Numbers 10:32

Summary

The verse contains Moses' offer to a companion (identified in context as Hobab): if he travels with the Israelites, whatever good things Yehovah (H3068G) does for them, they will do the same good for him. The sentence is built as a conditional chain introduced twice by the formula vehayah ("it will be").

Key words

• ha.Yah ("it will be", H1961) — sequential perfect (vav + perfect) used twice (positions 2 and 8) to link consecutive clauses in a future/conditional narrative sequence; this repetition frames the whole verse as a two-step "if... then" structure.
• ki ("that", H3588A) — here functions as a conditional particle ("if"), introducing the condition attached to the first vehayah.
• te.Lekh ("you will go", H1980G) — qal imperfect, expressing the hypothetical or future action of the addressee "going" with the group.
• yei.Tiv ("he will do good", H3190) — hiphil (causative) imperfect from the root meaning "to do good," describing Yehovah's future action toward "us."
• he.Tav.nu ("we will do good", H3190) — hiphil sequential perfect from the same root as yei.Tiv, describing the human reciprocal action toward "you" (suffix -kha, "your," H9032).

What the text says

The Hebrew builds the verse through two parallel clauses each opened by vehayah ("it will be"), a common device for sequencing conditional or consequential statements in narrative Hebrew. The first vehayah is qualified by ki (H3588A), which here carries a conditional sense ("if"), attached to the imperfect telekh ("you will go," H1980G) — "and it will be, if you go with us." The second vehayah introduces the result: "the good, that one, which Yehovah will do good (yeitiv) with us."

The verse's structural feature is the repetition of the root behind H3190: yeitiv ("he will do good") describes Yehovah's action, and hetavnu ("we will do good") describes the human reciprocal action — both hiphil forms of the same root, framing divine benefit and human benefit with identical verbal vocabulary. The pronoun suffixes track the relationships precisely: 'immanu ("with us," twice, H5973A + H9035) marks the group, while lakh ("to you," H9005 + H9032) marks the addressee at the very end, isolating him as the recipient of the promised reciprocal good.

Differences between versions

The LXX (SWETE) renders the opening vehayah...ki sequence with ἵστᾶι... ἐὰν ("it stands/happens... if"), preserving a conditional sense but not the double vehayah structure found in the Hebrew. For the relative clause asher yeitiv Yehovah, the LXX uses ὅσα ἐὰν ἀγαθοποιήσῃ Κύριος ("whatever good things the Lord may do"), a more open quantifier than the Hebrew's relative asher ("which," H0834A) modifying "the good, that one" (hatov hahu).

The Vulgate diverges further: it collapses the two-clause Hebrew structure into a single temporal clause ("cumque nobiscum veneris") followed by a promise concerning "ex opibus" ("from the riches/wealth"), a term not present in the Hebrew wording, which speaks only of "the good" (hatov, H2896B) without reference to wealth or possessions.