Deuteronomy 9:29

Summary

Deuteronomy 9:29 declares that the people addressed are described as belonging to Yehovah — his 'am ("people") and nachalah ("inheritance") — and recalls that he brought them out of Egypt using great strength and an outstretched arm.

Key words

• Hem ("they", H1992) — an independent personal pronoun placed at the head of the clause, giving emphasis to the subject before any verb appears.
• 'amme-kha ("people of you", H5971A) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, literally "your people," binding the noun tightly to the possessor.
• nachalate-kha ("inheritance of you", H5159) — feminine construct noun with suffix, paired with 'amme-kha to form a double designation of the people as both "people" and "inheritance."
• hotze'ta ("you brought out", H3318H) — Hiphil perfect, second person masculine singular; the Hiphil stem marks causative action ("you caused to go out"), and the perfect aspect presents the exodus as a completed event.
• netuyah ("outstretched", H5186) — Qal passive participle, feminine singular, agreeing with zroa' ("arm", H2220); the passive participle describes the arm as being in a stretched-out state rather than performing an action.

What the text says

The verse opens with the pronoun Hem ("they") followed immediately by two construct nouns — 'amme-kha ("your people") and nachalate-kha ("your inheritance") — both bearing the second-person masculine singular suffix -kha. This construction places the identity of the people ("people," "inheritance") in direct grammatical dependence on the addressee ("your"), without a linking verb, which Hebrew does not require in a nominal clause.

The relative particle 'asher ("which", H0834A) introduces a subordinate clause describing an action performed on this people: hotze'ta ("you brought out"), a Hiphil perfect verb indicating a completed causative action carried out by the addressee. The means of this action are given through two parallel prepositional phrases, each built with be- ("by") governing a construct noun with suffix: be-khocha-kha ha-gadol ("by your strength, the great one") and u-vi-zro'a-kha ha-netuyah ("and by your arm, the outstretched one"). In both phrases, the adjective/participle (gadol, "great"; netuyah, "outstretched") follows the noun and carries the definite article ha-, agreeing with the definite noun it modifies — a standard Hebrew pattern where the article on the modifier mirrors the definiteness of the noun already marked by the possessive suffix.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text has no equivalent for "out of the land of Egypt" (ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου) found in the LXX; the Hebrew hotze'ta ("you brought out") does not specify a location, while the Greek adds this geographical clarification. The Vulgate, like the Hebrew, omits any mention of Egypt, rendering simply "quos eduxisti" ("whom you brought out"). Additionally, the LXX inserts a third phrase, "ἐν τῇ χειρί σου τῇ κραταιᾷ" ("with your mighty hand"), between "your strength" and "your arm," which has no corresponding phrase in the Hebrew word list provided, where only two instrumental phrases (strength and arm) appear.