Deuteronomy 32:44

Summary

The verse narrates that Moses came and spoke all the words of "this song" into the hearing of the people, accompanied by Hoshea son of Nun. It marks the transition from the poetic song (Deuteronomy 32:1-43) back to narrative prose.

Key words

• va-yavo — yavo ("he came", H0935G): qal verb in narrative form (vav + prefix conjugation), marking sequential past action — "and then he came."
• va-yedabber — yedabber ("he spoke", H1696I): piel (intensive) stem, also in narrative form, indicating a deliberate, formal act of speaking rather than casual talk.
• divrei ("words of", H1697G): masculine plural noun in construct state, linking to ha-shirah — "the words of the song," a fixed phrase for a body of recited text.
• azenei ("ears of", H0241H): feminine dual construct noun, referring to the paired ears of the listeners — "in the ears of the people" is an idiom for public, audible recitation.
• Hoshea bin-Nun ("Hoshea son of Nun", H1954K + H1121A + H5126): construct chain naming Moses' companion; the Hebrew text here uses the form Hoshea rather than the more common Yehoshua.

What the text says

The verse opens with two narrative verbs joined by the vav-consecutive construction: va-yavo ("and he came") and va-yedabber ("and he spoke"). This chaining structure is typical of Biblical Hebrew narrative, presenting the two actions — Moses' arrival and his speech — as sequential events within the story. The object of the speaking is marked by the untranslated direct object marker 'et (H0853), followed by the construct chain kol divrei ha-shirah ha-zot ("all the words of this song"), which treats the song as a defined, bounded unit of speech being recited in full.

The phrase be-'azenei ha-'am ("in the ears of the people") uses the dual form of "ears," a standard Hebrew idiom for something spoken aloud so that it is heard directly by an audience, rather than written or read privately. The verse closes by specifying who performed this act: hu' ve-Hoshea bin-Nun ("he, and Hoshea son of Nun"), using the independent pronoun hu' (H1931) to emphasize Moses' role before adding his companion.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text names Moses' companion Hoshea (H1954K), while the Vulgate and the Spanish translations render this as "Josue" / "Josué" (Joshua), reflecting the more familiar form of the name found elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint (LXX) text given here is notably longer, including material about Moses writing the song "that day" and giving it to "the sons of Israel," elements not present in the Hebrew of this verse as provided. The LXX also renders the object of Moses' speech as tous logous tou nomou toutou ("the words of this law") rather than "this song," differing from the Hebrew ha-shirah ("the song", H7892B).