Leviticus 13:1

Summary

The verse is an introductory formula stating that Yehovah spoke to both Moses and Aaron, followed by the word "saying," which opens the direct discourse that follows in the chapter. It marks the beginning of a new divine communication addressed jointly to the two figures.

Key words

• va-y'daBer ("and he spoke", H1696G) — piel verb with narrative vav, indicating a completed, emphatic act of speaking that continues the narrative sequence.
• YHWH ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the proper name used as the subject performing the speech act.
• 'el ("to", H0413) — preposition marking the recipient(s) of the speech, repeated before both names.
• 'aharon ("Aaron", H0175) — proper name, second recipient, joined to Moses by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002).
• leMor ("saying", H0559) — qal infinitive construct, functioning to introduce the direct speech that follows.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence follows the standard formula found throughout Leviticus: verb + subject + prepositional phrase(s) indicating the addressee(s) + infinitive introducing quoted speech. The verb y'daBer is in the piel stem, which in this verb often carries an intensive or factitive nuance compared to the qal, and it is prefixed with the narrative vav that links this verse to the preceding material as the next event in sequence.

The addressees are marked by two separate prepositional phrases: 'el-mosheh ("to Moses") and ve-'el-'aharon ("and to Aaron"). The repetition of the preposition 'el before each name, rather than a single preposition governing both names together, gives each recipient syntactic prominence — Moses and Aaron are presented as two distinct addressees of the same speech act, not as a single combined entity. The final word, leMor, is a qal infinitive construct built on the root 'mr ("to say"), and its standard function in these formulas is to introduce the content of what was spoken, which follows immediately after this verse.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) renders the double preposition construction as πρὸς Μωυσῆν καὶ Ἀαρὼν, using a single πρὸς ("to") governing both names joined by καὶ ("and"), rather than repeating the preposition before each name as the Hebrew does. The Vulgate similarly uses "ad Moysen, et Aaron" with a single "ad" for both. This differs from the Hebrew structure, which repeats 'el before each name separately.