Numbers 12:11

Summary

Aaron addresses Moses with a formal plea, asking him not to hold against them a specific "sin," which he describes using two distinct verbs: one for foolish/reckless behavior and one for the sin itself. The verse is Aaron's direct speech reacting to the preceding events.

Key words

• bi ("pardon me", H0994) — an interjection opening a formal petition, functioning as a plea for indulgence before addressing a superior.
• 'adoni ("O lord", H0113) — noun in construct form with the suffix -i ("my"), used as a respectful address from Aaron to Moses.
• tashet ("may put", H7896J) — qal jussive, expressing a negated wish/request ("do not let [it] be placed"), not a simple statement of fact.
• no'alnu ("we have acted foolishly", H2973) — niphal perfect, a verb stem often carrying a passive or reflexive nuance, describing the completed state of having acted foolishly.
• chatanu ("we have sinned", H2398) — qal perfect, the basic active stem for "to sin," placed in a second relative clause parallel to no'alnu.

What the text says

The sentence opens with the narrative verb va-yomer ("and he said," H0559) introducing Aaron's direct speech to Moses. Aaron's address begins with two politeness markers in sequence, bi ("pardon me," H0994) and 'adoni ("my lord," H0113), a combination that frames the following words as a humble request rather than a demand. The core request uses the negated jussive al na tashet ("please do not put," H0408 + H4994 + H7896J), asking that a chatat ("sin," H2403B) not be placed "upon us" ('aleinu, H5921A + H9035).

The sin is then qualified by two parallel relative clauses joined by va- ("and," H9002), each introduced by 'asher ("which," H0834A). The first uses the niphal perfect no'alnu (H2973), a verb stem distinct from a simple active form, describing foolish or reckless conduct. The second uses the qal perfect chatanu (H2398), the standard active verb for sinning. The Hebrew thus keeps these as two separate completed actions rather than merging them into a single description.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders the two Hebrew relative clauses ('asher no'alnu and va'asher chatanu) as a single clause, "quod stulte commisimus" ("which we foolishly committed"), collapsing the two Hebrew verbs into one Latin verb with an adverb. The LXX preserves two verbs, ἠγνοήσαμεν ("we were ignorant/erred") and ἡμάρτομεν ("we sinned"), corresponding structurally to no'alnu and chatanu, though it renders no'alnu with a term emphasizing ignorance rather than the Hebrew's foolish/reckless-action nuance.