Deuteronomy 33:6

Summary

This verse is a blessing (or wish) concerning the tribe of Reuben, framed in two parallel jussive clauses: a wish for Reuben's continued life (not death), followed by a jussive clause concerning the "number" of his men. The final clause is grammatically compact and has been read differently across ancient versions.

Key words

• ye.Chi ("let him live", H2421) — qal jussive of hayah-type verb, expressing a wish/blessing for continued existence.
• 'al ("may not", H0408) — negative particle used specifically with jussive verbs (not the standard negation for indicative statements).
• ya.Mot ("he die", H4191) — qal jussive, paired with 'al to form the negative wish "let him not die."
• me.Ta ("men of...", H4962) — masculine plural construct form, "men of," grammatically bound to the following noun.
• mis.Par ("number", H4557) — masculine singular absolute noun, serving as the predicate/second element of the construct pairing with metay.

What the text says

The verse contains three jussive clauses in sequence, all expressing wishes rather than statements of fact. The first pair, yechi Re'uven ("let Reuben live") and ve'al-yamot ("and let him not die"), forms a merism — stating survival by naming both poles of existence (life and death) to affirm continuation.

The third clause, vi-hi metav mispar, is more compact and structurally different. The verb vihi ("let it be") is jussive, and its subject is metav ("his men," construct plural of H4962 with a third-person suffix), while mispar ("number", H4557) stands as the predicate noun. Literally the clause reads "let his men be a number" — a construction where the abstract noun "number" functions as what his men are to become or remain. The Hebrew itself does not specify whether this "number" is meant as large or small; the noun mispar alone is neutral, and the sense depends on how the nominal predicate is understood in context with the surrounding wish for survival.

Differences between versions

The ancient versions resolve this ambiguity in opposite directions. The LXX reads ἔστω πολὺς ἐν ἀριθμῷ ("let him be many in number"), supplying the adjective "many" (πολύς) which is not present in the Hebrew wording. The Vulgate reads sit parvus in numero ("let him be small in number"), supplying the opposite sense with "parvus" ("small"). Modern renderings such as the BSB ("nor his men be few") align with a negative reading similar to the Vulgate's direction but phrase it as a negated wish rather than a direct statement. The Hebrew text itself, using only metav mispar ("his men, a number"), does not contain either "many" or "small/few" as an explicit qualifier — both are interpretive additions found in the translation traditions.