Exodus 2:8

Summary

Pharaoh's daughter tells the girl to go, and the young woman goes and brings the child's mother. The verse consists of three consecutive narrative actions: a command, a departure, and a summons, all reported in quick succession.

Key words

• bat ("[the] daughter of", H1323G) — construct noun linking directly to Par'oh ("Pharaoh", H6547I), forming the title "daughter of Pharaoh" without an independent word for "the."
• lekhi ("go", H1980G) — qal imperative, feminine singular, a direct command addressed to the girl who had been speaking with Pharaoh's daughter (identified in the preceding verse as a Hebrew nurse-seeker).
• ha'almah ("the young woman", H5959) — noun with definite article, referring back to the same female figure introduced earlier in the chapter; the root does not by itself specify marital status, only youth.
• va-tikra' ("and she called", H7121G) — qal narrative verb (vav-consecutive), continuing the chain of sequential actions begun with va-tomer ("and she said").
• 'em ha-yaled ("[the] mother of the child", H0517 + H3206) — construct chain identifying the woman summoned as the mother of the specific yaled ("child") mentioned earlier in the narrative, marked by the object marker 'et (H0853).

What the text says

The verse is built entirely on the Hebrew narrative vav-consecutive pattern: va-tomer ("and she said"), va-telekh ("and she went"), va-tikra' ("and she called"). This chain produces a rapid succession of three actions performed by two different subjects — Pharaoh's daughter speaks first, then the 'almah ("young woman", H5959) departs and summons. The grammar does not supply connecting explanation between the actions; the vav-consecutive form simply links them as sequential events in the story's timeline, a feature that flows naturally in Hebrew narrative style but requires English or Spanish to add words like "then" or "and so" to render the same sense of continuity.

The imperative lekhi ("go", H1980G) is feminine singular, confirming the addressee is the same female figure referred to afterward as ha'almah. The construct chain 'em ha-yaled ("mother of the child") ties the woman summoned directly to the yaled ("child", H3206) already introduced in the passage, using the definite article on yaled to mark him as the specific child under discussion rather than any child in general.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ha'almah ("the young woman", H5959) as ἡ νεᾶνις ("the young woman"), matching the Hebrew's use of a definite noun for youth. The Vulgate instead uses puella ("girl"), a term with a similar general sense but without reproducing the Hebrew article's specificity as clearly. Additionally, the Vulgate renders the object phrase as matrem suam ("her mother"), while the Hebrew explicitly reads 'em ha-yaled ("the mother of the child", H0517 + H3206) — a construct phrase identifying the woman by relation to the child rather than by relation to the young woman who called her.