Numbers 16:12

Summary

Moses sends someone to summon Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, but they refuse, declaring "we will not come up." The verse contrasts Moses' initiative with the direct refusal of the two men, reported through their own speech.

Key words

• va-yishlach ("and he sent", H7971G) — qal narrative verb with the vav-consecutive, marking the next event in the story sequence; the subject "he" is embedded in the verb form.
• liqro' ("to summon/call", H7121G) — qal infinitive construct with prefixed le ("to"), expressing the purpose of Moses' sending: the action he sends someone to do.
• bene ("sons of", H1121A) — masculine plural noun in construct state, linking Dathan and Abiram to their father's name Eliab, identifying them by lineage rather than repeating a full clause.
• va-yomeru ("and they said", H0559) — qal narrative verb, third person masculine plural, introducing the direct speech that follows; grammatically parallel to va-yishlach, giving the verse a two-beat structure (Moses acts / they speak).
• na'aleh ("we will come up", H5927G) — qal imperfect, first person plural, negated by lo' ("not", H3808); the imperfect aspect marks this as an ongoing refusal or a stated intention regarding future action, not a completed past event.

What the text says

The verse is built on two narrative verbs joined by the vav-consecutive chain typical of Biblical Hebrew narration: va-yishlach ("and he sent") and va-yomeru ("and they said"). This chain moves the story forward in discrete steps: first Moses' action, then the men's verbal response. The purpose of Moses' sending is expressed through the infinitive construct liqro' ("to summon"), which is grammatically dependent on va-yishlach — the infinitive does not stand as an independent action but explains why Moses sent.

The identification of Dathan and Abiram uses the construct chain bene Eliab ("sons of Eliab"), a common way in Hebrew narrative to specify individuals through paternal lineage without a separate relative clause.

The refusal itself, lo' na'aleh ("we will not come up"), pairs the negative particle lo' with an imperfect verb form. The imperfect here conveys an incomplete, future-oriented, or willed action — the men are not describing something they failed to do in the past, but declaring their stance about an action not yet undertaken.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders the closing words as "non venimus" ("we do not come"), using a present-tense verb, while the Hebrew na'aleh specifically carries the sense of movement upward ("to go up," H5927G) and is grammatically an imperfect (future/ongoing), not a simple present. The LXX's ἀναβαίνομεν ("we go up/ascend") preserves the "going up" sense present in the Hebrew root, closer to the Hebrew than the Vulgate's more generic "come."