Exodus 16:9

Summary

Moses instructs Aaron to relay a command to the whole congregation of Israel: they are to draw near before Yehovah, because he has heard their complaints. The verse frames a transmitted speech-chain (Moses → Aaron → the people) introducing the divine response to the grumbling narrated earlier in the chapter.

Key words

• va-yo'mer ("and he said", H0559) — narrative vav + qal verb, marking the next event in the story sequence.
• 'emor ("say", H0559) — qal imperative, the same root as word 2 but now a direct command to Aaron, creating a speech-within-speech.
• kirvu ("draw near", H7126) — qal imperative, plural (you all), addressed through Aaron to the congregation collectively.
• shama' ("he has heard", H8085) — qal perfect, denoting a completed act prior to the command, giving the causal ground introduced by ki ("for/that", H3588).
• telunnoteikhem ("your grumblings", H8519) — feminine plural noun in construct with the 2nd person plural suffix -khem, naming the object Yehovah has heard.

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of commands. Moses speaks (va-yo'mer) to Aaron, and within that speech gives Aaron an imperative, 'emor ("say", H0559), directing him to speak in turn to "all the congregation of the sons of Israel" (kol 'adat benei Yisra'el). This construct chain—"all," "congregation of," "sons of," "Israel"—stacks four nouns to specify the addressee with increasing precision, ending in the proper name Israel. The core command Aaron must deliver is kirvu lifney Yehovah, "draw near before Yehovah" (H7126, H6440, H3068), a second imperative, plural, calling the people to a spatial/ritual approach "before the face of" Yehovah.

The reason for this summons is introduced by ki (H3588), here functioning causally ("for/because"): shama' 'et telunnoteikhem, "he has heard your grumblings" (H8085 perfect + H0853 object marker + H8519 construct noun with suffix). The perfect aspect of shama' marks the hearing as already completed at the moment of speaking—prior to the summons rather than simultaneous with it. The word telunnoteikhem is plural, "grumblings" rather than a single complaint, and carries the 2nd person plural suffix "your," binding the complaint directly to the addressees named in the construct chain of verse 9's opening.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders lifney Yehovah ("before Yehovah", H6440+H3068) as πρὸς... ἐναντίον τοῦ θεοῦ, "before God," substituting θεός for the divine name found in the Hebrew. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew more closely with coram Domino ("before the Lord"), preserving the divine title. All three textual traditions (Hebrew, LXX, Vulgate) agree in placing the "hearing" of the grumbling as a completed prior action grounding the command to approach.