Deuteronomy 32:26

Summary

Deuteronomy 32:26 records words attributed to Yehovah, expressing a contemplated decision to scatter or destroy the people and erase their memory from among mankind. The verse is framed as a quotation ("I said...") introducing two parallel intentions: dispersal/destruction and the erasure of remembrance.

Key words

• 'amarti ("I said", H0559) — qal perfect, 1st person, framing the entire verse as reported speech, a completed act of decision.
• 'af'ei ("I will cut in pieces", H6284) — hiphil imperfect; the root is debated in tradition, variously connected to scattering or cutting apart, which affects how the following pronoun "them" is understood.
• 'ashbitah ("I will make cease", H7673A) — hiphil form with a cohortative-type ending (-ah), expressing a resolved intention "let me make cease" or "I will surely make cease."
• 'enosh ("humankind", H0582) — masculine singular noun, used generically for "mankind" rather than a specific group.
• zikhram ("their memory", H2143 + H9028) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, meaning "memory of them," object of the cessation expressed by 'ashbitah.

What the text says

The verse opens with 'amarti ("I said", H0559), a first-person qal perfect that marks the whole statement as an interior or reported decision — not a decree yet enacted, but a resolve. Two parallel actions follow, both grammatically causative (hiphil): 'af'ei ("I will cut in pieces", H6284) with the pronominal suffix hem ("them"), and 'ashbitah ("I will make cease", H7673A). The second verb governs me'enosh ("from mankind", H0582 with preposition H9006) and zikhram ("their memory", H2143+H9028), producing the sense "I will make their memory cease from mankind." The construct form zikhra- ("memory of...") binds tightly to the following suffix, so the phrase functions as a single unit: "their remembrance."

The verb 'af'ei (H6284) is grammatically difficult; its form does not correspond straightforwardly to a common attested root, which is why translations diverge on its meaning — either "scatter" or "cut to pieces."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'af'eihem as Διασπερῶ αὐτούς ("I will scatter them"), interpreting the uncertain Hebrew form as related to dispersal. The BSB instead gives "cut them to pieces," reflecting the alternative lexical tradition. The Vulgate diverges most sharply, rendering the opening clause not as a statement of intended destruction but as a question, "Ubinam sunt?" ("Where indeed are they?") — a rendering not evidently derived from 'af'eihem in the same way as the Greek or English versions, showing a distinct interpretive tradition for this word. The second half of the verse — the cessation of "memory... from mankind" — is rendered consistently across LXX, Vulgate, and English versions.