Numbers 13:16

Summary

The verse closes the list of the twelve men Moses sent to explore the land, stating that these were their names. It then adds a narrative note: Moses renamed Hoshea son of Nun as Joshua.

Key words

• 'Eleh ("these", H0428) — demonstrative particle opening the verse, pointing back to the list of names just given in the preceding verses.
• she.Mot ("names of", H8034) — feminine plural construct noun, grammatically bound to "the men" that follows, forming the phrase "names of the men."
• sha.Lach ("he sent", H7971G) — qal perfect verb, marking a completed action; it identifies Moses as the one who dispatched the men.
• i.yik.Ra' ("and he called", H7121H) — qal narrative form (vav-consecutive), signaling the next event in sequence: after the sending, comes the naming.
• bin- ("son of", H1121A) — masculine singular construct noun, linking Hoshea to his father Nun in a genitive-type relationship.

What the text says

The verse divides into two grammatical units joined by the narrative vav on va.yik.Ra' ("and he called", H7121H). The first unit is a nominal (verbless) sentence: 'Eleh she.Mot ha.'a.na.Shim ("these [are] the names of the men"), where the construct chain she.Mot ha.'a.na.Shim ("names of the men") functions as the predicate of the demonstrative 'Eleh ("these", H0428). This clause is followed by a relative clause introduced by 'a.sher ("whom", H0834A), which specifies which men are meant: those whom sha.Lach ("he sent", H7971G) — Moses — la.Tur ("to spy out", H8446, infinitive construct) et-ha.'A.retz ("the land", H0776G). The infinitive construct with the preposition le- expresses purpose, "in order to spy out."

The second unit shifts from the closing summary of the list to a new narrated event, marked by the vav-consecutive on yik.Ra' ("he called", H7121H), a qal narrative form that advances the storyline. Moses is again the subject, and the object of the naming is ho.She.a' bin-Nun ("Hoshea son of Nun", H1954K/H1121A/H5126), a construct phrase identifying Hoshea by his patronymic. The new name given is ye.ho.Shu.a' ("Joshua", H3091G). The Hebrew construction does not include a verb "to change" or "to rename"; the meaning "renaming" is conveyed simply by the verb qara' ("to call") taking a double object — the person and the new name.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint text supplied for this reference (τῆς φυλῆς Γάδ, Γουδιὴλ υἱὸς Μακχί — "of the tribe of Gad, Goudiel son of Machi") and the corresponding Vulgate line (De tribu Gad, Guel filium Machi) do not correspond to the Hebrew content of this verse; they describe a tribal representative (Gad) rather than the naming of Hoshea/Joshua. This indicates a verse-numbering divergence between the Hebrew tradition reflected here and the Greek/Latin textual witnesses supplied, rather than a translational difference in wording.