Exodus 30:22

Summary

Exodus 30:22 is a short narrative formula that introduces divine speech: it states that Yehovah spoke to Moses. The verse contains no content of the speech itself, only the introductory frame marking the beginning of a new instruction.

Key words

• va ("and", H9001) — narrative vav prefixed to the verb, linking this statement to the preceding narrative sequence as the next event.
• y.da.Ber ("he spoke", H1696G) — Piel stem of the root, narrative form; the Piel here carries an intensive nuance of speaking/declaring, distinguishing it from the simpler Qal.
• Yehovah ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the proper name of the deity, functioning as the grammatical subject of the verb y.da.Ber.
• 'el- ("to", H0413) — preposition indicating the addressee/direction of the speech, pointing to mo.Sheh.
• Mor ("saying", H0559) — Qal infinitive construct, functioning adverbially to introduce direct speech that follows in subsequent verses.

What the text says

The verse follows the standard Hebrew narrative pattern for introducing divine speech: narrative vav + verb + subject + prepositional phrase + infinitive of "to say." The verb y.da.Ber ("he spoke", H1696G) is in the Piel stem, which in this root is the form regularly used for the act of speaking with authority or formally declaring; Biblical Hebrew does not typically use the Qal of this root for "to speak" in this sense, so the Piel here is the expected narrative form rather than a marked intensification of meaning.

The syntax places Yehovah immediately after the verb as the subject, followed by 'el- ("to", H0413) plus Mor ("saying", H0559) at the end. This infinitive construct is a fixed formulaic device in Biblical Hebrew narrative: it does not add new semantic content but signals that direct speech is about to follow. The verse itself is purely transitional — it reports the act and channel of communication (Yehovah to Moses) without yet disclosing the message, which appears in the following verses.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew va-y.da.Ber ("and he spoke") is rendered by the LXX with ἐλάλησεν ("spoke"), matching the narrative aorist without the conjunctive "and" being separately marked in the English gloss of BSB ("Then"). The Vulgate uses Locutusque est ("and he spoke"), preserving the connective sense of the Hebrew vav through the enclitic -que. The Spanish RV1909 and SBLIBRE both render y.da.Ber as "Habló" ("he spoke") but differ slightly in word order and connective particles ("más" vs. "también"), reflecting stylistic rather than textual divergence, since the underlying Hebrew clause structure remains constant across all versions.