Exodus 9:5

Summary

The verse reports that Yehovah fixed a specific time for a future event, announcing through a direct quotation that "tomorrow" this event will occur "in the land." The sentence is structured as a narrative report followed by direct speech.

Key words

• va-yaSem ("and he set", H7760A) — qal narrative verb form, marking sequential action in the story ("and then he set").
• mo'Ed ("an appointed time", H4150G) — masculine singular noun designating a fixed or appointed point in time, not a vague duration.
• leMor ("saying", H0559) — infinitive construct introducing direct speech, functioning like a colon before a quotation.
• ya'aSeh ("he will do", H6213A) — qal imperfect, expressing future or ongoing action, here pointing to what Yehovah will bring about.
• ha-daVar ha-Zeh ("the thing" H1697I + "this" H2088) — noun with definite article plus demonstrative, specifying a particular, already-known matter rather than a general "thing."

What the text says

The verse divides into two parts: a narrative frame and an embedded direct speech. The frame begins with va-yaSem ("and he set", H7760A), a qal verb in the narrative chain (marked by the vav, H9001), with Yehovah (H3068G) as subject and mo'Ed ("an appointed time", H4150G) as object. This construction states that Yehovah established a fixed point in time, introduced by the infinitive leMor ("saying", H0559), which functions as a formal marker opening quoted speech.

The quotation itself begins with maChar ("tomorrow", H4279), placed at the front of the clause for emphasis on timing. The verb ya'aSeh ("he will do", H6213A) is in the imperfect form, indicating an action not yet completed — appropriate for a statement about a future event. The subject Yehovah is repeated within the quotation itself, a common feature in Biblical Hebrew where speech reintroduces the subject explicitly rather than relying on pronouns.

The object of the action is ha-daVar ha-Zeh ("this thing", H1697I + H2088), where the definite article (H9009) on daVar combined with the demonstrative Zeh points to a specific matter already established in context, not an unspecified event. The final phrase ba-Aretz ("in the land", H9003 + H0776G) uses the preposition-article combination to locate the action within "the land" as a defined geographic reference.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders Yehovah (H3068G) in the narrative frame as "ὁ θεὸς" ("the God") rather than transliterating the divine name, while retaining "κύριος" ("Lord") for the second occurrence within the direct speech. The Hebrew uses Yehovah consistently in both instances. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew pattern, using "Dominus" for both occurrences.