Deuteronomy 33:6

Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Reuben	רְאוּבֵ֖ן re.'u.Ven	H7205	Reuben · proper noun, a man's name
live	יְחִ֥י ye.Chi	H2421	to live · verb, qal jussive, 3rd person masculine singular
die	יָמֹ֑ת ya.Mot	H4191	to die (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal jussive, 3rd person masculine singular
men	מְתָ֖יו me.Tav	H4962	properly · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
few	מִסְפָּֽר mis.Par	H4557	a number · noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Genesis 49:8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down befo…
Numbers 32:31-32 And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, As the LORD hath said unto thy servants, so will we do.
Joshua 22:1-9 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh,
Genesis 49:3-4 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 33:6-7

Here is, I. The blessing of Reuben. Though Reuben had lost the honour of his birthright, yet Moses begins with him; for we should not insult over those that are disgraced, nor desire to perpetuate marks of infamy upon any, though ever so justly fastened at first, Deu 33:6. Moses desires and foretels, 1. The preserving of this tribe. Though a frontier tribe on the other side Jordan, yet, "Let it live, and not be either ruined by its neighbours or lost among them." And perhaps he refers to those chosen men of that tribe who, having had their lot assigned them already, left their families in it, and were now ready to go over armed before their brethren, Num 32:27. "Let them be protected in this…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 33:6

Let Reuben live, and not die--Although deprived of the honor and privileges of primogeniture, he was still to hold rank as one of the tribes of Israel. He was more numerous than several other tribes (Num 1:21; Num 2:11). Yet gradually he sank into a mere nomadic tribe, which had enough to do merely "to live and not die." Many eminent biblical scholars, resting on the most ancient and approved manuscripts of the Septuagint, consider the latter clause as referring to Simeon; "and Simeon, let his men be few," a reading of the text which is in harmony with other statements of Scripture respecting this tribe (Num 25:6-14; Num 1:23; Num 26:14; Jos 19:1).

John Gill on Deuteronomy 33:6

Let Reuben live, and not die,.... As a tribe, continue and not be extinct, though they should not excel, because of the sin of their progenitor; and it may have a special regard to the preservation of them, of their families on the other side Jordan, while they passed over it with their brethren into Canaan, and of them in that expedition to help the other tribes in the conquest of the country and the settlement of them in it; which Jacob by a spirit of prophecy foresaw, and in a prayer of faith petitioned for their safety: all the three Targums refer the words to a future state, as a wish for them, that they might live and enjoy an eternal life, and not die the death of the wicked in the wo…

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The Church Fathers

Moses wished by his priestly power to absolve Reuben from his transgression and sin, in that he had lain with Bilhah, his father's concubine, so that when his brothers should rise, he might not be cut off from their number. So he said in the beginning of his blessing, "Reuben shall live and not die and shall be in the number."
— Aphrahat the Persian Sage, DEMONSTRATION 8.8

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Bless — (1.) God blesses his people when he bestows on them some gift temporal or spiritual (Gen. 1:22; 24:35; Job 42:12; Ps. 45:2; 104:24, 35). (2.) We bless God when we thank him for his mercies (Ps.…
Simeon, The tribe of — Was “divided and scattered” according to the prediction in Gen. 49:5-7. They gradually dwindled in number, and sank into a position of insignificance among the other tribes. They decreased in the…
Reuben, The Tribe Of · Predictions respecting — Predictions respecting
Tribes Of Israel, The · Predictions respecting each of — Predictions respecting each of

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Deuteronomy 33:6

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 33:6-7

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 33:6

John Gill on Deuteronomy 33:6

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Deuteronomy 33:6

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 33:6-7

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 33:6

John Gill on Deuteronomy 33:6

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Deuteronomy 33:4-6

Keil & Delitzsch on Deuteronomy 33:6

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Deuteronomy 33:6

Rashi on Deuteronomy 33:6