Deuteronomy 32:45

Summary

The verse marks the completion of Moses' recitation: he finished speaking all these words to the entirety of Israel. It functions as a narrative closing formula, transitioning from the long poetic song (Deuteronomy 32) to what follows.

Key words

• va-yekhal — yekhal ("he finished", H3615G) in the piel with narrative vav (H9001): marks sequential completion of an action, "and then he finished."
• le-dabber — dabber ("to speak", H1696G) as infinitive with prefix le (H9005): expresses purpose or the content of the finishing — "finished speaking/in speaking."
• kol ("all", H3605), appearing twice (positions 7 and 13): in construct state each time, meaning "all of ___," binding to "the words" and to "Israel" respectively.
• ha-devarim — devarim ("words", H1697G) with definite article ha (H9009): specifies concrete, identifiable words rather than words in general.
• ha-'elleh — 'elleh ("these", H0428) with definite article: demonstrative pointing back to the preceding material, anchoring "these words" to what was just spoken.

What the text says

The sentence is built around the verb yekhal ("he finished", H3615G) in the piel stem, joined to the narrative vav (H9001), which signals sequential narrative action — "and he finished." The subject is Mosheh ("Moses", H4872), stated explicitly. The main verb is completed by an infinitive construction, le-dabber ("to speak", H1696G), also in piel, indicating what Moses finished doing: speaking.

The object of the speaking is marked by the untranslated direct object marker 'et (H0853), followed by a construct chain: kol ha-devarim ha-'elleh — "all the words, the these," i.e., "all these words" (H3605, H1697G, H0428). Both "words" and "these" carry the definite article, tying the phrase tightly to specific, already-mentioned content rather than a general statement.

The recipient of the speech is introduced with the preposition 'el ("to", H0413), followed by a second construct phrase, kol Yisra'el — "all Israel" (H3605, H3478), meaning the totality of the nation. The double use of kol ("all", H3605) — once for the words, once for the audience — creates a parallel structure emphasizing completeness on both ends: the full content of the speech and the entire audience.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the Hebrew infinitive le-dabber ("to speak", H1696G) with a participle, lalōn ("speaking"), and omits an explicit equivalent for ha-devarim ha-'elleh ("these words," H1697G, H0428) as a direct object, moving directly to panti Israēl ("to all Israel"). The Vulgate uses complevit ("he completed") and loquens ("speaking"), preserving both the object sermones istos ("these words") and the audience universum Israel ("all Israel"), closer to the Hebrew's double structure than the LXX's shorter phrasing.