Numbers 11:21

Summary

Moses responds to YHWH's promise of meat by pointing out the size of the people among whom he lives: six hundred thousand foot soldiers. He then repeats back the divine promise — meat given "to them" so they may eat for a full month — as an implicit objection to its feasibility.

Key words

• shesh ("six", H8337) — construct-state cardinal number opening a numeral chain with me'ot ("hundreds") and 'elef ("thousand"), together forming "six hundred thousand."
• ragli ("foot soldier", H7273) — an adjective modifying the counted people, specifying they are infantry, i.e., adult males counted for military/census purposes.
• qirb + o ("midst" + "his/its", H7130G + H9023) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, literally "in the midst of it," expressing Moses' physical immersion among the people.
• 'atah ("you", H0859A) — independent personal pronoun placed before the verb 'amarta ("you have said," H0559), creating emphatic contrast between Moses' situation and YHWH's statement.
• 'etten ("I will give", H5414G) — qal imperfect first-person, expressing YHWH's future/ongoing action as quoted by Moses.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative va-yomer ("and he said," H0559) introducing Moses' speech. The core numerical statement — shesh-me'ot 'elef ragli — is a construct chain: "six" governs "hundreds," which governs "thousand," which is further specified by the adjective ragli ("foot [soldiers]"). This chain produces the number 600,000 as a description of ha'am ("the people," H5971A), qualified by the relative clause asher anokhi beqirbo ("which I am in its midst") — Moses situates himself spatially and existentially within this vast population before questioning the plan.

The second half shifts to direct address: the conjunction ve- ("and") plus the emphatic pronoun 'atah ("you") precedes 'amarta ("you have said"), a qal perfect marking completed speech — Moses quotes back what has already been stated. The quoted promise itself, basar 'etten lahem ("meat I will give to them"), fronts the object basar ("meat") before the verb 'etten, giving it prominence. The sequential perfect ve-akhlu ("and they will eat," H0398) continues the temporal sequence begun by 'etten, and the closing construct chodesh yamim ("month of days," H2320G + H3117G) specifies duration — literally "a month of days," an idiom for a full lunar month.

Differences between versions

The LXX adds πρὸς Κύριον ("to the Lord"), explicitly naming the addressee of Moses' speech, an element not present in the Hebrew text, which leaves the addressee implicit through context. The Vulgate renders the final clause as a question — "Dabo eis esum carnium mense integro?" ("Will I give them meat to eat for a whole month?") — introducing an interrogative force absent from the Hebrew, which presents Moses' words as a direct quotation of a statement rather than a question.