Exodus 10:16

Summary

Pharaoh hastily summons Moses and Aaron and declares that he has sinned against Yehovah, the God of Moses and Aaron, and against them personally. The verse marks a shift in Pharaoh's posture, expressed through swift action and direct verbal confession.

Key words

• y.ma.Her ("he hurried", H4116A) — piel (intensive) verb in narrative form; the intensive stem emphasizes the urgency of Pharaoh's action, not merely that he acted but that he did so quickly and deliberately.
• k.Ro' ("summon", H7121G) — qal infinitive construct after the preposition li ("to", H9005), forming a purpose clause: "hurried to summon."
• cha.Ta.ti ("I have sinned", H2398) — qal perfect, first person singular; the perfect aspect presents the sinning as a completed act, stated as a finished fact by the speaker.
• 'e.lo.hei. ("God", H0430G) — masculine plural noun in construct state, followed by the suffix Khem ("your", H9026), yielding "God of you (plural)" — grammatically plural in form though referring to a single deity, as is typical for this word.
• Khem (H9036) — second person masculine plural pronominal suffix attached to the preposition la ("to the", H9005+article), distinguishing "against you (plural)" as a separate object from "against Yehovah your God."

What the text says

The verse opens with a narrative vav attached to y.ma.Her ("he hurried"), continuing the sequential storyline. The piel stem of this verb carries an intensive nuance beyond a simple qal "hurry," underscoring the speed of Pharaoh's response. This verb governs an infinitive construct, k.Ro' ("to summon"), preceded by the preposition li ("to"), which together form a purpose construction: Pharaoh hurried in order to summon. The two objects of the summons, mo.Sheh ("Moses") and 'a.ha.Ron ("Aaron"), are each introduced by the preposition le ("to"), joined by the conjunction u ("and").

A second narrative clause follows, introduced again by a vav on i.Yo.mer ("he said"), reporting Pharaoh's direct speech. The confession cha.Ta.ti ("I have sinned") is a qal perfect, presenting the sin as an accomplished fact rather than an ongoing state. The object of the sin is split into two prepositional phrases: la.Yehovah ("to/against Yehovah") modified by the construct 'e.lo.hei.Khem ("God of you-plural"), and a second phrase ve.la.Khem ("and to/against you-plural"), connected by the conjunction ve. The repetition of the preposition la before both "Yehovah your God" and "you" grammatically places Pharaoh's offense against the deity and against Moses/Aaron as parallel objects of the same verb.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders cha.Ta.ti la.Yehovah ("I have sinned to Yehovah") with the phrase Hēmartēka enantion kyriou ("I have sinned before/in the presence of the Lord"), using a spatial preposition (enantion) rather than the Hebrew la ("to/against"). The Vulgate uses peccavi in Dominum ("I have sinned against the Lord"), employing in with accusative, closer to a directional "against" sense matching the Hebrew preposition's force in this context.