Numbers 16:46

וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶֽל־אַהֲרֹן קַח אֶת־הַמַּחְתָּה וְתֶן־עָלֶיהָ אֵשׁ מֵעַל הַמִּזְבֵּחַ וְשִׂים קְטֹרֶת וְהוֹלֵךְ מְהֵרָה אֶל־הָעֵדָה וְכַפֵּר עֲלֵיהֶם כִּֽי־יָצָא הַקֶּצֶף מִלִּפְנֵי יְהוָה הֵחֵל הַנָּֽגֶף׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֜ה אֶֽל־אַהֲרֹ֗ן קַ֣ח אֶת־הַ֠מַּחְתָּה וְתֶן־עָלֶ֨יהָ אֵ֜שׁ מֵעַ֤ל הַמִּזְבֵּ֙חַ֙ וְשִׂ֣ים קְטֹ֔רֶת וְהוֹלֵ֧ךְ מְהֵרָ֛ה אֶל־הָעֵדָ֖ה וְכַפֵּ֣ר עֲלֵיהֶ֑ם כִּֽי־יָצָ֥א הַקֶּ֛צֶף מִלִּפְנֵ֥י יְהוָ֖ה הֵחֵ֥ל הַנָּֽגֶף׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ εἶπεν Μωυσῆς πρὸς Ἀαρών Λάβε τὸ πυρεῖον, καὶ ἐπίθες ἐπ’ αὐτὸ πῦρ ἀπὸ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου, καὶ ἐπίβαλε ἐπ’ αὐτὸ θυμίαμα, καὶ ἀπένεγκε τὸ τάχος εἰς τὴν παρεμβολήν, καὶ ἐξιλάσεται περὶ αὐτῶν· ἐξῆλθεν γὰρ ὀργὴ ἀπὸ προσώπου κυρίου, ἦρκται θραύειν τὸν λαόν.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

dixit Moyses ad Aaron: Tolle thuribulum, et hausto igne de altari, mitte incensum desuper, pergens cito ad populum, ut roges pro eis: jam enim egressa est ira a Domino, et plaga desævit.

Spanish

Y Moisés le dijo a Aarón: “¡Toma tu incensario, ponle brasas del altar y échale incienso! Ve rápido a donde está la comunidad y haz expiación por ellos, porque el enojo de Yehová se ha desatado. ¡La mortandad ya ha comenzado!”.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y dijo Moisés á Aarón: Toma el incensario, y pon en él fuego del altar, y sobre él pon perfume, y ve presto á la congregación, y haz expiación por ellos; porque el furor ha salido de delante de la faz de Jehová: la mortandad ha comenzado.

English

Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has begun.”

✦ What the text says

Summary

Moses instructs Aaron to take a censer, place fire from the altar and incense in it, and hurry to the congregation to make atonement, because divine wrath has already broken out and a plague has begun.

Key words

kach ("take", H3947G) — qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular, opening a rapid sequence of commands to Aaron.
machtah ("censer", H4289) — feminine singular noun with the definite article ha (H9009), marking a specific, known cultic object.
ve.khaper ("and make atonement", H3722A) — piel imperative, the intensive stem here conveying a deliberate ritual act of atonement, joined to the chain of commands by the conjunction ve (H9002).
yatza' ("it has gone forth", H3318G) — qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular, describing the qetzef ("wrath", H7110A) as an action already completed before Moses speaks.
hechel ("it has begun", H2490C) — hiphil perfect, 3rd person masculine singular, the causative stem marking the nagef ("plague", H5063) as an event that has been set into motion.

What the text says

The verse is built as a rapid chain of five qal/piel imperatives directed at Aaron: kach ("take"), ten ("put", H5414H), sim ("set", H7760H), holekh ("take/go", H1980J, hiphil), and khaper ("make atonement", H3722A, piel). Each is joined by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002), producing an unbroken sequence of urgent action rather than separate sentences. The adverb meherah ("quickly", H4120) reinforces the urgency conveyed by the imperative chain itself.

The final clause shifts from imperative to perfect verbs: yatza' ("it has gone forth", H3318G) and hechel ("it has begun", H2490C), both qal/hiphil perfects describing completed actions. The particle ki (H3588A), glossed here as "for," introduces this clause as the causal ground for Aaron's commanded haste — the wrath (qetzef, H7110A) and the plague (nagef, H5063) are presented as already-occurring realities "from before" (mi-li-fnei, built on H6440L) Yehovah (Yehovah, H3068G), rather than future threats.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders machtah ("censer") as τὸ πυρεῖον and omits any possessive, while the BSB and SBLIBRE add "your" censer, not explicit in the Hebrew text given. The LXX and Vulgate render khaper ("make atonement") with ἐξιλάσεται ("he shall make atonement," future) and roges ("that you may ask/pray"), respectively, differing in verbal aspect from the Hebrew piel imperative khaper. The Vulgate's plaga desaevit ("the plague rages/has raged fiercely") intensifies beyond the Hebrew hiphil perfect hechel ("it has begun"), which marks only the onset, not the fury, of the nagef ("plague").

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.