Deuteronomy 33:1-3
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 33
Blessing upon the Tribes.[a] 1 This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the Israelites before he died.(A)
2 (B)He said:
The Lord came from Sinai
and dawned on his people from Seir;
he shone forth from Mount Paran.
With him were myriads of holy ones;
at his right hand advanced the gods.[b]
3 Indeed, lover of the peoples,
all the holy ones are at your side;
They follow at your heels,
carry out your decisions.
Footnotes
- 33:1–29 This poem, called the Blessing of Moses, consists of a series of poetic characterizations of each of the tribes of Israel (vv. 6–25), introduced (vv. 2–3) and concluded (vv. 26–27) by a theophany; vv. 4–5 lead into the blessing proper; and the poem ends with a blessing on Israel as a whole (vv. 28–29). This catalog of the tribal units of the people Israel resembles the Blessing of Jacob (Gn 49) and the Song of Deborah (Jgs 5, especially vv. 14–18); all three poems seem to date from the early premonarchic period.
- 33:2 Gods: the divine beings who constitute the armies of the Lord, the heavenly hosts (Sabaoth); see note on 32:8. These “holy ones” (v. 3) are the retinue of the Lord, the warrior God, in his march from the southern mountains (Sinai, Seir, Paran).
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