Deuteronomy 9:26

Summary

Moses recounts praying to Yehovah, addressing him with the double title Adonai Yehovah and asking that he not destroy his people, described as both "your people" and "your inheritance," whom he redeemed and brought out of Egypt by a strong hand.

Key words

• va'etpallel ("I prayed", H6419) — hithpael (reflexive) narrative form, indicating an act performed toward or for oneself, chained to the preceding narrative with the vav prefix.
• Adonai ("O Lord", H0136) paired with Yehovah (H3069) — a double divine address, both terms functioning as titles introducing the direct speech.
• tashchet ("you destroy", H7843) — hiphil (causative) jussive, negated by 'al ("may not", H0408), forming a prohibitive plea rather than a flat statement.
• nachalatekha ("your inheritance", H5159) — feminine singular construct noun with 2ms suffix, paired grammatically with amekha ("your people", H5971A) as a parallel description of the same group.
• padita ("you redeemed", H6299) and hotzeta ("you brought out", H3318H) — both qal/hiphil perfect verbs (completed action), each introduced by the relative particle 'asher ("which/who", H0834A), forming two subordinate clauses describing Yehovah's past acts.

What the text says

The verse opens with two narrative verbs joined by the vav-consecutive construction: va'etpallel ("and I prayed") and va'omar ("and I said"), both marked for first person, presenting Moses' prayer as a sequential act within the narrative. The prayer itself is direct speech introduced by the double title Adonai Yehovah, followed by a negated jussive construction: 'al tashchet ("may you not destroy"), which frames the core request as a plea rather than a command.

The object of the plea, "your people" (amekha) and "your inheritance" (nachalatekha), are both singular construct nouns bearing the second-person masculine suffix "your," placed in apposition — they describe one entity from two angles, "people" emphasizing collective identity and "inheritance" emphasizing possession. Two relative clauses, each introduced by 'asher ("which/who"), modify this entity: the first states that Yehovah "redeemed" (padita, qal perfect) it "by your greatness" (be-godlekha, H1433 in construct), and the second states that he "brought it out" (hotzeta, hiphil perfect) "from Egypt" "by a strong hand" (be-yad chazakah, H3027H + H2389). Both verbs are in the perfect aspect, marking these as completed actions prior to the moment of speech, contrasting with the jussive request concerning present/future action.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders Adonai Yehovah as "Κύριε βασιλεῦ τῶν θεῶν" ("Lord, king of the gods"), differing from the Hebrew's double divine title. The LXX also expands "a strong hand" (Hebrew: be-yad chazakah) into three phrases: "your great strength," "your mighty hand," and "your high arm," where the Hebrew has only one expression. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew more closely with "in manu forti" ("with a strong hand"), matching the single Hebrew phrase.