Deuteronomy 32:10

10  In a desert land He found him,

In the void and howl of the waste.

He swept around him, He scanned him,

As the pupil of His eye He watched him.

11  As an eagle stirreth his nest,

Fluttereth over his young,

Spreadeth his wings, doth catch them,

Beareth them up on his pinions,

12  The Lord alone was his leader,

And never a strange god with Him.

10. found him This and the following vbs. are in the Heb. imperf.; this for the sake of vividness, the rest expressive of iteration. On Israel being found in the desert, cp. Hosea 9:10; Jeremiah 2:2. The O.T. tradition is constant that the Hebrews were originally nomad, desert tribes (see the present writer's Early Poetry of Israel, 39 ff., 56 ff.; and above on Deuteronomy 1:28).

void and howl] Or the void of the howl= howling void.

compassed him about Rather keeps circling around him.

cared Rather regardedor scanned himpenetratingly.

kept Better watchedor guarded.

apple of his eye Pupil is a happier rendering of the Heb. "îshôn(Ar. "insân), mannikin, the image reflected in the centre of the eye.