Deuteronomy 33:15

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

For the chief things of the ancient mountains, For the precious things of the everlasting hills,

World English Bible · Public Domain

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וּמִמֶּ֖גֶד

meged

H4022

“and · from · excellence of”

Conjunction + Preposition + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct

Appears 8× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Deuteronomy 33:13

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from an unused root probably meaning to be eminent

TWOT: 1144a

excellence

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

6: words
6: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is וּמִמֶּ֖גֶד excellence H4022 — appearing just 8 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וּמִמֶּ֖גֶד excellence H4022 occurs in 7 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

6 nouns

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 16 words from the Hebrew and 15 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 6 Hebrew tokens and 10 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Deuteronomy 33:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Habakkuk 3:6 He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.
Genesis 49:26 The blessings of your father Have prevailed above the blessings of the ancient mountains, Above the bounty of the age-old hills. They will be on the head of Joseph, On the crown of the head of him who is separated from his brothers.
James 5:7 Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Deuteronomy 33:15 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וּמֵרֹ֖אשׁ הַרְרֵי קֶ֑דֶם וּמִמֶּ֖גֶד גִּבְע֥וֹת עוֹלָֽם

For the chief things of the ancient mountains, For the precious things of the everlasting hills,

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Deuteronomy 33:15 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ἀπό κορυφή ὄρος ἀρχή καί ἀπό κορυφή βουνός ἀέναος

from the top of the ancient mountains, and from the top of the everlasting hills,

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וּמֵרֵיש טוּרַיָא בַכִּירַיָא וּמִטוּב רָמָן דְלָא פָסְקָן

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וּמִטוּב רֵישֵׁי טַוְורָא בְּכִירְתָא דְאוֹרִיתוּ לֵיהּ בִּרְכָתָא אַבְהָתָא דְמִן שֵׁרוּיָא דִמְתִילִין לְטַוְורַיָא וּמִן טוּב רָמָתָא דְלָא מְפַסְקָן עֲלָלַיָא דְאַחְסִינוּ לֵיהּ בִרְכָתָא אַמְהָתָא דְמִן עַלְמָא דִמְתִילִין לִגְלִימָתָא

and with the goodness through the birthright ordained of the mountain tops, him at the beginning by the benediction of the fathers who resemble the mountains, and with the goodness of the hills whose produce faileth not, which was given him in heritage by the benedictions of the mothers of old, who resemble the hills;

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Deuteronomy 33:15 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

15. deliver] i.e. under arrest; cp. Jos_20:5 (deut.), 1Sa_23:11 f.

a servant] slave or bondman, as elsewhere, e.g. Deu_5:14.

15. chief things] Heb. rôsh (collect.) tops or rather headlands, see on Deu_3:27 and small print under Deu_12:2. Some conjecture reshîth the best (fruit) of the hills. Cp. Deu_32:13 increase of the mountains.

15, 16 (16, 17). Of a Runaway Slave. If such escape to thee—apparently Israel as a whole (cp. Deu_5:16), and therefore the slave, though not necessarily a Hebrew slave1[145] (Marti), is one who has escaped from a foreign master—thou shalt not send him back, he shall dwell with thee, where he chooses and unoppressed.—Peculiar to D. That slaves sometimes fled abroad is seen from the flight of Shimei’s to Achish of Gath, who gave them back, apparently as a matter of course (1Ki_2:39). If this was the usual practice D’s law marks a humane advance upon it. For slaves who flee from native owners no Hebrew laws are extant. On slavery see further on Deu_15:12 ff.

[145] Had this been so it would have been stated as in Deu_15:12.

Ḫammurabi decrees that he who induces a slave to flee or harbours the runaway shall die (§§ 15 f., 19) and that runaways shall be restored (§§ 18, 20), the reward for each being two silver shekels (§ 17). The slaves of Arabs seldom run away. If one is harshly treated and escapes, he is sheltered by another man of the tribe till his owner promises to treat him better (Musil, Ethn. Ber. 225).

15–25 (16–26). Five Laws—Various

The subjects of these are not related. As to form, all are in the Sg. address (Steuern.’s reasons for dividing them between his Sg. and Pl. authors are again inconclusive); and the first three (Deu_33:15-20) have negative openings similar to those of the group in Deu_33:1-8 (from which they are abruptly separated by Deu_33:9-14). In D or D’s source they may have originally followed that group, in the feeling that as all three treat of relations with foreigners or foreign practices they had affinity with it. Steuern. thinks that Deu_33:15 f. fit Deu_22:8 in the code of his Sg. author. In addition to the negative openings there are possibly some cue-words. Escaped in Deu_33:15 is the same Heb. vb (but passive) as deliver in Deu_33:14; and vow in Deu_33:18 is soon followed by vows in Deu_33:21-23.

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.

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Deu 33:15 And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills,

Ver. 15. And for the chief things.] Metals and minerals usually dug out of mountains, which are here called ancient and lasting, because they have been from the beginning, and were not first cast up, as some have held, by Noah’s flood. {Psa 90:2}

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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 15. The chief things of the ancient mountains] ומראש הררי קדם umerosh harerey kedem, and from the head or top of the ancient or eastern mountains, the precious things or productions being still understood. And this probably refers to the large trees, &c., growing on the mountain tops, and the springs of water issuing from them. The mountains of Gilead may be here intended, as they fell to the half tribe of Manasseh. And the precious things of the lasting hills may signify the metals and minerals which might be digged out of them.

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

John Gill's Exposition

And for the precious things of the earth, and fulness thereof,.... Corn of all sorts produced out of the earth, and grass that grows out of it, and cattle that feed upon it; for all which some part of the land of Joseph, particularly Bashan, was famous; as for the oaks that grew on it, so for the pasturage of it, and the cattle it bred, Deu 32:14; see Psa 22:12,

and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush; the angel of the Lord, the Word and Son of God, who appeared to Moses in the bush, and made himself known as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and expressed his good will to Israel, by sending Moses to deliver them out of their bondage: and the favour and good will of the same divine Person is here wished for, and which has appeared in his assumption of human nature, obedience, sufferings, and death, Luk 2:14. The bush was an emblem of Israel, and the state they were then in, and of the church of Christ; of which See Gill on Exo 3:2; and where Christ may be said to dwell, as he did among men, when he was made flesh, and does dwell in the midst of his churches, and in the hearts of his people by faith:

let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph; that is, in all things, as Onkelos; or all these blessings, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; all before mentioned, let them come openly and visibly, and in great plenty, upon the posterity of Joseph, who was a type of Christ, the head of the righteous, on whom all the blessings of grace are, and from whom they descend to all his spiritual offspring, Pro 10:6,

and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren; when he was sold by them into Egypt; the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem are,"and was shining in the glory of his brethren;''that is, when he was a ruler in Egypt, and had honour from his brethren there, and was beautiful and glorious among them, as a Nazarite, as the word here used signifies, see Lam 4:7; and may he applied to Christ, who was chosen from among the people, and separated from sinners, and called a Nazarene, Psa 89:19.

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

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Everlasting hills. Chaldean, "which never fail" to produce an abundant crop. (Haydock) --- The hills of the Israelites were very productive. But when they rebelled against their God, in very deed the hills were liars, and yielded little or nothing, Jeremias iii. 23.

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).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

i.e. The excellent fruits, as grapes, olives, figs, &c., which delight in mountains, growing upon, or the precious minerals contained in, their mountains and hills, called ancient and lasting, i.e. such as have been from the beginning of the world, and likely to continue to the end of it, in opposition to those hills or mounts which have been cast up by the wit of man.

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

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

The chief things - That is, the excellent fruits, as grapes, olives, figs, &c. which delight in mountains, growing upon, or the precious minerals contained in, their mountains and hills called ancient and lasting, that is, such as have been from the beginning of the world, and are likely to continue to the end of it, in opposition to those hills or mounts which have been cast up by man.

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

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

ומראש הררי קדם AND BY THE FIRST THINGS OF THE HILLS OF קדם (taken in the sense of: the hills priority) — the meaning is: and it is blessed through the earliest ripening of the fruits, because its hills are earliest (קדם, "prior") to bring their fruits to maturity. – Another explanation: this tells us that their creation (the creation of the hills in the territory of Joseph) was prior (קדם) to that of all other hills (Sifrei Devarim 353:4).

גבעות עולם [AND THROUGH THE PRECIOUS THINGS OF] THE EVERLASTING HILLS — i.e., of hills which everlastingly (עולם) produce fruit, and do not cease to do so through restraint of rain.

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.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Deuteronomy, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 6 words (6 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is meged (“excellence”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word meged carries the sense “excellence.” How does it shape the verse?
How does Deuteronomy 33:13, which shares the word «excellence», read alongside this verse?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
Compare how The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges and Trapp's Complete Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 6 Hebrew ↔ 10 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 8 words in this verse.
6 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 6 words in this verse.