Deuteronomy 33:6

4 ^aMoses¹ commanded a law for us,
^bA heritage of the congregation of Jacob.

5 And He was ^aKing in ^bJeshurun,
When the leaders of the people were gathered,
All the tribes of Israel together.

6 “Let ^aReuben live, and not die,
Nor let his men be few.”

7 And this he said of ^aJudah:
“Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah,
And bring him to his people;
^bLet his hands be sufficient for him,
And may You be ^ca help against his enemies.”

8 And of ^aLevi he said:
^b“Let Your¹ Thummim and Your Urim be with Your holy one,
^cWhom You tested at Massah,
And with whom You contended at the waters of Meribah,

9 ^aWho says of his father and mother,
‘I have not ^bseen them’;
^cNor did he acknowledge his brothers,
Or know his own children;
For ^dthey have observed Your word
And kept Your covenant.

10 ^aThey shall teach Jacob Your judgments,
And Israel Your law.
They shall put incense before You,
^bAnd a whole burnt sacrifice on Your altar.

11 Bless his substance, Lord,
And ^aaccept the work of his hands;
Strike the loins of those who rise against him,
And of those who hate him, that they rise not again.”

12 Of Benjamin he said:
“The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by Him,
Who shelters him all the day long;
And he shall dwell between His shoulders.”

13 And of Joseph he said:
^a“Blessed of the Lord is his land,
With the precious things of heaven, with the ^bdew,
And the deep lying beneath,

14 With the precious fruits of the sun,
With the precious produce of the months,

15 With the best things of ^athe ancient mountains,
With the precious things ^bof the everlasting hills,

16 With the precious things of the earth and its fullness,
And the favor of ^aHim who dwelt in the bush.
Let the blessing come ^b‘on the head of Joseph,
And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.’

17 His glory is like a ^afirstborn bull,
And his horns like the ^bhorns of the wild ox;
Together with them
^cHe shall push the peoples
To the ends of the earth;
^dThey are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
And they are the thousands of Manasseh.”

18 And of Zebulun he said:
^a“Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,
And Issachar in your tents!

19 They shall ^acall the peoples to the mountain;
There ^bthey shall offer sacrifices of righteousness;
For they shall partake of the abundance of the seas
And of treasures hidden in the sand.”

20 And of Gad he said:
“Blessed is he who ^aenlarges Gad;
He dwells as a lion,
And tears the arm and the crown of his head.

21 ^aHe provided the first part for himself,
Because a lawgiver’s portion was reserved there.
^bHe came with the heads of the people;
He administered the justice of the Lord,
And His judgments with Israel.”

22 And of Dan he said:
“Dan is a lion’s whelp;
^aHe shall leap from Bashan.”

23 And of Naphtali he said:
“O Naphtali, ^asatisfied with favor,
And full of the blessing of the Lord,
^bPossess the west and the south.”

24 And of Asher he said:
^a“Asher is most blessed of sons;
Let him be favored by his brothers,
And let him ^bdip his foot in oil.

25 Your sandals shall be ^airon and bronze;
As your days, so shall your strength be.

26 “There is ^ano one like the God of ^bJeshurun,
^cWho rides the heavens to help you,
And in His excellency on the clouds.

27 The eternal God is your ^arefuge,
And underneath are the everlasting arms;
^bHe will thrust out the enemy from before you,
And will say, ‘Destroy!’

28 Then ^aIsrael shall dwell in safety,
^bThe fountain of Jacob ^calone,
In a land of grain and new wine;
His ^dheavens shall also drop dew.

29 ^aHappy are you, O Israel!
^bWho is like you, a people saved by the Lord,
^cThe shield of your help
And the sword of your majesty!
Your enemies ^dshall submit to you,
And ^eyou shall tread down their high places.”

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

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Deuteronomy 33:6

Let Reuben live, and not die - Though his life and his blessings have been forfeited by his transgression with his father' s concubine, Genesis 49:3, Genesis 49:4; and in his rebellion with Korah, Numbers 16:1-3, etc., let him not become extinct as a tribe in Israel. "It is very usual," says Mr. Ainsworth, "in the Scripture, to set down things of importance and earnestness, by affirmation of the one part, and denial of the other; Isaiah 38:1 : Thou shalt die, and not live; Numbers 4:19 : That they may live, and not die; Psalms 118:17 : I shall not die, but live; Genesis 43:8 : That we may live, and not die; Jeremiah 20:14 : Cursed be the day - let not that day be blessed; I John 2:4 : He is a liar, and the truth is not in him; I John 2:27 : Is truth, and no lie; John 1:20 : He confessed, and denied not; I Samuel 1:11 : Remember me, and not forget thy handmaid; Deuteronomy 9:7 : Remember, forget not; Deuteronomy 32:6 : O foolish people, and unwise. In all these places it is evident that there is a peculiar emphasis in this form of expression, as if he had said, Let him not only not die, but let him live in great and increasing peace and prosperity. Do not only not forget me, but keep me continually in remembrance. He denied not, but confessed Fully and Particularly. O foolish people - silly and stupid, and unwise - destitute of all true wisdom."

And let not his men be few - It is possible that this clause belongs to Simeon. In the Alexandrian copy of the Septuagint the clause stands thus: ͅ , and let Simeon be very numerous, but none of the other versions insert the word. As the negative particle is not in the Hebrew, but is supplied in our translation, and the word Simeon is found in one of the most ancient and most authentic copies of the Septuagint version; and as Simeon is nowhere else mentioned here, if not implied in this place, probably the clause anciently stood: Let Reuben live, and not die; but let the men of Simeon be few. That this tribe was small when compared with the rest, and with what it once was, is evident enough from the first census, taken after they came out of Egypt, and that in the plains of Moab nearly forty years after. In the first, Simeon was 59,300; in the last, 22,200, a decrease of 37,100 men!

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Deuteronomy 33:6

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