Deuteronomy 33:8

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Blessing on Levi Of Levi he said: Your Thummim and Urim belong to your godly one, whose authority you challenged at Massah, and with whom you argued at the waters of Meribah.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וּלְלֵוִ֣י אָמַ֔ר תֻּמֶּ֥יךָ וְאוּרֶ֖יךָ לְאִ֣ישׁ חֲסִידֶ֑ךָ אֲשֶׁ֤ר נִסִּיתוֹ֙ בְּמַסָּ֔ה תְּרִיבֵ֖הוּ עַל־מֵ֥י מְרִיבָֽה׃

Transliteration

And-for-Lēwî ʾāmar tummêkā and-ʾûrêkā to-ʾîš ḥăsîdekā whom nissîtô in-Massāh tərîbēhû at-mê Mərîbāh

Grammar Details

• *û-lə-Lēwî*: conjunction + preposition + proper noun - and for/to Levi
• *ʾāmar*: qal perfect, 3rd masculine singular - he said
• *tummêkā*: noun, masculine plural + 2nd masculine singular suffix - your Thummim
• *wə-ʾûrêkā*: conjunction + noun, masculine plural + 2nd masculine singular suffix - and your Urim
• *lə-ʾîš*: preposition + noun, masculine singular construct - to/for man of
• *ḥăsîdekā*: noun, masculine singular + 2nd masculine singular suffix - your faithful one
• *ʾăšer*: relative pronoun - whom
• *nissîtô*: piel perfect, 2nd masculine singular + 3rd masculine singular suffix - you tested him
• *bə-Massāh*: preposition + proper noun - at Massah
• *tərîbēhû*: qal imperfect, 2nd masculine singular + 3rd masculine singular suffix - you contended with him
• *ʿal-mê*: preposition + noun, masculine plural construct - at waters of
• *Mərîbāh*: proper noun - Meribah

Word Meanings

• *tummêkā*: your Thummim (sacred lot for determining God's will)
• *ʾûrêkā*: your Urim (sacred lot for determining God's will)
• *ḥăsîd*: faithful one/godly one/pious one
• *nissâ*: test/try/prove
• *rîb*: contend/strive/dispute

Referenced Verses

• Exod 17:7 : 7 He called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the Israelites and because of their testing the LORD, saying,“Is the LORD among us or not?”
• Exod 28:30 : 30 “You are to put the Urim and the Thummim into the breastpiece of decision; and they are to be over Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the LORD. Aaron is to bear the decisions of the Israelites over his heart before the LORD continually.
• Num 20:13 : 13 These are the waters of Meribah, because the Israelites contended with the LORD, and his holiness was maintained among them.
• Lev 8:8 : 8 He then set the breastpiece on him and put the Urim and Thummim into the breastpiece.
• Ps 106:16 : 16 In the camp they resented Moses, and Aaron, the LORD’s holy priest.
• Heb 7:26 : 26 For it is indeed fitting for us to have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separate from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
• Rev 3:7 : 7 To the Church in Philadelphia“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write the following:“This is the solemn pronouncement of the Holy One, the True One, who holds the key of David, who opens doors no one can shut, and shuts doors no one can open:
• Lev 21:7 : 7 They must not take a wife defiled by prostitution, nor are they to take a wife divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.
• Num 16:5 : 5 Then he said to Korah and to all his company,“In the morning the LORD will make known who are his, and who is holy. He will cause that person to approach him; the person he has chosen he will cause to approach him.
• Exod 28:36 : 36 “You are to make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it the way a seal is engraved:“Holiness to the LORD.”
• Num 27:21 : 21 And he will stand before Eleazar the priest, who will seek counsel for him before the LORD by the decision of the Urim. At his command they will go out, and at his command they will come in, he and all the Israelites with him, the whole community.”
• Deut 8:2-3 : 2 Remember the whole way by which he has brought you these forty years through the wilderness so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not. 3 So he humbled you by making you hungry and then feeding you with unfamiliar manna. He did this to teach you that humankind cannot live by bread alone, but also by everything that comes from the LORD’s mouth.
• Deut 8:16 : 16 fed you in the wilderness with manna(which your ancestors had never before known) so that he might by humbling you test you and eventually bring good to you.
• 1 Sam 28:6 : 6 So Saul inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him– not by dreams nor by Urim nor by the prophets.
• 2 Chr 23:6 : 6 No one must enter the LORD’s temple except the priests and Levites who are on duty. They may enter because they are ceremonially pure. All the others should carry out their assigned service to the LORD.
• Ezra 2:63 : 63 The governor instructed them not to eat any of the sacred food until there was a priest who could consult the Urim and Thummim.
• Ezra 8:28 : 28 Then I said to them,“You are holy to the LORD, just as these vessels are holy. The silver and the gold are a voluntary offering to the LORD, the God of your fathers.
• Neh 7:65 : 65 The governor instructed them not to eat any of the sacred food until there was a priest who could consult the Urim and Thummim.
• Ps 16:10 : 10 You will not abandon me to Sheol; you will not allow your faithful follower to see the Pit.
• Ps 81:7 : 7 In your distress you called out and I rescued you. I answered you from a dark thundercloud. I tested you at the waters of Meribah.(Selah)