What Does Deuteronomy 3:23 Mean?
And I bent toward the LORD at that time, saying,
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And I besought the LORD at that time, saying,THE KEY
The Hebrew frames this appeal not merely as asking, but as seeking favor.
THE MEANING
The verse holds the moment before the request comes fully into view: you turn toward the LORD and seek favor. “At that time” places the appeal in a real moment, while “saying” opens the words that follow. The reaching itself is visible before the outcome.
THE ROOT
וָאֶתְחַנַּן
va’etchannan
GROWS FROM
חנן
ḥānan
To show favor; to be gracious.
“bent toward” in this verse is va’etchannan. The verb comes from the same root as חֵן (ḥēn), “favor,” and תְּחִנָּה (teḥinnāh), “a plea for favor.” The English “besought” can sound like a general request, while the Hebrew names the kind of help being sought: favor.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēn: Favor or gracious regard.
חֵן
This branch names what the appeal seeks, linking the act of pleading directly to favor.
teḥinnāh: A supplication or plea for favor.
תְּחִנָּה
This related word makes explicit the shape of the appeal already present in the verb.
THE PATTERN
A plea for help takes shape around favor, whether favor is sought by the petitioner or named as the giver’s action.
To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm of David. Answer me when I call, O God of my alignment. In the narrow place you widen me. Bend toward me, and hear and respond to my prayer.And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before your face, and I will call out the name of the LORD before you. I will favor whom I favor, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.And the tax collector, standing far off, would not so much as lift his eyes toward the heavens, but struck his breast, saying, God, cover me, the one who misses the mark.THE THREAD
And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before your face, and I will call out the name of the LORD before you. I will favor whom I favor, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.Deuteronomy 3:23 uses חנן (ḥānan) for a plea seeking favor; Exodus 33:19 uses the same root for the LORD’s gracious action. The shared word-family joins the asking and the favor being sought.
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