Numbers 11:15

Summary

Moses addresses YHWH, stating that if this is how he is being treated, he prefers to be killed outright, provided he has found favor with him, so that he will not have to witness his own distress. The verse is framed by two conditional clauses using 'im ("if", H0518A) and centers on a doubled verbal form emphasizing the request for death.

Key words

• kakhah ("thus", H3602) — adverb pointing back to the situation just described, introducing the first conditional clause.
• 'im ("if", H0518A) — conditional particle, used twice (once for the opening protasis, once before "I have found favor"), structuring the verse into two dependent clauses.
• harGeni ("kill me", H2026) + harog ("completely to kill", H2026) — the same root appears first as a qal imperative with pronominal suffix, then as an infinitive absolute; the infinitive absolute reinforces the imperative, intensifying the force of the command.
• chen ("favor", H2580) — masculine singular noun, object of "found" (matza'ti), qualifying the condition under which the speaker makes the request.
• ra'ati ("my distress", H7451C) — feminine singular noun in construct form with a first-person suffix, naming what the speaker does not wish to see.

What the text says

The sentence divides into two conditional units joined by ve- ("and"). The first, "ve-'im kakhah 'at 'oseh li" ("and if thus you are doing to me"), sets the circumstance; it is followed by the doubled root harag ("kill"): the imperative harGeni ("kill me") strengthened by the infinitive absolute harog, a construction that in Biblical Hebrew adds emphasis to the verbal action rather than adding new information. The particle na' ("please", H4994) softens the imperative into an urgent request rather than a flat command.

The second conditional clause, "'im matza'ti chen be-'eineikha" ("if I have found favor in your eyes"), uses the qal perfect matza'ti ("I have found") with the noun chen ("favor") governed by the construct-plus-suffix phrase be-'eineikha ("in your eyes"), a common idiom for gaining approval. The closing clause, "ve-'al 'er'eh be-ra'ati" ("and let me not see in my distress"), uses the negative particle 'al with the verb 'er'eh ("I see") and the preposition be- attached to the construct noun ra'ati ("my distress"), expressing the speaker's wish to be spared from witnessing his own affliction.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the imperative-plus-infinitive-absolute construction harGeni na harog as a single future form, ἀναιρέσει ("you will kill/destroy me"), which does not reproduce the doubling found in the Hebrew. The Vulgate instead uses "obsecro ut interficias me" ("I beg that you kill me"), preserving the urgency of na' through "obsecro" but without the intensifying repetition. For chen ("favor", H2580), the LXX has ἔλεος ("mercy") rather than a term corresponding more directly to "favor/grace." The Vulgate expands ra'ati ("my distress") into "tantis malis" ("such great evils"), broadening the singular construct noun into a more general expression of hardship.