Exodus 12:1

Summary

The verse introduces a divine speech act: Yehovah speaks to Moses and Aaron while they are located in the land of Egypt. It functions as a narrative introduction (wayyiqtol form) that opens the discourse continued in the following verses.

Key words

• va-yYomer ("and he said", H0559) — qal verb in the narrative wayyiqtol form, marking sequential action ("and then he said"); the narrative vav va (H9001) attaches this event to the preceding storyline.
• YHWH ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the proper name functioning as subject of the verb yYomer.
• 'Eretz ("land of", H0776G) — feminine singular noun in construct state, meaning it must be followed by another noun to complete its meaning ("land of X").
• Mitzrayim ("Egypt", H4714G) — proper place name, completing the construct chain begun by 'Eretz.
• leMor ("saying", H0559) — qal infinitive of the same root as yYomer, introducing the content of the speech that follows; literally "to say."

What the text says

The clause opens with va-yYomer, the standard narrative form that signals a new event following previous action. The subject YHWH is stated explicitly, and the verb governs two indirect objects joined by 'el...ve'el ("to...and to"): Moshe and 'Aharon. This double addressing marks both figures as recipients of the same speech act within a single sentence.

The phrase be'Eretz Mitzrayim ("in the land of Egypt") uses the preposition be (H9003) plus the construct noun 'Eretz, which cannot stand alone grammatically — it requires Mitzrayim to complete the sense "land of Egypt." This locates the speech event geographically, though the syntax leaves ambiguous whether the phrase modifies where Moses and Aaron are, or is simply the general narrative setting.

The final word, leMor, is an infinitive construct built on the same root as yYomer. Its function is to introduce direct speech that will follow this verse, meaning the sentence itself is preparatory: it announces that a speech act happened and signals that its content comes next.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders va-yYomer with Εἶπεν δὲ ("but/now he said"), using the postpositive particle δὲ rather than a direct sequential conjunction, giving a slightly different discourse connection than the Hebrew narrative vav. The Vulgate's Dixit quoque ("he also said") similarly uses an adverb (quoque) rather than reproducing the paratactic "and" structure of the Hebrew. The Spanish SBLIBRE splits the single Hebrew clause into two verbs ("les habló... y les dijo," "he spoke to them... and said to them"), where the Hebrew has only one verb (yYomer) followed by the infinitive leMor.