Exodus 30:11

Summary

Exodus 30:11 is a short introductory formula stating that Yehovah spoke to Moses. It functions as the opening of a divine speech, marking the transition to a new instruction without yet stating its content.

Key words

va-y'daBer ("and he spoke", H1696G) — piel verb with narrative vav, describing an intensive or emphatic act of speaking; the piel stem here is typical of formal divine speech rather than casual talk.

Yehovah ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the divine proper name, functioning as the grammatical subject of y'daBer ("he spoke").

'el- ("to", H0413) — preposition marking the recipient of the speech, directing the action toward mo.Sheh ("Moses", H4872).

mo.Sheh ("Moses", H4872) — proper noun, object of the preposition 'el- ("to"), identifying the addressee of Yehovah's speech.

leMor ("saying", H0559) — qal infinitive construct, prefixed with le- ("to", H9005), functioning here as a formal marker introducing direct discourse that follows.

What the text says

The verse follows the standard Hebrew narrative formula for introducing divine speech: verb + subject + preposition + addressee + infinitive marker. The construction va-y'daBer Yehovah 'el-mo.Sheh leMor ("and he spoke, Yehovah, to Moses, saying") places the verb first, as is typical in Biblical Hebrew narrative syntax (verb-subject-object order), with the narrative vav on y'daBer ("he spoke") linking this verse to the preceding narrative sequence.

The infinitive leMor ("saying", H0559) is a grammatical device with no independent semantic content of its own beyond introducing what follows; it functions structurally to open direct speech, signaling to the reader that the words of Yehovah are about to be quoted verbatim. This formula appears without variation in wording elsewhere in the legal sections of Exodus, and its terseness here is typical: no additional descriptive or narrative material is included, only the bare speech-introduction.

The piel stem of y'daBer ("he spoke", H1696G) is the standard stem used for this verb throughout Biblical Hebrew when introducing formal or authoritative speech, distinct from the qal stem which would carry a different semantic weight. No qal form of this root is used in this construction anywhere in the passage.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew leMor ("saying", H0559), an infinitive construct, is rendered in LXXSWETE as λέγων (a present participle, "saying") and in VULCLEM as dicens (also a present participle). Both Greek and Latin use participial forms where Hebrew uses an infinitive construct, a routine grammatical adaptation reflecting differing verbal systems, not a difference in meaning.