Numbers 14:39

Summary

Moses reports to all the Israelites the words just spoken (the divine sentence of the preceding verses), and the people respond with intense mourning. The verse links two narrative actions in sequence: speech and reaction.

Key words

• y'daBer ("he spoke", H1696) — piel stem, an intensive form of the verb "to speak," used in narrative sequence (introduced by the narrative vav); it marks the formal delivery of a message rather than casual talk.
• ha-devaRim ha-'Elleh ("the words," H1697 + "these," H428) — definite noun with demonstrative, pointing back to specific words already spoken earlier in the account; the double definite article ("the words the these") is standard Hebrew syntax for "these words."
• kol-benei Yisra'El ("all the sons/people of Israel," H3605 + H1121) — construct chain: kol ("all") governs benei ("sons of"), which itself is construct with "Israel," producing "all the sons of Israel" as the audience.
• yit'abbeLu ("they mourned," H0056) — hithpael stem, a reflexive/middle form of the root, narrating the people's self-directed action of mourning; the hithpael here casts the mourning as something the people did to themselves or underwent internally, not an action performed on them.
• me'Od ("exceedingly," H3966) — an intensifying adverb-like term modifying the mourning, indicating degree rather than manner.

What the text says

The verse divides into two clauses joined by a narrative vav sequence, a common Hebrew structure for consecutive events ("and X happened, and then Y happened"). The first clause has Moses as subject of y'daBer ("he spoke"), with 'et (H853) marking the direct object ha-devaRim ha-'Elleh ("these words") — the object marker itself carries no independent meaning but signals that "the words" is the grammatical object of the verb. The audience is marked by the preposition 'el ("to") plus the construct chain kol-benei Yisra'El.

The second clause shifts subject to ha-'Am ("the people," H5971), with the verb yit'abbeLu in hithpael — a stem that frequently marks reflexive, reciprocal, or self-involved action. Here it presents the mourning as the people's own internal or self-enacted response, distinct from a simple active "to mourn." The adverb me'Od intensifies this response, indicating the mourning was extensive or severe rather than mild.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders yit'abbeLu with ἐπένθησεν ("mourned"), a straightforward active verb, without reproducing the reflexive/middle nuance the Hebrew hithpael carries. The Vulgate's luxit ("mourned/grieved") similarly uses a simple active form. Both Greek and Latin thus convey the outcome (grief) without marking the self-involved aspect the Hebrew stem signals.