Deuteronomy 34:1

Summary

The verse narrates Moses' ascent from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the summit of Pisgah facing Jericho. There, Yehovah shows him the entirety of the land, described starting with Gilead and extending to Dan.

Key words

• va-yi'al ("and he went up", H5927G) — qal narrative form with vav, marking the first sequential action of the verse.
• har Nevo ("mountain of Nebo", H2022G + H5015H) — construct chain naming a specific peak; har is in construct state, "mountain of," directly bound to the proper name.
• rosh ha-Pisgah ("top of the Pisgah", H7218I + H6449) — a second construct chain, "top of," specifying the exact summit within the Nebo range.
• va-yar'ehu ("and he showed him", H7200G) — hiphil (causative) narrative form: "he caused him to see," with the object pronoun -hu ("him") attached as suffix, referring to Moses.
• et-kol-ha-'aretz ("all the land", H3605 + H0776G) — kol stands in construct before the definite noun ha-'aretz, "all of the land," marked by the direct object particle 'et.

What the text says

The verse opens with two chained narrative verbs joined by the vav-consecutive construction: va-yi'al ("and he went up") and later va-yar'ehu ("and he showed him"). This structure presents the events as a direct sequence — Moses' ascent immediately followed by Yehovah's act of showing. The geographic path is built through a series of construct chains: har Nevo ("mountain of Nebo") and rosh ha-Pisgah ("top of the Pisgah") narrow the location progressively, from a general mountain to a specific summit point. The relative clause introduced by 'asher ("which/that", H0834A) — "which is on the face of (penei) Jericho" — further anchors the location spatially relative to Jericho.

The second half of the verse shifts subject: Yehovah (Yehovah, H3068G) becomes the agent of va-yar'ehu, a hiphil form indicating a causative action — literally "he caused him to see." The object of this seeing is introduced twice with the direct object marker 'et (H0853, untranslated): first 'et-kol-ha-'aretz ("all the land"), then 'et-ha-Gil'ad ("the Gilead"). The repetition of 'et before each object marks two distinct objects being shown, structurally presenting "the land" and "the Gilead" as parallel or appositional items, both direct objects of the same verb, extending "to Dan" ('ad-Dan, H5704 + H1835G).

Differences between versions

The LXX (Καὶ ἀνέβη... καὶ ἔδειξεν αὐτῷ κύριος πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν Γαλαάδ ἕως Δάν) merges the two Hebrew objects into a single phrase, "all the land of Galaad," rendering the Hebrew's separate 'et-kol-ha-'aretz and 'et-ha-Gil'ad as one continuous genitive construction ("the whole land of Galaad") rather than two coordinated direct objects. The Vulgate (omnem terram Galaad) follows the same pattern as the LXX, likewise combining "the land" and "Gilead" into a single unit ("the whole land of Galaad"), differing from the Hebrew's structure of two separately marked objects.