Numbers 14:26

Summary

The verse is a short narrative formula reporting that Yehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron. It functions as an introductory frame, marking the transition to the divine speech that follows in the subsequent verses.

Key words

• va-y'daBer ("and he spoke", H1696G) — piel verb with narrative vav, expressing sequential action ("and then he spoke"); the piel stem here conveys the act of speaking directly, not merely uttering a word.
• Yehovah ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the proper divine name, used as the subject of the verb, identifying the speaker.
• 'el- ("to", H0413) — preposition repeated before both "Moses" and "Aaron," marking the recipients of the speech.
• moSheh ("Moses", H4872) and 'aharon ("Aaron", H0175) — proper names, both governed by the same preposition, presented as joint addressees.
• leMor ("saying", H0559) — qal infinitive construct with prefixed le-, a standard formula introducing direct speech; it signals that what follows is a quotation.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence follows the typical verb-subject-object word order of Biblical Hebrew narrative prose: va-y'daBer ("and he spoke") + Yehovah (subject) + 'el-moSheh ("to Moses") + ve-'el-'aharon ("and to Aaron") + leMor ("saying"). The narrative vav prefixed to the verb ties this clause to the preceding narrative, presenting it as the next event in sequence. The preposition 'el- ("to") is repeated before each name rather than using a single preposition governing both, which grammatically treats Moses and Aaron as two distinct but jointly addressed recipients of the same speech act.

The infinitive leMor ("saying") is a fixed formula in Biblical Hebrew that introduces reported or direct speech; it does not carry independent semantic weight beyond signaling that a quotation follows. This construction — verb of speaking + divine name + preposition + addressee(s) + leMor — is a recurring narrative device throughout the text, used to frame divine communication before the content of that communication is given.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the verb as eipen ("he said") rather than reflecting the piel intensive nuance of y'daBer ("he spoke") in the Hebrew, using a simpler verb of saying. The LXX and Vulgate also use a single preposition (pros, ad) governing both "Moses and Aaron" together, whereas the Hebrew repeats 'el- before each name separately, marking them as two individually addressed recipients rather than one combined group.