Deuteronomy 33:3

And whatever hath befallen to the nations (hath been done) because He loved His people of Beth Israel, and all of them He hath called to be saints, to stand in the place of His sanctuary. And when they observed the precepts of the law, they were conducted at the foot of Thy glorious Cloud, they rested and encamped according to the dictate of the Word.

however loving cognate to the Aramaic word which translates “you shall be My chosen treasure” [Exodus 19: 5].peoples denotes Israel. Compare, “After you, Benjamin with your peoples” [Judges 5: 14], “They shall call nations to the mountain” [: 19].

All His holy ones the children of Levi.

are in Your hand for they surround the Ark. The word in Your hand means, You watch over them.

they follow at Your feet they walk along Your path.

carrying forth at Your words for they shall teach the Torah (referring to those who transmit the Oral Law).

carrying forth [singular] each single individual (even though the word they is plural).

Your words means that they shall carry all that You have spoken. It is they who carry the Torah, and it is also they who carry, literally, the Ark.

carrying as in, “you shall not raise up groundless reports” [Exodus 23: 1].

follow There is no other word related to this word. There are some who say that it comes from “from within”, as if to say, “they go forth from within Your feet”. Others say that the tav appears in place of a heh (like the tav in “I taught Efrayim to walk” [Hosea 11: 3]), as if to say, Even though they be “beaten” on Your account, they shall not abandon Your words. But this is far-fetched. The correct interpretation of the word is similar to “they are drawn”, meaning, they will go to the place where the Ark is situated, which is “God ’s footstool” [cf. Psalms 99: 5]. This blessing, then, is that God will be a wall of flame surrounding Israel, and that His beloved, along with the Levites, will forever teach the Torah.

APH CHOVEIV AMIM.’ Commentators have explained that the word choveiv is of the Aramaic language [as Onkelos rendered and ye shall be Mine ‘segulah’]: “and you shall be chavivin (beloved) before Me.” The verse [here] is thus stating: “Yea, He loves Israel which consists of many peoples” [i.e., tribes], similar to what is stated, after thee, Benjamin, among thy peoples. And all His holy ones of Israel, namely, the Levites, are in Thy hand, for You have brought them near You to encamp around the ark.
It appears to me that the word choveiv is from the same root as by hiding ‘b’chubi’ (in my bosom) mine iniquity, related to the expressions: into an inner chamber ‘l’heichavei’ (to hide thyself); and there is ‘chevyon’ (the hiding of) His power. He is thus stating [here]: “You are also hiding and protecting with Your hand the peoples — all the holy ones of Israel.” The above-mentioned [phrase] suggests that all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and G-d protects them with His hand, similar in meaning to the verse, And I have put My words in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow of My hand, and like the expression, Thou art my hiding place and my shield. Similarly, and they take counsel against Thy hidden ones., 83:4. This alludes to what he said, inasmuch as Thou Eternal art seen face to face, and Thy cloud standeth over them. And similarly he said in the Song [of Ha’azinu], He compassed him about, He cared for him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.

אף חובב עמים, also members of the gentile nations, such as the mixed multitude whom Moses had accepted as converts at the time of the Exodus, and who had done so in order to receive the Torah, G’d became fond of and accepted them so that they too were included in the camp which His shechinah, benevolent presence, rested over the people. We have more direct confirmation of this in Psalms 68,4. “but the righteous shall rejoice, etc.”

אף חובב עמים, he says to G’d that: “I am aware that You are fond of other peoples also, as when You said that the Jewish people are the most precious מכל העמים, from among all the nations, You meant that the species of mankind is something precious to G’d, as our sages said in Avot 3,18 חביב אדם שנברא בצלם, the species of man is especially dear to G’d among all of His creatures, seeing that only man has been created in the image of G’d.” [i.e. there are other nations to which Your relate with fondness. Ed.] כל קדושיו בידיך, You have said that You are holding all Your holy possessions (the Torah) in Your hand [people hold their most precious possessions in their hand, do not entrust them to a briefcase, for instance, which they may deposit somewhere and forget to pick up. Ed.] When You told us in Exodus 19,5 that we are to You an especially precious nation, a kingdom of Priests, You also singled us out as being Your children, (same paragraph in Avot), as well as in Deuteronomy 14,1 “You are children to the Lord your G’d.”

והם תכו לרגלך, whereas they, the other nations, are lying broken at Your feet. (compare Proverbs 29,13 for a similar use of this expression where it refers to offering prayer to G’d with a broken heart)

לרגלך, at the footstool of Your throne at Sinai.