Deuteronomy 31:14

Summary

Yehovah tells Moses that his days are drawing near to die, and instructs him to summon Joshua and present themselves both at the Tent of Meeting, so that Yehovah may commission Joshua. Moses and Joshua then go and present themselves at the Tent of Meeting as instructed.

Key words

• kare'vu ("they have drawn near", H7126) — qal perfect, 3rd person plural: a completed action, indicating the days are now, factually, close.
• yamekha ("your days", H3117) — masculine plural noun in construct with the pronominal suffix -kha ("your"), forming "days of you," i.e., "your days."
• qera ("summon", H7121) — qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular: a direct command addressed to Moses alone.
• hitya'tzevu ("present yourselves", H3320) — hithpael (reflexive stem) imperative, 2nd person masculine plural: the command shifts to a plural subject, addressing both Moses and Joshua together, with a reflexive sense of positioning oneself.
• 'atzavvennu ("I may commission him", H6680) — piel (intensive stem) imperfect with vav, 1st person singular, with the 3rd person masculine singular suffix -nu ("him"): expresses purpose or result following the imperatives, and the piel stem intensifies the act of commanding/commissioning.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative vav construction va-yomer ("and he said", H0559) attached to Yehovah (H3068), the standard formula introducing divine speech in this text. The interjection hen ("here!", H2005) draws attention to the statement that follows, which uses the qal perfect kare'vu ("they have drawn near") — grammatically marking the nearness of Moses' days as an accomplished fact rather than a future prediction. The construct phrase yamekha ("your days") is followed by the preposition la- attached to the infinitive mut ("to die", H4191), producing "your days to die," i.e., the time appointed for dying.

The instructions to Moses shift grammatically: qera ("summon") is a singular imperative directed only at Moses, but the following verb hityatzevu ("present yourselves") switches to a plural imperative, addressing Moses and Joshua jointly once Joshua has been summoned. This hithpael form carries a reflexive nuance — the two are to position or station themselves at 'ohel mo'ed ("tent of meeting", H0168/H4150), both terms in construct form. The purpose clause va-'atzavvennu ("so that I may commission him") uses the piel stem, marking an intensified or formal act of charging Joshua, with the 3rd person suffix -nu referring to him despite the plural summons given to both men.

The final clause repeats the narrative structure with va-yelekh ("and he went", H1980) and va-yityatzevu ("and they presented themselves", H3320), confirming that Moses and Joshua executed the divine instruction exactly as commanded, using the same hithpael verb form as in the imperative.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'ohel mo'ed as "τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου" ("tent of testimony/witness") rather than "tent of meeting," and adds "παρὰ τὰς θύρας" ("by the doors of"), specifying a location not explicit in the Hebrew construct phrase. The Vulgate similarly uses "tabernaculo testimonii" ("tabernacle of testimony"), matching the LXX's "testimony" language rather than the Hebrew's "meeting." The LXX also renders hityatzevu as "στῆτε" ("stand"), a simpler verb than the reflexive hithpael nuance of "present/station yourselves" found in the Hebrew.