Deuteronomy 33:14

Deu 33:14 And for the precious fruits [brought forth] by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon,

Ver. 14. And for the precious fruits.] So St James calleth them, "The precious fruits of the earth." {Jas 5:7} Diogenes justly taxed the folly of his countrymen, Quod res pretiosas minimo emerent, venderentque vilissimas plurimo, because they bought precious things, as grain, very cheap, but sold the basest things, as pictures, statues, &c., extremely dear, fifty pounds or more a-piece; though the life of man had no need of a statue, but could not subsist without grain. May not we more justly tax men for undervaluing the bread of life, and "spending money for that which is not bread?" {Isa 4:1}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 14. The precious fruits brought forth by the sun] All excellent and important productions of the earth, which come to perfection once in the year. So the precious things put forth by the moon may imply those vegetables which require but about a month to bring them to perfection, or vegetables of which several crops may be had in the course of a year.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(14) And for the precious fruits.—The “increase of the sun” and “precious things put forth from month to month” (or by night when the moon rules), are next alluded to.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. walketh] walketh up and down (also of God in J, Gen_3:8, and 2Sa_7:6 f.). Cp. especially 1Sa_4:7, a god is come into the camp; and above Deu_20:1; Deu_20:4; Deu_20:13, Deu_21:10 of the presence of Jehovah with the host. On deliver cp. Deu_20:4; and to give up, before thee, see on Deu_1:8. Holy, set apart from anything unclean. He must not see the nakedness of anything, anything shameful or indecent. Here the idea is wider than that of ritual uncleanness, and indicates an advance of feeling on the more primitive sentiment. No sanitary reason is implied, but it is interesting that such religious or aesthetic motives produced sanitary results.

14. growth] Yield or drop, what is thrust forth, only here. LXX ἀπὸ συνόδων.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And for the chief things of the ancient mountains,.... Which were from the beginning of the world, and for which the land, possessed by the children of Joseph, Manasseh, and Ephraim, were famous; as the mountains of Gilead and Bashan, inherited by the former, and Mount Ephraim, and the mountains of Samaria, by the latter; which produced, besides great quantities of grass and corn, also vines, figs, olives, &c.

and for the precious things of the lasting hills; which will endure as long as the world, the same as before in other words; and which precious things may be emblems of the spiritual blessings of grace, provided in an everlasting covenant, and given to Christ for his people before the world began, or any mountains and hills were formed, and which are as lasting and as immovable as they are; see Pro 8:22, Isa 54:10.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Moon; both those which are annual, as wheat, and those which come every month. (Chaldean) The sun and moon greatly contribute to nourish (Haydock) and to bring fruit to maturity. (Pliny, [Natural History?] ii. 100. (Calmet) --- Both the tribes of Ephraim and of Manasses inhabited a fertile region. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

By the sun, which opens and warms the earth, cherisheth and improveth, and in due time ripeneth the seeds and fruits of the earth.

By the moon, which by its moisture refreshes and promotes them Heb. of the moons, or months, i.e. which it bringeth forth in the several months or seasons of the year.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

By the sun - Which opens and warms the earth, cherishes and improves and in due time ripens the seeds and fruits of it. The moon - Which by its moisture refreshes and promotes them. Hebrew. Of the moons, or months, that is, which it bringeth forth in the several months or seasons of the year.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

Moses continues to bless the tribes of Israel; the blessings are short poems. He continues to describe the tribe of Joseph, which he began to do in Deuteronomy 33:13. (See: Parallelism)

May his land be blessed

This can be stated in active form. See how you translated this in Deuteronomy 33:13. AT: "May Yahweh bless his land" (See: Active or Passive)

with the precious things of the harvest of the sun

"with the best crops that the sun causes to grow"

with the precious things of the produce of the months

"with the best crops that grow month to month"

finest things ... precious things

Moses is probably referring to food crops. The full meaning of this statement can be made clear. AT: "the best fruits ... the precious fruits" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

ancient mountains

"the mountains that existed long ago"

everlasting hills

"the hills that will exist forever"

translationWords

precious

harvest

eternity

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

וממגד תבואת שמש AND BY THE PRECIOUS FRUITS BROUGHT FORTH BY THE SUN — for this land lay exposed to the sun and it therefore produced sweet fruit (Sifrei Devarim 353:3).

גרש ירחים [AND BY] THE PRECIOUS THINGS PUT THINGS FORTH BY THE MOON — there are some fruits which the moon brings to maturity, these are cucumbers and melons (Sifrei Devarim 353:3). — Another explanation of גרש ירחים: this refers to fruits which the earth puts out and produces from month to month (cf. Onkelos).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.