Deuteronomy 33:24

Summary

This verse opens the blessing pronounced over Asher, one of the tribes of Israel, within the larger poetic blessing of Moses in Deuteronomy 33. The text declares Asher "blessed" above the other sons/tribes, wishes him to be favored among his brothers, and describes him as one who dips his foot in oil.

Key words

• ba.Rukh ("[be] blessed", H1288) — qal passive participle, masculine singular; describes a state of being blessed rather than an active verb, applied directly to Asher.
• ba.Nim ("[the] sons", H1121A) — masculine plural noun; here functioning as the comparative term ("more than the sons"), i.e., the other tribes/sons of Jacob.
• ye.Hi ("may he be", H1961) — qal jussive; expresses a wish or invocation rather than a statement of fact, distinguishing this clause grammatically from the preceding declarative ba.Rukh.
• re.Tzui ("[the] favored [one] of", H7521) — qal passive participle, construct form; grammatically linked to 'e.Cha ("brothers", H0251G), forming "favored one of his brothers."
• to.Vel ("[one who] dips", H2881) — qal participle, masculine singular; presents an ongoing or characteristic action, describing Asher as "the one dipping" his foot in oil.

What the text says

The Hebrew verse divides into three short clauses. The first, ba.Rukh mi.ba.Nim ("blessed more than the sons"), uses a passive participle (ba.Rukh) with the comparative preposition mi. ("more than", H9006), stating Asher's blessed status relative to the other sons. This clause has no explicit verb "to be" — the participle itself carries the predicate function, a common construction in Hebrew poetry.

The second clause shifts grammatical mood: ye.Hi re.Tzui 'e.Chav ("may he be the favored one of his brothers") uses the jussive form ye.Hi, which expresses wish or invocation rather than simple assertion. The participle re.Tzui is in construct with 'e.Cha ("brothers") plus the third-person masculine singular suffix, producing "favored one of his brothers" — a construct chain rather than a standalone adjective plus preposition.

The third clause, ve.to.Vel ba.She.men rag.Lo ("and dipping his foot in the oil"), uses a plain participle (to.Vel) describing a characteristic or repeated action, joined by the conjunction ve. to the previous jussive clause. The noun rag.Lo ("his foot") is in construct form with the pronominal suffix, and the preposition ba. ("in the") governs She.men ("oil"), specifying the substance in which the foot is dipped.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the comparative Hebrew construction ba.Rukh mi.ba.Nim ("blessed more than the sons") as εὐλογητὸς ἀπὸ τέκνων ("blessed from children"), preserving a similar comparative sense. The Vulgate's Benedictus in filiis Aser ("Blessed in the sons, Asher") arranges the clause differently, placing "in filiis" between "blessed" and the name "Aser," which shifts the syntactic grouping compared to the Hebrew, where 'a.Sher ("Asher", H0836) appears as the subject of 'a.Mar ("he said", H0559) at the start and again after ba.Nim.