Exodus 4:8

Summary

The verse states a conditional scenario: if the people do not believe Moses and do not heed the "voice" of the first sign, then they will believe on account of the second sign. The Hebrew builds a protasis-apodosis structure using the same verb root twice, marking a shift from possibility to expected result.

Key words

• ya'aminu ("they will believe", H0539) — hiphil imperfect, expressing the unfulfilled, hypothetical action inside the conditional clause ("if they do not believe").
• he'eminu ("they will believe", H0539) — same root as above, but hiphil sequential perfect, marking the resulting action in the apodosis; the shift from imperfect to sequential perfect signals the logical consequence of the condition.
• yishme'u ("they will listen", H8085G) — qal imperfect, parallel to ya'aminu, paired negation ("not believe... and not listen") describing the same hypothetical failure to respond.
• qol ("voice of", H6963) — masculine singular construct, repeated twice, each time governing "the sign" (ha-'ot); the construct chain "voice of the sign" is used rather than the sign itself being the object of belief/hearing.
• 'ot ("sign", H0226G) — feminine singular noun, appearing twice, once qualified by ha-rishon ("the former") and once by ha-'acharon ("the latter"), both grammatically masculine forms.

What the text says

The verse opens with ve-hayah ("and it will be", H1961), a sequential perfect that continues the narrative flow from the preceding instructions about the signs. It introduces the conditional particle 'im ("if", H0518A), governing two negated imperfect verbs — lo ya'aminu ("they will not believe") and ve-lo yishme'u ("and they will not listen") — both describing a possible failure of the people to respond to Moses. This failure is tied specifically to "the voice of the first sign" (qol ha-'ot ha-rishon), using a construct chain where "voice" (masculine) governs "sign" (feminine).

The apodosis begins with ve-he'eminu, the same root as ya'aminu but now in the sequential perfect form, marking the expected outcome: belief tied instead to "the voice of the latter sign" (qol ha-'ot ha-acharon). Both ordinal/adjective terms, ha-rishon ("former") and ha-acharon ("latter"), appear in masculine form despite 'ot being feminine — grammatically consistent with modifying the masculine noun qol ("voice") in the construct phrase, rather than "sign" directly.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the apodosis with a plain future indicative (πιστεύσουσιν, "they will believe"), matching the Hebrew's shift toward a stated consequence. The Vulgate translates qol inconsistently: "sermonem" ("speech, word") for the first instance and "verbo" ("word") for the second, though the Hebrew uses the same word qol both times. The BSB introduces a modal nuance not present in the Hebrew grammar, rendering the apodosis as "they may believe" rather than a direct future.