Deuteronomy 33:7

Summary

This verse opens the blessing pronounced over the tribe of Judah in Moses' final address. It is a direct petition addressed to Yehovah, asking him to hear Judah's voice, restore him to his people, and act as a helper against his adversaries, while noting that Judah's own hands have already contended on his behalf.

Key words

• Zot ("this", H2063) — demonstrative particle opening the unit, marking a transition to a new tribal blessing ("this [is] for Judah").
• Shema ("hear", H8085G) — qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular; a direct command/plea addressed to Yehovah.
• Yahweh ("O Yehovah", H3068G) — vocative use of the divine name, placed immediately after the imperative, marking the addressee of the plea.
• Tevi'ennu ("you will bring him", H0935P) — hiphil (causative) imperfect with 3rd person masculine singular object suffix ("-nu" as "him"); the causative stem indicates that the subject (Yehovah) causes Judah to be brought, rather than Judah bringing himself.
• Rav ("he contended", H7378) — qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular; a completed-action verb describing what "his hands" (yadav, H3027G) already did, distinct from an adjective meaning "much/great."

What the text says

The verse is built as a short speech embedded in narration: va-yomar ("and he said", H0559) introduces direct discourse, and everything that follows is presented as spoken words concerning Judah. The speech itself consists of a string of short clauses addressed in the second person to Yehovah: an imperative shema ("hear") followed immediately by the vocative Yahweh, then the object of hearing, kol Yehudah ("the voice of Judah", using the construct noun kol, H6963A). The next clause uses the hiphil verb tevi'ennu, whose causative form implies that the subject of the verb (Yehovah, understood from context) is asked to cause Judah's return "to his people" (el-ammo, H5971A with 3rd person suffix).

The following clause, yadav rav lo ("his hands contended for him"), uses the qal perfect rav (H7378) — a verb of contention/strife — describing a completed action performed by Judah's own "hands" (yadav, dual construct + suffix), distinct in form from any adjective describing quantity. The closing clause returns to direct address, using the qal imperfect tihyeh ("you will be") to ask that Yehovah himself be an ezer ("help", H5828) against Judah's tzarav ("foes", construct plural + suffix, H6862C).

Differences between versions

The Hebrew rav (qal perfect "he contended") is rendered in the LXX as διακρινοῦσιν ("will judge/decide," future tense) and in the Vulgate as pugnabunt ("they will fight," future), both shifting the Hebrew completed-action verb into a future-oriented sense concerning the "hands." The BSB likewise renders it as a general present ("he defends"), while the SBLIBRE preserves the perfect aspect more closely with "contendió" ("he contended").