Deut 32:10–14: the eagle and "the Lord alone"

Says 32:10 says the Lord guarded Israel כְּאִישׁוֹן עֵינוֹ (ke'ishon 'eno, "as the apple of His eye," BSB).

Says 32:11 compares him to an eagle: כְּנֶשֶׁר יָעִיר קִנּוֹ עַל־גּוֹזָלָיו יְרַחֵף (kenesher ya'ir qinno 'al-gozalav yerakhef, "As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young," BSB). יְרַחֵף is a Piel imperfect.

Uncertain How far the eagle image runs. The lean is that the whole verse keeps the eagle as subject, so the spreading and carrying picture the Lord's care through the bird. The alternative is that the second half (spreading wings, carrying) already speaks of the Lord himself, the subject named in 32:12: the young are plural (גּוֹזָלָיו), but "catch" and "carry" take singular objects (יִקָּחֵהוּ, יִשָּׂאֵהוּ), as Israel is singular in 32:10.

Says 32:12 confesses יְהוָה בָּדָד יַנְחֶנּוּ וְאֵין עִמּוֹ אֵל נֵכָר (YHWH badad yankhennu ve'en 'immo el nekhar, "The Lord alone led him, and no foreign god was with him," BSB).

Box: in 32:13 the WLC prints the ketiv במותי with the qere בָּמֳתֵי ("heights"); the sense is the same.