Exodus 14:1

Summary

Exodus 14:1 opens a new divine speech unit with the standard formula stating that Yehovah spoke to Moses. The verse contains no content of the message itself, only the narrative introduction that precedes it.

Key words

va-y.da.Ber ("and he spoke", H1696G) — piel verb in the narrative (vav-consecutive) form. The piel stem here carries an intensive nuance of speaking, and the narrative vav links this action directly to the preceding sequence of events, marking a new step in the story.

Yehovah ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the divine proper name, functioning as the grammatical subject of the verb y.da.Ber ("he spoke", H1696G). No verb of being or additional title accompanies the name in this verse.

'el- ("to", H0413) — preposition marking the recipient of the speech, directing the action of y.da.Ber ("he spoke", H1696G) toward mo.Sheh ("Moses", H4872).

mo.Sheh ("Moses", H4872) — proper name, masculine, serving as the indirect object of the sentence, the person addressed.

le.Mor ("saying", H0559) — qal infinitive construct, preceded by the preposition le ("to", H9005). This infinitive construct with le is the standard Hebrew device for introducing direct speech that follows; it does not carry independent tense but signals that quoted words are about to begin.

What the text says

The verse follows the fixed pattern common in narrative sections of the Hebrew Bible for introducing divine speech: narrative vav + verb (y.da.Ber, "he spoke", H1696G) + subject (Yehovah, H3068G) + preposition ('el-, "to", H0413) + addressee (mo.Sheh, "Moses", H4872) + infinitive marker (le.Mor, "saying", H0559). This structure sets up the reported speech that follows in subsequent verses, but the content itself is absent from v.1. The infinitive construct le.Mor ("saying", H0559) functions almost like a colon in English, opening a quotation rather than describing a separate action of Moses or Yehovah.

The piel form of y.da.Ber ("he spoke", H1696G) is the verb regularly used for formal or purposeful speech, distinguishing it from lighter verbs of speaking. Its combination with the narrative vav situates this speech act as the next event in the unfolding sequence of the Exodus narrative, without specifying duration, manner, or accompanying circumstances beyond the bare act of speaking.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew places the subject Yehovah (H3068G) immediately after the verb y.da.Ber ("he spoke", H1696G), while the LXX (καὶ ἐλάλησεν κύριος) and the Vulgate (Locutus est autem Dominus) preserve the same basic order of verb-subject. The Vulgate adds the conjunction autem ("but/then"), which is not a direct rendering of the Hebrew narrative vav but serves a similar linking function. The SBLIBRE Spanish version restructures the clause as "Yehová le habló a Moisés y le dijo," splitting the single Hebrew verb-plus-infinitive construction (y.da.Ber ... le.Mor) into two coordinated verbs ("habló" and "dijo"), whereas the Hebrew uses only one main verb followed by the infinitive marker for direct speech.