Numbers 20:4

Summary

The verse records a rhetorical, accusatory question addressed to Moses (and Aaron) by the people: why have they been brought, along with the "assembly of Yehovah," into this wilderness, if the outcome is death for both people and livestock. The sentence combines an interrogative opening with a purpose clause expressing the feared result of the journey.

Key words

• Mah ("why?", H4100) — interrogative pronoun combined with the preposition la ("to"), forming "for what reason," opening the rhetorical question.
• havetem ("have you brought", H0935P) — hiphil (causative) perfect, 2nd person masculine plural: "you (pl.) caused to come." The plural form addresses more than one person.
• qehal ("assembly of", H6951) — masculine singular construct noun, linking directly to Yehovah to form "assembly of Yehovah."
• lamut ("to die", H4191) — qal infinitive with prefixed la, expressing purpose or result: "in order to die" / "so as to die."
• be'irenu ("our livestock", H1165+H9025) — construct noun with 1st person plural suffix, "our cattle/livestock," joined to anachnu ("we", H0587) by the conjunction ve.

What the text says

The clause opens with ve-lamah ("and why"), a compound of the conjunction ve (H9002) and the interrogative mah (H4100), which together frame the entire utterance as an indignant question rather than a simple request for information. The verb havetem (H0935P) is hiphil perfect plural, meaning the action of "bringing" is causative — the addressees did not merely travel but caused the "assembly of Yehovah" (qehal Yehovah, H6951 + H3068G) to be brought into the wilderness. The direct object marker 'et (H0853) confirms that "the assembly of Yehovah" is the object being brought, not the subject acting.

The second half of the verse states the purpose or expected outcome using lamut (H4191), a qal infinitive prefixed with la, literally "to die" — grammatically intransitive, describing the state that will befall the group, not an action performed upon them by another. The subjects of this dying are specified explicitly: anachnu ("we", H0587) and u-be'irenu ("and our livestock", H1165+H9025), joined by the conjunction u (H9002).

Differences between versions

The Hebrew verb havetem is 2nd person plural ("you all have brought"), matched by the Vulgate eduxistis (plural). The LXX instead uses anēgages, 2nd person singular ("you led up"), addressing a single individual rather than a group.

Additionally, the Hebrew lamut ("to die") is intransitive, describing what will happen to the people themselves. The LXX renders this with apokteinai hēmas ("to kill us"), a transitive infinitive implying an external agent causing death, which differs from the intransitive dying expressed in the Hebrew and reflected in the Vulgate's moriamur ("that we might die").