Numbers 16:20

Summary

The verse reports that Yehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron, introducing direct speech that follows. It is a standard narrative formula marking a divine communication addressed to both leaders.

Key words

• va-yedaber ("and he spoke", H1696G) — piel verb with narrative vav; the piel stem gives an intensive nuance to "speak," and the vav links this clause to the preceding narrative as the next event.
• YHWH ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the proper name of the deity, functioning as the subject of the verb.
• el-Mosheh ("to Moses", H4872) — preposition el ("to") plus the proper name, marking the first addressee.
• ve-el-Aharon ("and to Aaron", H0175) — conjunction ve ("and") plus preposition el plus the proper name, marking the second addressee.
• le-mor ("saying", H0559) — qal infinitive construct with prefixed le-, a standard formula that introduces the reported speech that follows the verse.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence follows the typical narrative pattern found throughout Numbers: verb-subject order (va-yedaber YHWH, "and Yehovah spoke") followed by the addressees marked with the preposition el ("to"). Both Moses and Aaron are addressed, each preceded by el, joined by the conjunction ve ("and"). The infinitive le-mor ("saying") closes the formula and functions as a colon introducing the speech content that follows in the subsequent verses, not translated as a separate finite verb but as a grammatical marker of quotation.

The repetition of el before both names (el-Mosheh... ve-el-Aharon) treats each addressee individually within the single clause, though both receive the same message. The piel stem of dabar ("to speak") is the standard form used for formal or significant utterances in narrative contexts, distinct from the simpler qal stem.

Differences between versions

The LXX (πρὸς Μωυσῆν καὶ Ἀαρὼν, "to Moses and Aaron") uses the preposition πρὸς once, governing both names, rather than repeating a preposition before each name as the Hebrew does with el. The Vulgate similarly uses a single "ad Moysen et Aaron" construction. This reflects a structural difference in how each language marks multiple addressees, though the resulting meaning conveyed to the reader is equivalent regarding who is addressed.