Exodus 4:12

Summary

This verse records YHWH's response to Moses after Moses' objection about not being able to speak, giving Moses a command to go along with two promises: divine presence with his mouth and future instruction on what to say.

Key words

• 'a.Tah ("therefore", H6258) — adverb marking a logical transition from the preceding objection to the resulting command.
• Lekh ("go", H1980) — qal imperative, a direct command to Moses, second masculine singular.
• 'eh.Yeh ("I will be", H1961) — qal imperfect, first person, expressing an ongoing or future state of being that will accompany the action of speaking.
• Pi ("mouth", H6310) construct + suffix -kha ("your") — forms "your mouth," the direct object of the preposition 'im ("with", H5973A), locating divine presence specifically at the site of speech.
• ho.rei.Ti ("I will teach", H3384) — hiphil (causative) sequential perfect, first person, continuing the sequence begun by 'eh.Yeh, indicating a causative action of instruction that follows from divine presence.
• te.da.Ber ("you will say", H1696) — piel (intensive) imperfect, second masculine singular, the content of what Moses will speak, introduced by the relative particle 'a.Sher ("that/which", H0834A).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with 'a.Tah ("therefore"), signaling that what follows is a direct consequence of the prior exchange. The imperative Lekh ("go") is a bare, single-word command. This is immediately followed by a conjunctive clause built on 'a.no.Khi ("I") plus the imperfect 'eh.Yeh ("I will be"), which together with the preposition 'im ("with") and the construct noun Pi ("mouth of") plus the suffix -kha ("your") produces the phrase "I will be with your mouth." The construction does not use a verb of speaking or opening; it uses the verb "to be" (hayah, H1961) with the preposition "with," describing presence at the mouth rather than an action performed upon it.

The second half of the verse shifts to a sequential perfect, ho.rei.Ti ("I will teach"), from the hiphil root H3384, which is causative in force — literally "I will cause to see/know." This form is joined by the narrative vav (H9001), which chains it to the preceding clause as a continuation of the same promise. The object of this teaching is introduced by the relative particle 'a.Sher ("that/which") followed by the piel imperfect te.da.Ber ("you will say"), describing the content of Moses' future speech in an ongoing or repeated sense.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the Hebrew phrase "I will be with your mouth" as "ἐγὼ ἀνοίξω τὸ στόμα σου" ("I will open your mouth"), using a verb of opening rather than the Hebrew verb "to be" ('eh.Yeh, H1961) with the preposition "with" ('im, H5973A). The Vulgate's "ero in ore tuo" ("I will be in your mouth") stays closer to the Hebrew verb of being but shifts the preposition from "with" to "in." For the second clause, the LXX uses "συμβιβάσω" ("I will instruct/join together"), while the Hebrew ho.rei.Ti (H3384) is a hiphil form meaning "I will teach" or "cause to know," and the Vulgate's "docebo" ("I will teach") corresponds more directly to this causative sense.