Exodus 32:29

Summary

Moses addresses the people after the incident with the golden calf, using the idiom milu yedkhem ("fill your hand", H4390 + H3027) to speak of consecration to Yehovah. The verse states that each man acted regarding his son and his brother, and that this results in a blessing being given upon them.

Key words

• mil'u ("fill", H4390) — qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural; paired with "hand" (yedkhem) it forms a set idiom used elsewhere for installation into service.
• yedkhem ("your hand", H3027) — construct noun + pronominal suffix; the fixed expression "fill the hand" functions as a technical phrase rather than a literal filling of hands.
• ish ("each man", H0376) — singular noun used distributively, meaning "each one" among the group addressed.
• bi-vno / u-ve'achiv ("in/on his son" / "and in/on his brother", H1121 + H0251) — construct nouns with 3ms suffixes, governed by the preposition be (H9003), which can denote "in," "on," "with," or "against" depending on context; the text itself does not specify which sense applies.
• latet ("to give/put", H5414) — qal infinitive construct introduced by le- (H9005), forming a purpose clause: "...so as to put/give upon you this day a blessing."

What the text says

The sentence opens with the narrative verb va-yomer ("and he said", H0559) attributing direct speech to Moses. The command mil'u yedkhem ("fill your hand[s]") is grammatically an imperative addressed to "you all" (plural suffix on yedkhem), followed by ha-yom la-YHWH ("today, to Yehovah") specifying the time and recipient of the action.

The causal/explanatory particle ki (H3588) introduces the reason: ish be-vno u-ve-achiv, literally "a man in his son and in his brother." The preposition be (H9003) is repeated before both "son" and "brother," each in construct form with a 3ms suffix, but the text does not supply a verb governing this prepositional phrase — the grammar leaves the relationship between "man" and "his son/brother" syntactically open, dependent on how be is read in this clause.

The final clause, ve-latet aleikhem ha-yom berakhah ("and to put/give upon you today a blessing"), uses the infinitive latet without an explicit subject; the Hebrew does not state grammatically who performs the giving.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew connects "his son" and "his brother" with the conjunction va- ("and"), matched by the Vulgate's "et." The LXX instead uses the disjunctive ἢ ("or"): ἐν τῷ υἱῷ ἢ τῷ ἀδελφῷ. Regarding the final clause, the Hebrew infinitive latet, the LXX passive infinitive δοθῆναι, and the Vulgate passive subjunctive "detur" all leave the giver of the blessing unstated; some modern renderings (BSB, SBLIBRE) supply "the LORD" as an explicit subject not present in the Hebrew, Greek, or Latin text.