Numbers 14:20

Summary

Numbers 14:20 records a short divine declaration: YHWH states that he has forgiven, using the exact phrase "according to your word," directly answering the preceding intercession attributed to Moses. The verse is a two-part sentence: a narrative introduction ("and YHWH said") followed by the direct speech of forgiveness.

Key words

• va ("and", H9001) — the narrative vav, which links this verse to the prior speech and signals sequential action in the story ("and then he said").
• i.Yo.mer ("he said", H0559) — qal narrative verb form, third person masculine, indicating a completed single act of speaking within the narrative sequence.
• Yehovah ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the proper name used as the subject of the verb "said," identifying who speaks.
• sa.Lach.ti ("I have forgiven", H5545) — qal perfect, first person singular. The perfect aspect marks the forgiveness as a completed act, not an ongoing or future one; the first-person form makes YHWH the direct grammatical subject of the forgiving.
• d.va.Re.kha ("your word", H1697G + H9021) — a construct noun with a second-person masculine singular pronominal suffix, meaning literally "the word of you." This construct chain ties the content of the forgiveness to Moses' prior speech.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence consists of two clauses. The first, va-i.Yo.mer Yehovah ("and YHWH said"), is a standard narrative formula introducing direct speech, using the vav-consecutive construction common in biblical narrative to move the story forward. The second clause is the content of what YHWH says: sa.Lach.ti ki-d.va.Re.kha ("I have forgiven according to your word").

The verb sa.Lach.ti is in the qal perfect, first person singular — grammatically this places the forgiving action as already completed at the moment of speaking, with YHWH as the sole subject performing the action directly (no intermediary or causative form is used). The object of forgiveness is not explicitly stated in the Hebrew of this clause (no direct object marker or suffix appears on the verb itself); it is understood from the broader narrative context.

The phrase ki-d.va.re.kha uses the preposition ki ("according to") governing a construct noun phrase — literally "according to the word of you." This grammatically ties YHWH's declared forgiveness back to a specific "word" or "speech" attributed to the addressee (grammatically marked as "your," masculine singular), rather than being a general or unconditioned statement.

Differences between versions

The LXX inserts an explicit address, "πρὸς Μωυσῆν" ("to Moses"), naming the addressee of YHWH's speech, which is not present in the Hebrew text at this point — the Hebrew leaves the addressee implicit within the narrative context. The LXX also renders the forgiveness verb as "Ἵλεως αὐτοῖς εἰμὶ" ("I am merciful/propitious to them"), a present-tense construction with an explicit third-person plural object ("to them"), whereas the Hebrew sa.Lach.ti is a perfect ("I have forgiven") without an explicit stated object. The Vulgate's "Dimisi juxta verbum tuum" ("I have dismissed/forgiven according to your word") follows the Hebrew perfect aspect and lacks the object clarification and addressee found in the LXX.