Deuteronomy 1:15

וָאֶקַּח אֶת־רָאשֵׁי שִׁבְטֵיכֶם אֲנָשִׁים חֲכָמִים וִֽידֻעִים וָאֶתֵּן אֹתָם רָאשִׁים עֲלֵיכֶם שָׂרֵי אֲלָפִים וְשָׂרֵי מֵאוֹת וְשָׂרֵי חֲמִשִּׁים וְשָׂרֵי עֲשָׂרֹת וְשֹׁטְרִים לְשִׁבְטֵיכֶֽם׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וָאֶקַּ֞ח אֶת־רָאשֵׁ֣י שִׁבְטֵיכֶ֗ם אֲנָשִׁ֤ים חֲכָמִים֙ וִֽידֻעִ֔ים וָאֶתֵּ֥ן אֹתָ֛ם רָאשִׁ֖ים עֲלֵיכֶ֑ם שָׂרֵ֨י אֲלָפִ֜ים וְשָׂרֵ֣י מֵא֗וֹת וְשָׂרֵ֤י חֲמִשִּׁים֙ וְשָׂרֵ֣י עֲשָׂרֹ֔ת וְשֹׁטְרִ֖ים לְשִׁבְטֵיכֶֽם׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ ἔλαβον ἐξ ὑμῶν ἄνδρας σοφοὺς καὶ καὶ συνετούς, καὶ κατέστησα αὐτοὺς ἡγεῖσθαι ἐφ’ ὑμῶν, καὶ ἑκατοντάρχους καὶ δεκαδάρχους γραμματοεισαγωτοῖς κριταῖς ὑμῶν.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Tulique de tribubus vestris viros sapientes et nobiles, et constitui eos principes, tribunos, et centuriones, et quinquagenarios ac decanos, qui docerent vos singula.

Spanish

Así que tomé a los jefes de sus tribus, hombres sabios y respetados, y los nombré jefes sobre ustedes, capitanes de millares, capitanes de centenas, capitanes de cincuenta, capitanes de decenas y oficiales, según sus tribus.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y tomé los principales de vuestras tribus, varones sabios y expertos, y púselos por jefes sobre vosotros, jefes de millares, y jefes de cientos, y jefes de cincuenta, y cabos de diez, y gobernadores á vuestras tribus.

English

So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them as leaders over you — as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, and as officers for your tribes.

✦ What the text says

Summary

Moses recounts that he took the tribal chiefs — described as wise and known men — and appointed them as leaders over the people, organizing them into commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, tens, and officials, structured according to the tribes.

Key words

ra.Shei ("chiefs of", H7218) — masculine plural construct, linking "chiefs" to "your tribes"; used twice in the verse (also as ra.Shim, "chiefs", in absolute form for the appointment).
cha.kha.Mim ("wise", H2450) — masculine plural adjective describing the men selected, paired with du.'Im ("known", H3045).
du.'Im ("known", H3045) — qal passive participle, masculine plural; literally "ones who are known," describing recognized status rather than an active quality.
sa.Rei ("leaders of", H8269) — masculine plural construct, repeated four times, each governing a different numeral term (thousands, hundreds, fifties, tens), forming the administrative hierarchy.
sho.te.Rim ("officials", H7860) — qal participle, masculine plural, meaning literally "the ones doing [an official function]," listed alongside the numerical commanders.

What the text says

The verse is built on two narrative-vav verbs: 'e.Kach ("I took", H3947) and 'e.Ten ("I appointed", H5414), both first-person qal forms that carry the story forward as sequential actions — "I took... and then I appointed." The object of the first verb is ra.Shei shiv.tei.Khem ("chiefs of your tribes"), a double construct chain meaning "the heads of your tribes." These chiefs are qualified by two masculine plural adjectival/participial terms in apposition: 'a.na.Shim cha.kha.Mim ("wise men") and vi.du.'Im ("and known [ones]"). The second term is a passive participle, meaning the men are not simply described as possessing knowledge but as being recognized or acknowledged by others — a nuance the English glosses "known" or "respected" attempt to capture but which the passive verbal form conveys more precisely as a state resulting from an external action of recognition.

The second half of the verse lists the offices created through the repeated construct noun sa.Rei ("leaders of"), each bound to a different numeral: 'a.la.Fim ("thousands", H505), me.'ot ("hundreds", H3967), cha.mi.Shim ("fifties", H2572), and 'a.sa.Rot ("tens", H6235). The final term, sho.te.Rim ("officials", H7860), is a qal active participle — literally "those who perform [an official function]" — distinct grammatically from the construct-noun titles preceding it, marking a shift from numerical rank-titles to a functional role term. The verse closes by repeating le.shiv.tei.Khem ("of/for your tribes"), framing the entire structure as organized according to tribal divisions.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) does not render the construct phrase "chiefs of your tribes" as such; it reads "I took from you wise and understanding men," omitting the term corresponding to ra.Shei ("chiefs") in the first clause. The LXX also lacks equivalents for sa.Rei 'a.la.Fim ("leaders of thousands") in its extant text, moving directly to "hundred-rulers" (ἑκατοντάρχους) and "fifty-rulers" (δεκαδάρχους), and it translates sho.te.Rim with a compound term suggesting scribal/registrar function paired with "judges" (κριταῖς), where the Hebrew participle simply denotes "officials." The Vulgate renders sho.te.Rim with a purpose clause, "qui docerent vos singula" ("who would teach you each matter"), introducing a teaching function not explicit in the Hebrew participle, which denotes an official/officiating role without specifying instruction.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.