Numbers 17:1

Summary

This verse is the narrative formula that introduces a divine speech: Yehovah speaks to Moses. It contains no content of the message itself, only the introductory frame marking a new communication.

Key words

• va ("and", H9001) — the narrative vav prefixed to the verb, which in Biblical Hebrew signals sequential action within the story, linking this speech to the preceding narrative.
• y'daBer ("he spoke", H1696G) — piel stem, an intensive verbal form; here it functions as the standard verb for formal or authoritative speech, not casual talk.
• Yehovah ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the proper name of the deity, functioning as the grammatical subject of the verb.
• Mosheh ("Moses", H4872) — proper name, object of the preposition 'el ("to", H0413), marking the recipient of the speech.
• leMor ("saying", H0559) — qal infinitive construct, prefixed with le ("to", H9005); this construction conventionally introduces the reported speech that follows, functioning almost as a colon in English.

What the text says

The Hebrew clause follows the standard verb-subject-object word order typical of narrative prose introduced by the vav: va-y'daBer ("and he spoke") + Yehovah (subject) + 'el-Mosheh ("to Moses") + leMor ("saying"). This is a fixed formula that recurs throughout the Pentateuch to open divine instructions. The piel form of daBer ("to speak", H1696G) is the verb regularly used for this formula, distinct from lighter verbs of speech; its intensive stem does not necessarily imply emotional intensity here but is simply the conventional verb for formal address. The infinitive leMor ("saying") has no independent subject — it functions syntactically to introduce the direct discourse that would follow this verse, meaning the sentence as given is grammatically incomplete without the content of the speech, which appears afterward in the chapter.

Differences between versions

The Latin Vulgate (Et locutus est Dominus ad Moysen, dicens) and the Spanish RV1909 and SBLIBRE follow the Hebrew word order and formula closely, each preserving the sequence "spoke — to Moses — saying." The English BSB ("And the LORD said to Moses") condenses the construction, using "said" for y'daBer and omitting a separate rendering of leMor ("saying"), since English does not require the infinitive marker to introduce quoted speech. The LXX text supplied here contains only the chapter heading "XVII" without the verse text itself, so no comparison with the Greek wording can be made from the given data.