Deuteronomy 8:7

Summary

The verse describes the land Yehovah is bringing Israel into as a "good land" characterized by abundant water sources — torrents, springs, and deep-water sources emerging in both valley and highland terrain. The sentence functions as a causal clause explaining a preceding statement, introduced by ki ("for/that").

Key words

• ki ("for", H3588A) — subordinating particle opening the verse, linking it causally/explanatorily to what precedes.
• mevi'akha ("bringing you", H0935P) — hiphil (causative) participle with pronominal suffix; the participle form indicates an ongoing or characteristic action ("the one bringing"), not a simple future tense.
• 'eretz ("land of", H0776G) — appears three times, twice in construct form, building a chain of descriptive genitives ("land of torrents of water").
• nachalei ("torrents of", H5158A) — masculine plural construct, the first term in a stacked construct chain ('eretz nachalei mayim, "a land of torrents of water").
• yotze'im ("going forth", H3318L) — qal participle, masculine plural, describing the action of the water sources that follow it in the list.

What the text says

The verse opens with the particle ki (H3588A), which here functions as a causal or explanatory conjunction rather than a simple "if," tying this description of the land to the discourse that precedes it. The main verb is not a finite verb but the participle mevi'akha (H0935P), "the one bringing you," which in Hebrew narrative and legal prose often conveys an action presented as ongoing, characteristic, or imminent rather than a single future event.

The land is first called 'eretz tovah ("a good land"), then re-described through a second 'eretz in construct form, launching a chain: 'eretz nachalei mayim — literally "a land of torrents of water." This is followed by two additional nouns, 'ayanot ("springs," feminine plural) and tehomot ("deeps," feminine plural), joined by the conjunction u- ("and"). These two feminine plural nouns serve as the subjects of the participle yotze'im (H3318L), which is grammatically masculine plural — a gender mismatch between the participle and its feminine subjects that the Hebrew text itself contains. The water sources "go forth" ba-bik'ah ("in the valley") and va-har ("on the mountain"), both singular nouns with the definite article, describing the terrain in general rather than naming specific valleys or mountains.

Differences between versions

The LXX adds καὶ πολλήν ("and much/great") after "good," a qualifier not present in the Hebrew, which reads only 'eretz tovah ("a good land"). The Vulgate restructures the three-part Hebrew list (nachalei mayim, 'ayanot, tehomot) into "terram rivorum, aquarumque et fontium," merging "torrents" and "water" into "rivorum aquarumque" and rendering tehomot as "fontium" (fountains) rather than "deeps." Both the LXX (πεδίων, ὀρέων) and Vulgate (campis, montibus) render the Hebrew singular bik'ah ("valley") and har ("mountain") as plurals ("valleys," "mountains/hills"), where the Hebrew uses singular nouns with the definite article.