Exodus 19:17

Summary

The verse narrates a two-step action: Moses causes the people to leave the camp in order to meet God, and then the people take up a position at the base of the mountain. The Hebrew uses two narrative verbs linked by va ("and", H9001), marking sequential events.

Key words

• yotze ("he led out", H3318H) — hiphil (causative) form: Moses does not simply "go out" but actively "brings out" the people, an action performed upon them.
• qerat ("meet", H7122G) — qal infinitive construct, governed by the preposition li ("to", H9005); together li-qrat functions as "in order to meet", expressing purpose.
• elohim ("God", H0430G) — masculine plural noun, here referring to a singular referent (God), preceded by the definite article ha (H9009), "the God/the deity".
• tachtit ("lower part of", H8482) — feminine singular adjective in construct state, meaning "the lowest part of X"; here it forms the phrase "the lower part of the mountain", i.e., its base.
• yityatzevu ("they stood", H3320) — hithpael (reflexive/stative) form of the verb, indicating that the people positioned or stationed themselves, rather than being placed by an external agent.

What the text says

The sentence is built on two narrative clauses, each opened by va (H9001), the standard vav that chains sequential actions in Hebrew narrative prose: "and he led out... and they stood." The subject of the first clause is Mosheh ("Moses", H4872), who performs a causative action on ha-'am ("the people", H5971A), marked by the direct object particle 'et (H0853). The purpose of this leading-out is expressed by the infinitival phrase li-qrat ha-elohim ("to meet the God/God", H7122G + H0430G), literally "to the meeting of God."

The second clause shifts the grammatical subject to the people themselves, using the hithpael form yityatzevu (H3320), which differs from a simple qal "they stood" by carrying a reflexive nuance — the people position themselves, rather than merely happening to stand. Their location is specified by the construct phrase be-tachtit ha-har ("at the lower part of the mountain", H8482 + H2022G), a spatial designation naming the base of the mountain rather than the mountain as a whole.

Differences between versions

The LXX adds the proper name "Σινά" (Sinai) after "the mountain," an explicit geographic identification not present in the Hebrew text, which reads simply ha-har ("the mountain", H2022G). The Vulgate renders elohim as "Dei" (singular), aligning with the LXX's singular "θεοῦ," while the Hebrew elohim (H0430G) is grammatically plural in form though referring to one deity. The Vulgate also renders the hithpael yityatzevu with "steterunt" ("they stood"), a simple verb form that does not convey the reflexive/stative nuance present in the Hebrew hithpael.