Numbers 20:29

Summary

The verse reports that the whole congregation perceived that Aaron had died, and that the entire house of Israel wept for him for a period of thirty days.

Key words

• va-yyir'u ("and they saw", H7200G) — qal narrative verb, third person masculine plural, opening the sequence with a perception verb rather than a simple statement of fact.
• kol-ha'edah ("all the congregation", H3605 + H9009 + H5712) — construct phrase "all of the congregation," a feminine singular collective noun functioning as the grammatical subject of a plural verb.
• gava' ("he had died", H1478) — qal perfect, marking completed action prior to the main narrative line, explaining the cause of what the congregation "saw."
• va-yyivku ("and they wept for", H1058) — qal narrative verb, third person masculine plural, the second main action of the verse, taking Aaron as direct object via 'et.
• kol beit Yisra'el ("all the house of Israel", H3605 + H1004M + H3478) — construct chain "all of the house of Israel," repeating the "all" (kol) structure used earlier for the congregation, now specifying the mourners.

What the text says

The verse is built as two coordinated narrative clauses joined by the conjunction va ("and", H9001), each introducing a wayyiqtol (narrative past) verb: first va-yyir'u ("and they saw"), then va-yyivku ("and they wept for"). The first clause has kol-ha'edah ("all the congregation") as its subject and a subordinate clause introduced by ki ("that", H3588A) reporting the content of what was perceived: gava' 'Aharon ("Aaron had died"), using the qal perfect gava' to mark this death as a completed event prior to, and causing, the congregation's perception.

The second clause shifts the described group slightly: the weeping is attributed to kol beit Yisra'el ("all the house of Israel") rather than repeating ha'edah ("the congregation"). Both phrases use the construct noun kol ("all/every", H3605) followed by a definite or proper noun, producing parallel "all of X" constructions — "all of the congregation" and "all of the house of Israel" — which the Hebrew text treats as equivalent designations for the same collective body of mourners. The object of weeping, Aaron, is marked twice: once through the proper name 'Aharon preceded by the direct object marker 'et (H0853, left untranslated), reinforcing that he is the specific and sole object of the mourning. The duration shelloshim yom ("thirty days", H7970 + H3117G) specifies the length of the mourning period as a fixed cardinal number of days.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew verb va-yyir'u ("and they saw") is rendered in the LXX as εἶδεν ("he/she saw"), a third-person singular form agreeing with the singular noun συναγωγή ("congregation"), whereas the Hebrew verb is plural despite its collective singular subject ha'edah. The LXX also renders gava' ("he had died") with ἀπελύθη ("was released/departed"), a different verbal image than the plain Hebrew verb "to die." The Vulgate text provided (Illo mortuo in montis supercilio, descendit cum Eleazaro) corresponds to material from a different verse (Numbers 20:28) and does not parallel Numbers 20:29 as given in the Hebrew, LXX, or modern translations.