Deuteronomy 33:14

Summary

This half-verse continues a poetic blessing (part of the larger blessing on Joseph in Deuteronomy 33), listing natural bounties. It names the choice produce ripened by the sun and the choice yield associated with the months (i.e., the lunar cycle), both introduced by the same construct phrase "from the excellent gift of."

Key words

• Meged ("excellent gift of", H4022) — masculine singular noun in construct state, appearing twice, each time governing a following noun to form "the choice/excellent produce of X."
• Tevu'ot ("produces of", H8393) — feminine plural noun in construct, meaning "yields" or "harvests," here specified as belonging to the sun.
• Shamesh ("sun", H8121) — common gender singular noun, the absolute noun completing the first construct chain "meged tevu'ot shamesh."
• Geresh ("yield of", H1645) — masculine singular noun in construct, parallel in structure to tevu'ot, but paired with "months" instead of "sun."
• Yerachim ("months", H3391) — masculine plural noun, the absolute noun completing the second construct chain, tied to the cyclical measure of months rather than a celestial body directly.

What the text says

The Hebrew builds two parallel construct chains, each beginning with u-mi-meged ("and from the excellent gift of"). The first chain is meged tevu'ot shamesh — "the excellent gift of the produces of the sun" — a triple-layered genitive construction where "gift" governs "produces," which in turn is specified as belonging to "the sun." The second chain, meged geresh yerachim — "the excellent gift of the yield of months" — mirrors this structure exactly, substituting tevu'ot ("produces") with geresh ("yield") and shamesh ("sun") with yerachim ("months").

The repetition of meged at the head of both phrases creates a balanced poetic parallelism: sun-produce paired with month-yield. The Hebrew does not explicitly say "moon" (which would be yareach, singular) but uses the plural yerachim, "months," suggesting a cyclical or seasonal yield tied to the passage of lunar months rather than the moon as a body itself.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the first line as "according to the season of the fruits of the sun" (καθ' ὥραν γενημάτων ἡλίου), introducing the idea of "season" not explicitly present in the Hebrew meged. For the second phrase, the LXX has "from the conjunctions/unions of months" (ἀπὸ συνόδων μηνῶν), reflecting the astronomical sense of "synods" or conjunctions of months, differing from the Hebrew geresh ("yield" or "produce"). The Vulgate reads "De pomis fructuum solis ac lunæ" ("Of the fruits of the produce of the sun and moon"), explicitly naming "moon" (lunae) where the Hebrew has "months" (yerachim), a shift from a temporal to an astronomical referent. Some modern translations (e.g., BSB) render yerachim as "seasons," while others (e.g., RV1909, SBLIBRE) render it as "moons" or connect it directly to lunar influence, showing varied interpretive choices for this plural noun.