Numbers 25:17

Summary

The verse gives a command concerning the Midianites, using an infinitive absolute to intensify the first action ("oppose" or "harass") followed by a sequential verb form commanding a second action ("strike them down"). Both actions are directed at the same group, marked twice by the object marker.

Key words

• tzaror ("to oppose", H6887D) — qal infinitive absolute; in Biblical Hebrew this form can function as an emphatic command, intensifying the verbal idea it expresses (here, hostility or harassment) even without a finite verb form attached.
• midyanim ("Midianites", H4084) — masculine plural gentilic noun with the definite article ha- ("the"), identifying the specific group targeted by the command.
• hikkitem ("you will strike down", H5221) — hiphil (causative stem) sequential perfect, second person masculine plural; the sequential perfect continues the narrative/command chain begun by the infinitive absolute, effectively functioning as "and you shall strike."
• 'et ("", H0853) — appears twice (once before ha-midyanim, once as 'otam), marking the direct object of each verbal action without adding independent meaning of its own.
• 'otam ("them", H0853 + H9038) — object marker with third person masculine plural suffix, referring back to the Midianites as the object of the striking.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with tzaror, an infinitive absolute in the qal (simple) stem. Infinitive absolutes in Biblical Hebrew often stand in for a finite command form, carrying imperatival force while emphasizing the action itself — here, opposition or hostility toward the group named immediately after via the object marker 'et and the definite plural ha-midyanim.

The clause then shifts with the narrative vav ("and") attached to hikkitem, a hiphil sequential perfect. This verb form is common in Biblical Hebrew narrative and command sequences: it continues the force of a preceding command form, so that hikkitem reads as a further directive — "and you shall strike" — rather than a simple past report. The causative hiphil stem indicates that the subject causes the striking down of the object, reinforced by the second 'et plus the third-person masculine plural suffix -am ("them"), which again points back to the Midianites.

The two-part structure — infinitive absolute followed by a sequential perfect — presents the command as a single continuous directive with two components: first hostility/opposition, then striking down, both aimed at the same object.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the Hebrew infinitive absolute tzaror with the imperative ἐχθραίνετε ("be hostile to"), and the sequential perfect hikkitem with the imperative πατάξατε ("strike"), presenting both actions as parallel direct commands. The Vulgate uses a different construction, Hostes vos sentiant Madianitæ ("let the Midianites feel you as enemies"), a subjunctive/passive phrasing not present in the Hebrew's infinitive absolute + finite verb structure, followed by the imperative percutite ("strike") for the second action.