Deuteronomy 33:23

Summary

The verse records a poetic saying addressed to Naphtali, describing him as satisfied with favor and full of Yehovah's blessing. The final clause commands Naphtall to take possession of the west and the south.

Key words

• se.Va' ("satisfied of", H7649) — masculine singular adjective in construct state, linking Naphtali's condition directly to the noun that follows, "favor."
• ra.Tzon ("favor", H7522) — masculine singular noun, the object of the construct relationship above; describes what Naphtali is filled with.
• bir.Kat ("blessing of", H1293) — feminine singular noun in construct state, forming a parallel construction to se.Va' — "full of the blessing of Yehovah."
• Yah.weh ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the divine name in construct relationship with "blessing," marking the source of the blessing as Yehovah himself.
• ye.Ra.sha + h ("take possession of", H3423H + H9012) — qal imperative, second person masculine singular, with a paragogic he suffix adding emphasis to the command form.

What the text says

The verse opens with the introductory formula u.le.naf.ta.Li 'a.Mar ("and to Naphtali he said"), followed by the name naf.ta.Li repeated as the subject of the poetic statement. The core of the blessing uses two parallel construct phrases: se.Va' ra.Tzon ("satisfied of favor") and ma.Le' bir.Kat Yah.weh ("full of the blessing of Yehovah"). Both construct chains describe Naphtali's state — one using an adjective in construct with an abstract noun, the other using a noun in construct with the divine name — creating a balanced two-part description of blessing and favor.

The final clause shifts grammatical mode. The Hebrew data marks ye.Ra.sha as a qal imperative, second person masculine singular, with the paragogic he (H9012) adding emphasis to the command. Read this way, the text commands Naphtali directly: "take possession!" of yam ("the west", H3220G) and da.Rom ("the south", H1864). The noun yam, literally "sea," is used here to designate the western direction, and da.Rom designates the southern region.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew grammatical data classifies ye.Ra.sha as an imperative form ("take possession!"), addressed directly to Naphtali. The LXX renders this with κληρονομήσει ("he shall inherit"), a third-person future indicative, and the Vulgate similarly uses possidebit ("he will possess"), also third-person future. Both the LXX and Vulgate thus present the taking of the west and south as a future event described about Naphtali, whereas the Hebrew morphology presents it as a command directed to him.