Exodus 24:14

Summary

Moses addresses the elders before ascending the mountain, instructing them to remain in place until he and (implicitly) Joshua return. He designates Aaron and Hur as available authorities, stating that whoever has a legal matter should approach them.

Key words

• ze.ke.Nim ("elders", H2205G) — masculine plural adjective/noun functioning as the direct addressees, marked by the preposition 'el- ("to") preceding it.
• she.vu ("remain", H3427) — qal imperative, masculine plural, giving a direct command to the group of elders to stay.
• na.Shuv ("we will return", H7725G) — qal imperfect, first person plural, expressing an incomplete/future action; paired with 'ad 'a.Sher ("until that/who", H5704 + H0834A) to mark the temporal limit of the elders' waiting.
• Va.'al ("master of", H1167I) — masculine singular noun in construct state, meaning it must be joined to the following noun de.va.Rim ("matters", H1697L) to form the phrase "master of matters," i.e., one who has a matter/dispute.
• yi.Gash ("he will draw near", H5066G) — qal imperfect, third person masculine singular, describing the future/habitual action of approaching Aaron and Hur.

What the text says

The verse opens with ve'el-hazzeqenim 'amar ("and to the elders he said"), where the verb 'a.Mar ("he said", H0559) is in the qal perfect, marking a completed speech act, while the object of address (hazzeqenim) is fronted before the verb — a common structure in Biblical Hebrew narrative for introducing direct speech to a specified party. The command itself, shevu-lanu vazeh ("remain for us in this [place]"), uses the imperative she.vu combined with the prepositional phrase lanu ("for us", H9005+H9035) and the demonstrative vazeh ("in this", H9003+H2088), indicating a specific location without naming it explicitly — "this" refers back to the location already established in the narrative context.

The temporal clause 'ad 'asher-nashuv 'aleikem ("until that we return to you") uses the qal imperfect na.Shuv, which conveys an action not yet completed at the time of speaking — the return is anticipated but not guaranteed by the verb form itself. The second half of the verse shifts to a nominal/existential statement introduced by hinneh ("here!", H2009), presenting Aaron and Hur as present with the elders ('immakhem, H5973A+H9036 — "with you all"). The final clause uses an interrogative construction, mi-va'al devarim ("whoever is master of matters"), where va'al in construct state links to devarim ("matters", H1697L) to denote a person holding a dispute or legal case; the qal imperfect yigash ("he will draw near") then describes the action such a person will take toward Aaron and Hur.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew and Vulgate differ slightly in how the final clause is framed: the Hebrew uses the construct phrase mi-va'al devarim ("whoever is master of matters") followed by the imperfect yigash ("he will draw near"), while the Vulgate renders this as a conditional clause, "si quid natum fuerit quæstionis, referetis ad eos" ("if any question should arise, you shall refer it to them"), shifting the grammatical subject from the individual with the dispute to the elders who would refer cases. The Hebrew imperfect yigash frames the action as the disputant's own approach, whereas the Vulgate's "referetis" ("you shall refer") frames it as an action performed by the elders themselves.