Numbers 17:4

Summary

The verse instructs the placement of the staffs inside the Tent of Meeting, positioned before the Testimony, at the specific location described as where the speaker meets with the people.

Key words

• hinachTam ("you will deposit them", H5117) — hiphil (causative) sequential perfect, meaning to cause the staffs to be set down; continues the narrative sequence begun in the preceding verses.
• 'Ohel mo'ed ("tent of meeting", H0168G/H4150I) — construct chain, "tent of" + "meeting," the standard designation of the sacred structure.
• ha'Edut ("the testimony", H5715) — definite feminine singular noun, used here as a fixed spatial marker ("before the testimony").
• iva'ed ("I meet", H3259) — niphal imperfect, built on the same root (י־ע־ד) as mo'ed; the niphal stem gives a reflexive/reciprocal sense, "I present myself to meet" rather than a plain active "I meet."
• Shammah ("there", H8033G + directional he H9011) — adverb with directional suffix, reinforcing the spatial focus, closer to "to that very place."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence chains prepositional phrases to specify location: be-'Ohel mo'ed ("in the tent of meeting"), li-fnei ha'edut ("before the testimony"), followed by the relative clause asher iva'ed lakhem shammah ("where I meet with you there"). The verb iva'ed (H3259) shares its root with mo'ed (H4150I, "meeting") used earlier for the tent's name. The text thus links the tent's designation to the action performed inside it through shared root morphology — a connection visible in Hebrew but not necessarily reproduced by a translation using unrelated vocabulary for "meeting" and "tent."

The niphal stem of iva'ed indicates that the subject undergoes or enters into the action of meeting rather than performing it as a straightforward transitive act; grammatical descriptions of this stem often note a reflexive or reciprocal quality, "I am met" or "I present myself for meeting." The directional he attached to Shammah ("there") intensifies the spatial reference beyond a simple adverb, functioning close to "toward that place."

Differences between versions

The LXX uses μαρτυρίου ("testimony") twice — "in the tent of the testimony, in front of the testimony" — where the Hebrew has two distinct terms, 'Ohel mo'ed ("tent of meeting") and ha'edut ("the testimony"). For the final clause, the LXX renders the verb as γνωσθήσομαί ("I will be known"), and the Vulgate uses loquar ("I will speak"), both diverging from the Hebrew iva'ed ("I meet", H3259). The BSB and SBLIBRE translations use "meet"/"reúno" (encounter), which preserves the semantic link to mo'ed present in the Hebrew root play, a connection the LXX and Vulgate readings do not carry.