν ("have seen"), rather than preserving the participial construction found in the Hebrew. The Vulgate similarly uses the finite viderunt ("they saw"). Both versions also render 'o.Ver ("about to pass over") with finite or non-participial constructions (διαβαίνεις, "you are crossing"; transiturus es, "you are about to cross"), which convey similar meaning but do not reflect the participial grammatical form present in the Hebrew text.