Numbers 11:14

Summary

Moses states that he is unable to carry the burden of "all this people" by himself, because the load is too heavy for him. The verse uses a first-person negated verb followed by an infinitive construction to express incapacity, and ends with a causal clause explaining why.

Key words

• 'ukhal ("I am able", H3201) — Qal imperfect, first person, negated by lo' ("not", H3808) to form "I am not able / I cannot."
• levaddi ("alone", H0905H + H9030) — construct noun with 1st person suffix, literally "in my aloneness," reinforcing that Moses acts without help.
• laset ("to carry", H5375H) — Qal infinitive construct with prefixed le- ("to"), forming the purpose/object of the inability: "to carry."
• kaved ("heavy", H3515) — masculine singular adjective, agreeing grammatically with the masculine noun 'am ("people", H5971A), describing the weight of the burden.
• mimenni ("from me" / "for me", H4480A + H9030) — preposition with 1st person suffix, marking the point of comparison ("too heavy from/for me").

What the text says

The sentence opens with the negated modal verb lo'-'ukhal ("I am not able"), immediately reinforced by the independent pronoun 'anokhi ("I") and the phrase levaddi ("alone," from bad, H0905H, with a 1st-person suffix). This doubling of first-person markers ('anokhi + suffix on levaddi) emphasizes the isolation of the subject before the infinitive laset ("to carry") even appears — the grammar foregrounds "I, alone" before stating what cannot be done.

The object of the infinitive is marked by the untranslated direct-object particle 'et (H0853) followed by kol-ha'am hazzeh ("all this people"), a construct chain plus demonstrative that specifies the entire group, not a portion of it.

The causal clause ki khaved mimenni ("for [it is] heavy from me") has no explicit stated subject in the Hebrew; the adjective khaved ("heavy," H3515) is masculine singular, matching ha'am ("the people," masculine) as its likely referent, but the sentence leaves this implicit rather than restating the noun.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew and the Vulgate ("quia gravis est mihi," "for it is heavy to me") both leave the subject of "heavy" implicit. The LXX, however, supplies an explicit subject not present in the Hebrew clause: ὅτι βαρύτερόν μοί ἐστιν τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο ("for this matter/word is too heavy for me"), using rhema ("word," "matter") as the grammatical subject where the Hebrew has none stated outright.