Numbers 18:25

Summary

This verse is a short introductory formula stating that Yehovah spoke to Moses. It contains no content of the speech itself, only the narrative marker that a divine communication is about to follow.

Key words

• va ("and", H9001) — narrative vav prefixed to the verb, linking this statement to the preceding narrative sequence.
• y.da.Ber ("he spoke", H1696G) — piel (intensive) verb form, third person masculine singular, used narratively to introduce reported speech from Yehovah.
• Yah.weh ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the divine name, functioning here as the subject of the verb y.da.Ber.
• mo.Sheh ("Moses", H4872) — proper name, object of the preposition 'el- ("to", H0413), marking the recipient of the speech.
• Mor ("saying", H0559) — qal infinitive, attached to the preposition le. ("to", H9005), forming the standard formula that introduces direct discourse.

What the text says

The verse follows the common Biblical Hebrew pattern for introducing divine speech: subject + verb + prepositional phrase + infinitive of quotation. The clause opens with the narrative vav (va, H9001) attached to the verb y.da.Ber ("he spoke", H1696G), a piel form that in this construction functions as a simple narrative past tense rather than carrying strong intensive force lexically distinct from the qal — piel is the standard stem for this root in the meaning "to speak." The subject, Yah.weh (H3068G), follows the verb, which is typical verb-subject word order in Biblical Hebrew narrative clauses.

The phrase 'el- mo.Sheh ("to Moses", H0413 + H4872) identifies the recipient using the preposition 'el-, marking directional or relational "to." The final word, Mor (H0559), is a qal infinitive construct with the prefixed preposition le. (H9005), producing the fixed idiom le'mor, "saying" — a formulaic device that signals direct speech is about to be quoted. This entire five-word clause is a stock formula appearing frequently throughout the Pentateuch to mark the beginning of a divine instruction, and here it stands alone as the full verse, with the content of what Yehovah said appearing in the following verses.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew, LXX, and Vulgate all render this formula consistently: LXX uses ἐλάλησεν κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν λέγων ("the Lord spoke to Moses, saying"), and the Vulgate uses Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen, dicens ("And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying"). The BSB translation condenses the formula to "instructed," omitting the separate "saying" infinitive found in the Hebrew, LXX, and Vulgate, while the RV1909 and SBLIBRE preserve the fuller "habló... diciendo" structure matching the source languages.