Numbers 11:16

Summary

Yehovah instructs Moses to gather seventy men from among the elders of Israel — specifically those Moses already recognizes as leaders and officials of the people — and to bring them to the Tent of Meeting, where they are to stand together with Moses.

Key words

• 'esfah ("gather", H0622) — qal imperative with paragogic he (the final "he" ending), which adds emphasis to the command, intensifying the directive tone.
• zikney ("elders of", H2205G) — masculine plural construct form, appearing twice (vv. 13 and 19 in the word list), linking "elders" to what follows: first Yisra'El ("Israel"), then ha'Am ("the people").
• yada'ta ("you know", H3045) — qal perfect, denoting a completed, already-established state of knowledge; Moses' recognition of these men precedes the command itself.
• shoterey ("officials of", H7860) — qal participle, masculine plural construct, literally "the ones who do/administer"; the participial form frames this as an ongoing function or role rather than a fixed title.
• hityatzevu ("they will present themselves", H3320) — hithpael sequential perfect, reflexive stem, indicating the elders position or station themselves — an action performed on their own initiative in response to being brought there.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative vav on yomer ("and he said", H0559), continuing the ongoing narrative sequence begun earlier in the chapter. The core command uses a chain of qal and hithpael verb forms in sequential perfect, a common Hebrew construction where an initial imperative ('esfah, "gather") is followed by verbs in the vav-perfect form (laqachta, "you will take"; hityatzevu, "they will present themselves") that carry imperatival force by continuing the sequence — effectively producing a list of successive commands: gather, take, [let them] station themselves.

The phrase mizzikney Yisra'El ("from the elders of Israel") uses the construct chain zikney ... Yisra'El, marking "elders" as belonging to the nation. The relative clause introduced by 'asher ("whom", H0834A) qualifies "seventy men" with a specification Moses already possesses: he "knows" (yada'ta, perfect tense) that these are the zikney ha'am ("elders of the people") and their shoterim ("officials", participial form). This construction of embedded construct chains ties elder-status of Israel generally to a more specific administrative role among "the people."

Differences between versions

The LXX (Septuagint) does not include the number "seventy" (shiv'im, H7657) in the phrase rendered here; it reads simply "men from the elders of Israel" (ἄνδρας ἀπὸ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων), omitting the numeral present in the Hebrew and the Vulgate ("septuaginta viros"). Additionally, where the Hebrew has shoterim ("officials," H7860, from a root meaning "to administer/oversee"), the LXX renders this as γραμματεῖς ("scribes/secretaries"), while the Vulgate uses "magistri" ("masters/teachers") — three distinct renderings of the same administrative role.