Exodus 19:10

Summary

Yehovah instructs Moses to go to the people and consecrate them over a two-day span ("today and tomorrow"), with the added instruction that they wash their clothes. The verse uses sequential verb forms to lay out a short procedural sequence of actions.

Key words

• va-yomer ("and he said", H0559) — narrative vav plus qal verb, marking a new step in the story's action.
• lekh ("go", H1980G) — qal imperative, a direct command addressed to Moses (you, masculine singular).
• qidashtam ("you will consecrate them", H6942G) — piel verb, sequential perfect; the piel stem intensifies the action ("consecrate" rather than simple "be holy"), and the sequential perfect continues the chain of commands begun by the imperative lekh.
• ha-yom u-machar ("this day and tomorrow", H3117G/H4279) — a two-day time span marked by the definite article on "day" and the plain noun "tomorrow" joined by u- ("and", H9002).
• kibbesu ("they will wash", H3526H) — piel verb, sequential perfect, third person plural; continues the sequence but shifts subject to "they" (the people), governing simlotam ("their clothes", H8071 + H9028).

What the text says

The verse opens with the standard narrative formula va-yomer Yehovah el-Mosheh ("and Yehovah said to Moses"), introducing direct speech. The command itself begins with the imperative lekh ("go", H1980G), addressed to Moses in the second person. What follows is a chain of sequential perfect verbs — a common Hebrew construction where an initial imperative is followed by perfect-tense verbs that carry forward the same commanded force. Thus ve-qidashtam ("and you will consecrate them") and ve-khibbesu ("and they will wash") are grammatically perfects but function as continuations of the imperative, effectively meaning "go... and consecrate... and let them wash."

Notably, the subject shifts mid-sequence: Moses is the subject of lekh and qidashtam (he is told to consecrate the people), while khibbesu shifts to a third-person plural subject — the people themselves wash their own clothes (simlotam, "their clothes", H8071, in construct form with the suffix "their," H9028). The time frame ha-yom u-machar ("this day and tomorrow") specifies that the consecration spans two days.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the command differently: instead of a simple "go" (lekh, H1980G), it reads καταβὰς διαμάρτυραι ("having gone down, testify/warn"), introducing a participle ("having gone down") and a verb of testifying/warning not present in the Hebrew lekh ... el-ha'am ("go to the people"). The Hebrew's qidashtam ("you will consecrate them", H6942G) becomes in the LXX ἅγνισον αὐτοὺς ("purify them"), a comparable but distinct semantic choice. The Vulgate's sanctifica illos ("sanctify them") tracks closer to the Hebrew qidashtam, and its vade ad populum ("go to the people") matches the Hebrew imperative lekh more directly than the LXX's phrasing.