Deuteronomy 33:13

Summary

Deuteronomy 33:13 opens Moses' blessing over the tribe of Joseph, declaring that Joseph's land is blessed by Yehovah through the finest gifts coming from above (the sky and its dew) and from below (the deep waters that lie beneath the earth).

Key words

• meVoRekhet ("[be] blessed of", H1288) — pual passive participle, feminine singular construct; marks the land as the recipient of a passive, ongoing blessing whose agent is named right after it.
• Yehovah (H3068G) — the divine name functions here as the grammatical agent of the passive participle meVoRekhet, i.e., the one who blesses.
• Meged ("[the] excellent gift of", H4022) — masculine singular construct noun, forming a chain with shamayim ("heaven", H8064) to specify the source of the gift.
• teHom ("[the] deep", H8415) — feminine singular noun, paired with the participle roVetzet that agrees with it in gender and number.
• roVetzet ("[which] lies", H7257) — qal active participle, feminine singular, describing the ongoing state of the deep water lying beneath.

What the text says

The verse begins with the narrative formula u-le-Yosef amar ("and to Joseph he said", H9002/H9005/H3130G/H0559), introducing direct speech. The blessing itself starts with meVoRekhet ("[be] blessed of", H1288), a passive participle in construct form. Because it is a participle rather than a finite verb, the Hebrew presents the blessing as a continuous state rather than a single completed action. The construct form binds it directly to Yehovah (H3068G), identifying him as the source of the blessing, and then to artzo ("his land", H0776G + H9023), the subject being blessed.

The next clause lists the components of this blessing using a chain of min ("from", H9006) phrases: mi-Meged shamayim ("from the excellent gift of heaven", H4022/H8064) and mi-tal ("from the dew", H2919) describe what comes from above, while u-mi-tehom roVetzet tachat ("and from the deep that lies beneath", H8415/H7257/H8478G) describes what comes from below. The participle roVetzet ("lies", H7257) agrees grammatically with the feminine noun teHom ("deep", H8415), portraying the subterranean waters as continuously resting beneath the land.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders meVoRekhet ... artzo as "ἡ γῆ αὐτοῦ" is "ἐπ᾿ εὐλογίας κυρίου" — using the noun "blessing" (εὐλογία) instead of a passive participle. Where the Hebrew has mi-Meged shamayim ("from the excellent gift of heaven", H4022/H8064), the LXX has "ἀπὸ ὡρῶν οὐρανοῦ" ("from the seasons/hours of heaven"), and the Vulgate has "de pomis caeli" ("from the fruits of heaven") — both diverge from the Hebrew meged ("excellent gift"). The LXX also adds "πηγῶν" ("springs") in the phrase about the deep, a term not present in the Hebrew teHom ("deep", H8415).