Exodus 30:17

Summary

The verse is a short introductory formula stating that Yehovah spoke to Moses. It contains no narrative content itself but serves as the frame introducing the divine speech that follows in the subsequent verses.

Key words

• va ("and", H9001) — narrative vav prefixed to the verb, linking this speech-formula to the preceding material as the next event in the sequence.
• y.da.Ber ("he spoke", H1696G) — piel form of the verb, narrative in force, marking a completed act of speaking; the piel stem here carries the sense of authoritative or emphatic speech rather than simple utterance.
• Yehovah ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the proper name of the deity, functioning as the subject of the verb.
• mo.Sheh ("Moses", H4872) — proper name, the addressee marked by the preposition 'el- ("to", H0413).
• Mor ("saying", H0559) — qal infinitive construct, attached to the preposition le. ("to", H9005), forming the standard formula "saying," which opens the direct speech that follows.

What the text says

The verse follows a fixed formulaic structure common in this book: narrative vav + verb of speaking + subject (divine name) + prepositional phrase indicating the addressee + infinitive "saying" introducing direct discourse. The sequence va-y.da.Ber ("and he spoke") establishes this as a new, discrete narrative unit connected to what precedes it by the vav, while the piel stem of y.da.Ber denotes the act of speaking with a degree of formal or weighty force, consistent with its frequent use to introduce legal or ritual instructions.

The phrase 'el- mo.Sheh ("to Moses") identifies the recipient using the preposition H0413, marking direction toward a person rather than mere proximity. The closing element, le. Mor ("saying"), is a qal infinitive construct governed by the preposition le., and functions grammatically as a hinge that opens the quoted speech to come; the infinitive itself carries no tense, only the sense of the action "to say" as a linking function rather than a separate verbal event.

No content of the speech is present in this verse — it is purely the introductory formula, structurally identical to many other verses in Exodus that begin new blocks of legislation or instruction.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew presents the formula as one continuous clause: "va-y.da.Ber Yehovah 'el- mo.Sheh le.Mor." The LXX (Καὶ ἐλάλησεν κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν λέγων) renders this with a participle (λέγων, "saying") rather than an infinitive construct, a difference in verbal form though not in overall meaning. The Vulgate (Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen, dicens) similarly uses a participle (dicens) and adds the enclitic "-que" to render the narrative vav as "and." The BSB simplifies the formula, omitting an explicit equivalent for le.Mor ("saying") and rendering it simply as "said," collapsing the two-verb structure (y.da.Ber … Mor) of the Hebrew into a single English verb.