Deuteronomy 34:12

Summary

The verse closes the description of Moses' unmatched deeds, referring back to "the mighty hand" and "the great terror" that Moses performed before all Israel. It functions as the concluding clause of a construction praising Moses' unique acts, tying together the entire preceding statement about no prophet like him arising in Israel.

Key words

• Yad ("hand", H3027H) — feminine noun paired with chazakah ("mighty", H2389), a standard idiom for displayed power.
• mora ("terror", H4172A) — masculine noun denoting a fear-inducing act or sight, paired with gadol ("great", H1419A).
• asher ("which", H0834A) — relative particle introducing the clause describing what Moses did.
• asah ("he did", H6213A) — Qal perfect, third person masculine singular, marking a completed action performed by Moses.
• le'einei ("to the eyes of", H5869H) — feminine dual construct of "eye," forming the idiom "before the eyes of," i.e. in full view of.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built from two parallel construct phrases joined by u ("and", H9002): le-khol ha-yad ha-chazakah ("to all the mighty hand") and u-le-khol ha-mora ha-gadol ("and to all the great terror"). Both phrases use khol ("all", H3605) in construct form, meaning literally "all of the hand" and "all of the terror," emphasizing totality rather than a single instance. The definite article ha (H9009) attached to both nouns and their adjectives (ha-yad ha-chazakah, ha-mora ha-gadol) marks these as specific, known referents — the hand and terror already described earlier in the passage.

The relative clause asher asah Mosheh ("which Moses did", H0834A + H6213A + H4872) attributes the action to Moses using a Qal perfect verb, indicating a completed, historical act. The final phrase le'einei kol Yisrael ("to the eyes of all Israel", H5869H + H3605 + H3478) uses the dual construct of "eyes" idiomatically to mean "in the sight of" or "witnessed by," specifying that the deeds occurred with the entire nation of Israel as witness.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the two Hebrew phrases in reverse order compared to the Masoretic Hebrew: it begins with "the great things" (τὰ μεγάλα) before "the hand, the mighty" (τὴν χεῖρα τὴν κραταιάν), whereas the Hebrew places yad chazakah ("mighty hand") first. The LXX also uses "μεγάλα" ("great things") rather than a term corresponding directly to mora ("terror", H4172A), shifting the semantic emphasis from fear/dread to greatness. The Vulgate similarly renders mora gadol as "magna mirabilia" ("great wonders"), using a term tied to marvel rather than fear. The Hebrew's mora (H4172A) denotes something that produces terror or awe-inspired fear, a nuance not preserved in the Greek or Latin renderings, nor in the English translations ("awesome deeds," "asombrosos") which lean toward wonder rather than dread.