Numbers 20:24

Summary

Yehovah announces that Aaron will be "gathered to his people" — a Hebrew idiom for dying — and will not enter the land given to Israel. The stated reason is rebellion against "my mouth" (God's command) at the waters of Meribah.

Key words

• ye'aSef ("he will be gathered", H0622) — niphal imperfect, passive/reflexive: Aaron is the one being gathered, not an active agent; a common idiom for joining deceased ancestors.
• 'amMai ("his people", H5971B) — masculine plural construct with 3rd person suffix ("his"), referring to Aaron's ancestral kin-group, i.e., those who died before him.
• yaVo' ("he will go/enter", H0935G) — qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular: grammatically singular, referring to Aaron alone in this clause.
• meriTem ("you rebelled", H4784) — qal perfect, 2nd person masculine plural: the subject of this verb shifts to plural, unlike the singular yavo' just before it.
• Pi ("my mouth", H6310I + H9020) — masculine singular construct with 1st person suffix, literally "mouth of me"; used idiomatically for a spoken command or order.

What the text says

The verse opens with a passive verb, ye'aSef ("he will be gathered", H0622), placed before its subject 'aharon ("Aaron", H0175) — a common Hebrew word order for statements of fate or divine decree. The clause that follows explains the consequence using lo' yaVo' ("he will not enter", H3808 + H0935G), a singular verb agreeing with Aaron alone: he personally will not enter ha'Aretz ("the land", H0776G) that was given, per naTati ("I have given", H5414G, a completed qal perfect), to venei Yisra'El ("the sons of Israel", H1121G + H3478).

The reason clause introduces a grammatical shift: 'al 'asher-meriTem ("because you [plural] rebelled", H4784) uses a 2nd person plural perfect verb, so the accusation of rebellion is addressed to more than one person, even though the immediately preceding statement about not entering the land was grammatically singular and applied to Aaron only. The object of the rebellion is 'et-Pi ("against my mouth", H6310I with 1st person suffix), an idiom in which "mouth" stands for a spoken instruction or command, located at mei meriVah ("the waters of Meribah", H4325G + H4809H).

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the "not entering" clause with a 2nd person plural verb (εἰσέλθητε, "you shall not enter"), where the Hebrew yaVo' is 3rd person singular referring to Aaron alone. The Vulgate's intrabit ("he will enter") preserves the Hebrew's singular subject. For "my mouth" (Pi, H6310I), the Vulgate keeps the idiom literally as ori meo ("against my mouth"), while the LXX renders it as me ("provoked me"), omitting the "mouth" image found in the Hebrew.