Deuteronomy 32:40

Summary

The verse describes a solemn oath gesture: the speaker lifts a hand toward heaven and declares an affirmation of eternal existence. The construction combines a ritual action (raising the hand) with a formulaic declaration introduced by "and I will say."

Key words

• ki ("for", H3588A) — subordinating particle; can function causally ("for") or conditionally ("when/if"), setting up the clause that follows.
• 'e.Sa ("I lift up", H5375P) — qal imperfect, first person; denotes an action in progress or about to occur, here the raising of the hand.
• yadi ("my hand", H3027S) — construct noun with 1st person suffix; construct form links it directly to the possessor without an intervening preposition.
• 'a.Mar.ti ("I will say", H0559) — qal perfect with waw, functioning as a sequential ("waw-consecutive") form that continues the action begun by the imperfect 'e.Sa.
• chai ("living", H2416A) — masculine singular adjective, predicative, describing the subject anokhi without a linking verb "to be."

What the text says

The clause opens with ki, a particle that can be read either causally ("for") or temporally/conditionally ("when"), which affects whether the sentence is understood as an explanation of what precedes it or as introducing a new oath scenario. The verb 'e.Sa ("I lift up") is imperfect, marking an action not yet completed or habitually performed — the raising of yadi ("my hand"), a construct form meaning literally "hand of me." This gesture — lifting the hand toward shamayim ("heaven", H8064) — functions here as a physical oath-gesture rather than merely a report of motion.

The verb 'a.Mar.ti ("I will say") is grammatically a perfect form, but because it follows the vav in sequence after an imperfect verb, it carries a future/continuing sense ("and I will say"), a common pattern in Biblical Hebrew narrative and oath formulas. The content of what is said is chai anokhi le-olam — literally "living I [am] forever." Hebrew here uses no explicit verb "to be": the adjective chai ("living") stands directly before the pronoun anokhi ("I"), with le-olam ("for ever", H5769G) extending the predication temporally. This nominal-sentence structure (adjective + pronoun + prepositional phrase) is common in Hebrew for stative declarations and cannot be reproduced without supplying "am" in translation.

Differences between versions

The LXX inserts an additional clause not present in the Hebrew: καὶ ὀμοῦμαι τὴν δεξιάν μου ("and I will swear by my right hand"), expanding the oath formula beyond the Hebrew's single gesture-plus-declaration structure. The LXX also renders the Hebrew chai ("living") with Σῶ (from "to save/be safe"), diverging from the straightforward "living" of the Hebrew and the Vulgate's vivo ("I live"). The Vulgate follows the Hebrew structure closely, omitting an explicit rendering of ki and moving directly to "Levabo... et dicam" ("I will lift up... and I will say").