Deuteronomy 32:52

Summary

The verse states that the addressee will see the land only from a distance (mi-Neged, H5048) but will not enter it — the land that Yehovah is giving to the sons of Israel. The two clauses contrast seeing versus entering, both expressed with imperfect verb forms.

Key words

• ki ("for/that", H3588A) — subordinating particle opening the verse, linking it to what precedes as a reason or condition.
• tir'Eh ("you will see", H7200G) — qal imperfect, second person masculine singular, expressing a future/ongoing action of seeing.
• mi-Neged ("from before", H5048 with H9006) — a compound of preposition + noun indicating distance, "from opposite/in front of," reinforcing that the seeing happens at a remove.
• ta.Vo' ("you will go/enter", H0935G) — qal imperfect, second person masculine singular, parallel in form to tir'Eh, negated by lo' ("not", H3808).
• no.Ten ("[am] about to give", H5414G) — qal participle, masculine singular, describing an ongoing or imminent action attributed to the speaker ("I," 'a.Ni, H0589), who gives the land to v.Nei Yisra'El ("sons of Israel", H1121G + H3478).

What the text says

The verse is built on two parallel clauses, each governed by a second-person masculine singular imperfect verb: tir'Eh ("you will see," H7200G) and ta.Vo' ("you will go/enter," H0935G). The first clause states that the addressee will see ha-'Aretz ("the land," H0776G) mi-Neged ("from before/at a distance," H5048), a phrase built from a preposition and a noun indicating spatial separation. The second clause negates entry into that same land with lo' ("not," H3808) preceding ta.Vo'.

The land is then specified by a relative clause introduced by 'a.Sher ("which," H0834A): "which I ('a.Ni, H0589) am giving (no.Ten, H5414G, a participle) to the sons of Israel (v.Nei Yisra'El, H1121G construct + H3478)." The participle no.Ten presents the giving as an ongoing or currently unfolding action from the speaker's perspective, rather than a simple past or future event. The directional element Shamah (H8033G + H9011, "there" + "toward") reinforces the sense of a specified destination that remains unreached.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew repeats ha-'Aretz ("the land," H0776G) twice — once as the object of seeing, once as the object of not-entering, joined by the relative clause. The LXX (Swete) compresses this into a single mention of τὴν γῆν ("the land"), attaching the relative clause information less explicitly than the Hebrew's double repetition. The Vulgate (Clementine) similarly uses "terram" once, then "in eam" ("into it") as a pronoun rather than repeating "land," followed by "quam ego dabo" ("which I will give"), rendering the participle no.Ten as a future tense "dabo" rather than as an ongoing present action.