Numbers 11:26

Summary

Two men, Eldad and Medad, remained in the camp instead of going to the tent, yet the ruach ("spirit", H7307) rested on them, and they prophesied there. The text explains that they were among those registered but had not physically gone out to the location where the other elders had gathered.

Key words

• yishsha'aru ("they had remained", H7604) — niphal narrative verb; the niphal stem here marks a passive/reflexive nuance, indicating the men were left behind rather than acting on their own initiative to stay.
• ruach ("spirit", H7307) — feminine singular noun, subject of the verb tanach ("it rested", H5117); grammatically feminine, agreeing with the feminine verb form.
• ketuvim ("written", H3789) — qal passive participle, masculine plural; describes the men as belonging to a group already "written" or registered, contrasting with their physical absence from the tent.
• yatze'u ("they had gone out", H3318G) — qal perfect, negated by lo' ("not", H3808); marks a completed action that did not happen, establishing the contrast between registration and physical presence.
• yitnabbe'u ("they prophesied", H5012) — hithpael narrative verb; the hithpael stem conveys a reflexive or self-involved action, describing the men's own engagement in the act of prophesying.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative vav on yishsha'aru ("they had remained", H7604), establishing a new clause in the story sequence: the two men's remaining in the camp. The niphal form is passive/reflexive in force, distinguishing their remaining from a deliberate act of staying away. Their names are introduced with a construct pattern: shem ha'echad ("the name of the one", H8034 + H0259) and shem hasheni ("the name of the second", H8034 + H8145), a common Hebrew formula for naming two individuals in sequence.

The clause va-tanach 'aleihem ha-ruach ("and it rested on them the spirit", H5117 + H7307) uses a qal narrative verb with the feminine noun ruach as subject, agreeing in gender. The following clause, introduced by ve-hemah ("and they", H1992), states they were bakketuvim ("among those written", H3789), a qal passive participle indicating enrollment or registration on a list, but the negated perfect ve-lo' yatze'u ("and they had not gone out", H3808 + H3318G) marks that this registration did not correspond to physical departure toward ha'ohelah ("the tent", H0168G) — note the directional he (H9011) attached, indicating movement "toward" the tent, movement that in fact did not occur.

The final clause returns to narrative sequence with va-yitnabbe'u ("and they prophesied", H5012), a hithpael form, followed by bamachaneh ("in the camp", H4264), repeating the same locative phrase used in the verse's opening, framing the entire event as occurring within the camp itself rather than at the tent.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew Medad (H4312) appears in the LXX as Μωδάδ (Modad), a variant transliteration of the same proper name. The LXX renders ha'ohelah ("toward the tent", H0168G + directional he) as πρὸς τὴν σκηνήν ("toward the tent"), matching the directional sense. The Vulgate's descripti fuerant ("they had been enrolled") corresponds to the Hebrew bakketuvim ("among those written", H3789), both conveying registration rather than mere presence.