Deuteronomy 33: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Before he dies, Moses speaks a blessing over the tribes of Israel. It opens with a picture of the LORD coming from Sinai to his people and giving them a law, then moves tribe by tribe (Reuben, Judah, Levi, Benjamin, Joseph, Zebulun and Issachar, Gad, Dan, Naphtali, and Asher) asking for protection, land, strength, and success for each. It closes with praise of the God of Jeshurun as Israel's refuge and the source of its safety and victory. The chapter stands near the end of Deuteronomy as Moses' parting words to the nation.

Claim by Claim

1. 33:1
   • This is the blessing Moses pronounced.
   • Moses is called the man of God.
   • Moses blessed the children of Israel.
   • Moses gave this blessing before his death.
2. 33:2
   • Moses said the following.
   • The LORD came from Sinai.
   • The LORD dawned on them from Seir.
   • The LORD shone forth from Mount Paran.
   • The LORD came from among myriads of holy ones.
   • From his right hand went a fiery law for them; the Hebrew phrase here is obscure.
3. 33:3
   • He loved the peoples.
   • All his holy ones are in your hand.
   • They sat down at your feet.
   • Each one receives of your words.
4. 33:4
   • Moses commanded a law for us.
   • That law is the possession of the assembly of Jacob.
5. 33:5
   • He became king in Jeshurun; the text does not state whether the king is the LORD or Moses.
   • This happened when the heads of the people gathered themselves.
   • The tribes of Israel were gathered together.
6. 33:6
   • Let Reuben live.
   • Let Reuben not die.
   • Let Reuben's men not be few; the Hebrew leaves open whether the wish is that his men be few or not few.
7. 33:7
   • This is what Moses said concerning Judah.
   • Moses asked the LORD to hear the voice of Judah.
   • Moses asked the LORD to bring Judah to his people.
   • Judah's own hands contend for him.
   • Moses asked the LORD to be a help to Judah against his foes.
8. 33:8
   • This is what Moses said concerning Levi.
   • Moses asked that the LORD's Thummim and Urim be with his godly one.
   • The LORD tested that one at Massah.
   • The LORD contended with him at the waters of Meribah.
9. 33:9
   • He said of his father and his mother, I have not seen him.
   • He did not acknowledge his brothers.
   • He did not know his own children.
   • The reason is that they kept your word.
   • They guarded your covenant.
10. 33:10
    • They will teach your judgments to Jacob.
    • They will teach your law to Israel.
    • They will set incense before you.
    • They will offer whole burnt offering on your altar.
11. 33:11
    • Moses asked the LORD to bless Levi's substance.
    • Moses asked the LORD to accept the work of his hands.
    • Moses asked the LORD to smash the loins of those who rise against him.
    • Moses asked that those who hate him not rise again.
12. 33:12
    • This is what Moses said concerning Benjamin.
    • The beloved of the LORD will dwell in safety beside him.
    • He covers him all the day long.
    • He dwells between his shoulders.
13. 33:13
    • This is what Moses said concerning Joseph.
    • May Joseph's land be blessed by the LORD.
    • The blessing includes the precious things of the heavens.
    • The blessing includes the dew.
    • The blessing includes the deep that lies beneath.
14. 33:14
    • The blessing includes the precious yield brought forth by the sun.
    • The blessing includes the precious produce put forth by the months.
15. 33:15
    • The blessing includes the finest of the ancient mountains.
    • The blessing includes the precious things of the everlasting hills.
16. 33:16
    • The blessing includes the precious things of the earth and its fullness.
    • The blessing includes the favor of him who dwelt in the bush.
    • May these come upon the head of Joseph.
    • May these come upon the crown of the head of the one set apart from his brothers.
17. 33:17
    • His majesty is like a firstborn bull.
    • His horns are the horns of a wild ox.
    • With those horns he will gore the peoples together to the ends of the earth.
    • They are the ten thousands of Ephraim.
    • They are the thousands of Manasseh.
18. 33:18
    • This is what Moses said concerning Zebulun.
    • Zebulun is told to rejoice in his going out.
    • Issachar is told to rejoice in his tents.
19. 33:19
    • They will call peoples to a mountain.
    • There they will offer sacrifices of righteousness.
    • They will suck the abundance of the seas.
    • They will draw on treasures hidden in the sand.
20. 33:20
    • This is what Moses said concerning Gad.
    • Blessed is the one who enlarges Gad.
    • Gad dwells like a lion.
    • Gad tears the arm and also the crown of the head.
21. 33:21
    • He chose the first part for himself.
    • The reason is that a ruler's portion was reserved there.
    • He came with the heads of the people.
    • He carried out the righteousness of the LORD.
    • He carried out the LORD's judgments with Israel.
22. 33:22
    • This is what Moses said concerning Dan.
    • Dan is a lion's cub.
    • Dan leaps out from Bashan.
23. 33:23
    • This is what Moses said concerning Naphtali.
    • Naphtali is satisfied with favor.
    • Naphtali is full of the blessing of the LORD.
    • Naphtali is told to take possession of the sea and the south.
24. 33:24
    • This is what Moses said concerning Asher.
    • May Asher be blessed with sons; the Hebrew can also mean blessed above the other sons.
    • May Asher be favored by his brothers.
    • May Asher dip his foot in oil.
25. 33:25
    • Your bars will be iron and bronze.
    • Your strength will match your days; the Hebrew word rendered strength is obscure.
26. 33:26
    • There is none like God, O Jeshurun.
    • He rides the heavens to your help.
    • He rides the clouds in his majesty.
27. 33:27
    • The God of old is a dwelling place.
    • Underneath are the everlasting arms.
    • He drove out the enemy from before you.
    • He said, Destroy.
28. 33:28
    • Israel dwells in safety and alone.
    • The fountain of Jacob is upon a land of grain and new wine.
    • His heavens drop down dew.
29. 33:29
    • Israel is happy.
    • No one is like Israel.
    • Israel is a people saved by the LORD.
    • The LORD is the shield of your help.
    • The LORD is the sword of your majesty.
    • Your enemies will come cringing in feigned submission to you.
    • You will tread on their high places.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

33:1

"Man of God" was a standard title for a prophet, someone who spoke on God's behalf, rather than a comment on Moses' character. What follows is a poem blessing the tribes one by one, the same kind of deathbed blessing Jacob gives his sons in Genesis 49.

33:2

Sinai, Seir and Paran are mountain and desert regions south and east of Canaan; the poem pictures God advancing from there like a sunrise. "Holy ones" are members of the heavenly court, not human worshipers. The last line is one of the most obscure in the Hebrew Bible: the words can be read as "a fiery law," "flaming fire," or "fire of law at his right hand." The King James chose the first, most modern versions the second.

33:3

Sitting or bowing at someone's feet was the posture of a student before a teacher and of a subject before a ruler.

33:4

Jacob was the ancestor renamed Israel, so "the assembly of Jacob" means the whole nation gathered. Calling the law a "possession" (King James "inheritance") treats it as family property handed down, the one thing every Israelite owns by birth.

33:5

The Hebrew does not say who "he" is: it can be read as the LORD becoming king, or as Moses. Jeshurun is a rare, affectionate name for Israel built on a root meaning "upright"; it is used only four times in the Bible.

33:6

From here the poem goes tribe by tribe. Each tribe was named for a son (or, with Ephraim and Manasseh, a grandson) of Jacob and held its own block of territory. Reuben was the eldest son, but his tribe was small and lived on the far side of the Jordan. Simeon is absent from the list altogether, the only tribe not mentioned.

33:7

"Bring him back to his people" may picture Judah returning safely from battle, or being reunited with the other tribes. The Hebrew is compressed and its sense is disputed.

33:8

The Urim and Thummim were two objects kept in the high priest's breastpiece and used to obtain yes-or-no answers to questions put to God, a form of sacred lot. Levi was the tribe that supplied the priests, which is why these belong to it. Massah and Meribah are wilderness sites whose names mean "testing" and "quarreling," named for a dispute there over water.

33:9

This looks back to an occasion when the Levites acted against members of their own families at Moses' order (Exodus 32). In Hebrew, to "not know" or "not acknowledge" a relative is legal language for refusing to let family ties count as a claim on you.

33:10

Incense was aromatic gum burned to make fragrant smoke as an offering. A "whole burnt offering" was one burned up entirely on the altar, unlike other sacrifices, where priests or worshipers ate part of the meat.

33:11

The loins or hips were thought of as the seat of a man's physical strength; breaking them leaves an opponent unable to stand up again.

33:12

"Between his shoulders" is an unclear image. It can suggest being carried on someone's back, or resting against a hillside (the same Hebrew word is used for the slopes of a mountain) or lying between two ridges. Benjamin's territory was the hill country that later included Jerusalem.

33:13

"The deep" is the mass of fresh water believed to lie beneath the ground, feeding springs and wells. Rain from above and water from below were the two sources of a land's fertility.

33:14

The Hebrew literally says "what the moons bring out", the crops that ripen month by month across the year.

33:16

"The one who lived in the burning bush" refers to Exodus 3, where God speaks to Moses from a bush that burns without being consumed. "Set apart" translates a word that can mean either one consecrated and dedicated, or a prince among his brothers; Joseph was singled out by his father and also, at his brothers' hands, separated from them when they sold him.

33:17

Where the King James has "unicorns," the Hebrew word is re'em, the wild ox or aurochs, a huge, now-extinct bovine that was a stock image of brute strength. Ephraim and Manasseh were Joseph's two sons; each became a full tribe, which is why Joseph's blessing covers two groups.

33:18

Zebulun and Issachar were neighboring tribes in the north. "Going out" and "staying in your tents" contrast a life of travel and trade with a settled life at home; the pair together covers all of life.

33:19

"Treasure hidden in the sand" most likely refers to what the coastline yielded: the shellfish that produced purple dye, and sand used for glassmaking, trades of the Phoenician coast next to these tribes' land. Which mountain is meant is not stated.

33:20

Gad settled east of the Jordan on exposed frontier land, which is why room to expand and a fighter's ferocity are the terms of its blessing.

33:21

"A ruler's share" translates a Hebrew word meaning a commander's or lawgiver's portion. Gad asked for land east of the Jordan before the other tribes had any land, on condition that its fighting men cross over and go at the head of the army until the rest were settled (Numbers 32).

33:22

Bashan is the high, fertile plateau east of the Sea of Galilee, proverbial for its cattle and its lions. Dan's tribe later left its original territory in the south and migrated to the far north.

33:23

The Hebrew reads "the sea and the south." Since Naphtali's land lay in the far north, this probably means the Sea of Galilee and the country south of it, but the line has never been explained with certainty.

33:24

Asher's territory was olive-growing country in the north. Oil plentiful enough to wash your feet in is an image of extreme abundance; olive oil served as food, lamp fuel, medicine and cosmetic.

33:25

Towns were shut at night by heavy bars laid across the gates, so iron and bronze bars mean a place that cannot be broken into. The Hebrew word translated "bars" occurs nowhere else, and its meaning is uncertain.

33:26

Riding across the sky and on the clouds was standard poetic language across the ancient Near East for a god going out to war, normally used of storm gods; here it is applied to Israel's God.

33:27

The Hebrew of this verse is obscure at several points. The word rendered "refuge" can also mean "dwelling place," and the second half is uncertain enough that translations differ widely.

33:28

"The spring of Jacob" (King James "fountain") means Jacob's descendants, pictured as water flowing from its source. "New wine" is tirosh, the fresh juice of the current harvest; paired with grain, it is the standard shorthand for a good agricultural year.

33:29

Setting your foot on a defeated enemy was a formal gesture of victory. "High places" here means their heights or ridges, though the same word is used elsewhere for hilltop worship sites, and the line may be playing on both senses.