Numbers 1:19

Summary

This verse closes a census formula, stating that the enrollment was carried out exactly as Yehovah had commanded Moses. The action is located in the wilderness of Sinai, and the sentence combines a comparative clause with a narrative report of completed action.

Key words

• ka'asher ("as", H0834D) — relative particle preceded by the preposition ka (H9004), forming "just as," introducing a comparison between command and execution.
• tzivah ("he had commanded", H6680) — piel perfect, third person masculine singular. The piel stem carries an intensive/causative nuance ("to command with authority"), and the perfect aspect marks the command as a completed prior action.
• Yehovah (H3068G) — the divine name, subject of tzivah.
• vayyifqedem ("and he enrolled them", H6485A) — qal verb with narrative vav (H9001) attached, third person masculine singular, plus the pronominal suffix -m ("them", H9038). The qal stem is the simple active form, and the narrative vav sequences this action as following directly from the command just mentioned.
• midbar ("wilderness of", H4057B) — masculine singular noun in construct state, linking to Sinai (H5514H) to form "wilderness of Sinai," a fixed place-name construction.

What the text says

The verse is built on two clauses joined by the narrative vav on vayyifqedem. The first clause, introduced by ka'asher, establishes a standard of comparison: the command of Yehovah to Moshe ("Moses", H4872), marked by the untranslated direct object marker 'et (H0853). The perfect verb tzivah presents this command as a completed event prior to the main narrative action. The second clause reports the fulfillment: vayyifqedem, using the qal (simple active) stem, states that the subject "enrolled them," with the third-person singular verb form requiring the reader to supply the subject from context (typically understood as Moses, based on the preceding verses of the chapter, though the Hebrew verb form itself does not name him here). The suffix -m ("them") refers back to the men counted in the census described earlier in the chapter. The final phrase, bemidbar Sinai, locates the entire enrollment action geographically, using a construct chain typical of place-name formations in Biblical Hebrew.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew verb vayyifqedem is active voice ("and he enrolled them"), with the subject implied grammatically by the third-person singular form. The LXX renders this with a passive verb, epeskepēsan ("they were numbered"), removing the implied singular subject and shifting focus to the counted group as grammatical subject. The Vulgate similarly uses a passive construction, Numerati sunt ("they were numbered"), matching the LXX's voice shift rather than the Hebrew's active form.