Deuteronomy 33:3

Summary

The verse describes a figure (grammatically unspecified beyond "he") who loves peoples and whose holy ones rest in "your" hand and at "your" feet, receiving words from "your" sayings. The Hebrew text shifts between third-person and second-person pronouns within the same sentence, creating ambiguity about who is being addressed at each point.

Key words

• cho.Vev ("loving", H2245) — qal participle, masculine singular, describing an ongoing action attributed to an unnamed "he," continuing the subject introduced in the preceding verses of the blessing.
• ke.do.Sha ("holy [ones]", H6918H) — masculine plural construct with the following pronominal suffix v ("his"), producing "his holy ones," using a third-person possessive.
• ya.De ("hand", H3027H) — singular construct bound to the suffix kha ("your"), so the text moves to a second-person possessive within the same clause.
• tu.Ku ("they were led", H8497) — pual perfect, third-person plural, a passive/intensive form indicating a completed action done to the "holy ones," though the root's precise semantic range is debated among grammarians.
• yi.Sa' ("he will take", H5375T) — qal imperfect, third-person masculine singular, returning to the "he" of the opening participle and indicating a future or continuing action of "taking" or "lifting" from da.be.ro.Tei.kha ("your words", H1703).

What the text says

The Hebrew clause structure is built on a rapid alternation of grammatical persons. The verse opens with 'af ("also", H0637) plus the participle cho.Vev ("loving", H2245), whose grammatical subject is not named in this verse but continues from the surrounding context of the blessing. The object is 'a.Mim ("peoples", H5971A). The next clause, kol-ke.do.Sha-v ("all his holy ones"), uses a third-person suffix ("his"), but the following prepositional phrase be.ya.De.kha ("in your hand") shifts to a second-person suffix ("your"). This alternation continues: tu.Ku le.rag.Le.kha ("they were led to your foot") is second-person, while yi.Sa' ("he will take") returns to third-person, and the final phrase mi.da.be.ro.Tei.kha ("from your words") is again second-person.

This oscillation between "he/his" and "you/your" is a feature of the Hebrew text itself, not an artifact of translation. The verb tu.Ku (H8497), a pual perfect, is passive in form, meaning the "holy ones" are the ones acted upon ("led" or, depending on root analysis, "struck" or "gathered"), rather than acting themselves.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders cho.Vev 'a.Mim as "he spared his people" (ἐφείσατο τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ), differing from the Hebrew sense of "loving" conveyed by cho.Vev (H2245). The Vulgate's dilexit populos ("he loved the peoples") is closer to the Hebrew verb's meaning. For tu.Ku, the LXX has "these are under you" (οὗτοι ὑπὸ σέ εἰσιν), and the Vulgate has "who approach his feet" (qui appropinquant pedibus ejus), both differing from each other and from the passive "they were led" of the Hebrew pual form. For yi.Sa' mi.da.be.ro.Tei.kha, the LXX uses a third-person singular verb ("he received," ἐδέξατο), while the Vulgate uses a third-person plural ("they will receive," accipient), showing a divergence in grammatical subject between the two ancient versions.