Exodus 15:24

Summary

Exodus 15:24 narrates that the people grumbled against Moses, asking what they would drink. The verse is built as a short narrative report followed by a direct quotation containing the people's complaint.

Key words

• va-yillonu ("and they grumbled", H3885B) — niphal verb with narrative vav, marking the next event in the story sequence; the niphal stem gives the action a reflexive/passive nuance, often rendered as complaining or murmuring rather than a simple active verb.
• ha-'am ("the people", H5971A) — definite singular noun functioning as the collective subject of the grumbling.
• 'al-Mosheh ("against/upon Moses", H5921A + H4872) — preposition plus proper name indicating the target of the people's complaint.
• le-'mor ("saying", H0559) — qal infinitive construct introducing direct speech, a standard formula linking narration to quoted words.
• nishteh ("we will drink", H8354) — qal imperfect first-person plural, expressing an action not yet accomplished, framed as a question.

What the text says

The verse divides into two parts: a narrative clause and a quoted question. The narrative clause opens with the vav-consecutive form va-yillonu, which moves the story forward from the preceding events. The subject ha-'am, "the people" (H5971A), is marked as definite with the article ha (H9009), presenting the group as a known, unified entity rather than an unspecified crowd. The preposition 'al (H5921A) links the verb of grumbling to its target, Mosheh (H4872), indicating that the complaint is directed at him specifically.

The infinitive le-'mor (H0559) serves as the standard hinge between narration and direct speech in Biblical Hebrew, introducing the people's exact words without requiring a separate verb of speaking. The quoted question itself is compact: the interrogative mah ("what", H4100) precedes the verb nishteh (H8354), a qal imperfect first-person plural form of the root for "to drink." The imperfect aspect here conveys an action viewed as incomplete or anticipated, fitting the question's forward-looking sense — asking about a future or ongoing need rather than a completed one.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the verb with διεγόγγυσεν ("murmured/grumbled loudly"), a compound form that intensifies the plain grumbling sense compared to the Hebrew niphal yillonu. The Vulgate uses murmuravit, a straightforward verb of murmuring, closely matching the Hebrew's narrative tone. The Hebrew introduces the quotation with the plural "saying" (le-'mor functions generally, though grammatically singular infinitive), while the LXX uses the plural participle λέγοντες ("saying," plural), agreeing grammatically with the collective subject "people," a distinction not overtly marked in the Hebrew infinitive form.