Exodus 24:11

Summary

The verse states that no harm came to the nobles of the sons of Israel — literally, "he did not send his hand" against them — and that they saw God, then ate and drank. The subject of "he did not send" is unstated in the Hebrew but understood from context as God.

Key words

• 'a.tzi.Lei ("[the] nobles of", H0678) — masculine plural construct, forming a chain with the following noun; identifies a select group among the people, not the whole nation.
• sha.Lach ("he stretched out", H7971K) — qal perfect, third person masculine singular; completed action with an unstated subject, combined with yad ("hand") as an idiom for causing harm.
• ya.D ("hand", H3027G) construct + o ("his", H9023) — the construct noun plus suffix creates "his hand," the object of the verb "send/stretch out."
• i.ye.che.Zu ("they saw", H2372) — qal narrative (vav-consecutive imperfect), third person masculine plural; this root (chazah) differs from the more common verb for ordinary seeing (ra'ah) and often carries a sense of beholding or gazing.
• 'E.lo.Him ("God", H0430G) — grammatically plural noun, marked with the definite article and the direct object marker 'et, functioning here as the object seen by the nobles.

What the text says

The verse divides into two clauses joined by the narrative structure typical of Biblical Hebrew prose. The first clause — ve'el-'atzilei venei Yisra'el lo shalach yado — places the negated verb shalach ("he stretched out") after its object phrase, a common word order for emphasis: the phrase "against the nobles of the sons of Israel" is fronted before the negation "he did not send." The double construct chain 'atzilei benei Yisra'el ("nobles of the sons of Israel") narrows the referent to a specific subset of leaders, not the entire people.

The second clause introduces three consecutive narrative verbs — vayyechezu ("and they saw"), vayyokhlu ("and they ate"), vayyishtu ("and they drank") — each attached by the narrative vav that signals sequential action in the story. The verb chazah used for "saw" is distinct from the ordinary verb for sight, and its use here places emphasis on the act of beholding ha'Elohim ("the God"), marked with both the definite article and the direct object marker 'et, showing it functions grammatically as a definite direct object.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the first clause differently, stating "not one of them perished" (οὐ διεφώνησεν οὐδὲ εἷς) rather than referring to a "hand" being sent, and uses the passive "they were seen" (ὤφθησαν) rather than the Hebrew's active "they saw" (vayyechezu). The Vulgate interprets 'atzilei not as "nobles" but as "those who had withdrawn far off" (qui procul recesserant), a notably different construal of the same Hebrew term H0678.