Numbers 25:6
וְהִנֵּה אִישׁ מִבְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בָּא וַיַּקְרֵב אֶל־אֶחָיו אֶת־הַמִּדְיָנִית לְעֵינֵי מֹשֶׁה וּלְעֵינֵי כָּל־עֲדַת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל וְהֵמָּה בֹכִים פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵֽד׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְהִנֵּ֡ה אִישׁ֩ מִבְּנֵ֨י יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל בָּ֗א וַיַּקְרֵ֤ב אֶל־אֶחָיו֙ אֶת־הַמִּדְיָנִ֔ית לְעֵינֵ֣י מֹשֶׁ֔ה וּלְעֵינֵ֖י כָּל־עֲדַ֣ת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וְהֵ֣מָּה בֹכִ֔ים פֶּ֖תַח אֹ֥הֶל מוֹעֵֽד׃
καὶ ἰδοὺ ἄνθρωπος τῶν υἱῶν ᾿Ισραὴλ ἐλθὼν προσήγαγεν τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὴν Μαδιανεῖτιν ἐναντίον Μωυσῆ καὶ ἔναντι πάσης συναγωγῆς υἱῶν ᾿Ισραήλ, αὐτοὶ δὲ ἔκλαιον παρὰ τὴν θύραν τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Et ecce unus de filiis Israël intravit coram fratribus suis ad scortum Madianitidem, vidente Moyse, et omni turba filiorum Israël, qui flebant ante fores tabernaculi.
En ese momento, un hombre de Israel llegó al campamento trayendo a una mujer madianita para presentarla a sus familiares. Lo hizo a la vista de Moisés y de toda la comunidad israelita, mientras ellos lloraban a la entrada de la Tienda del Encuentro.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y he aquí un varón de los hijos de Israel vino y trajo una Madianita á sus hermanos, á ojos de Moisés y de toda la congregación de los hijos de Israel, llorando ellos á la puerta del tabernáculo del testimonio.
Just then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and the whole congregation of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse describes an Israelite man who brought a Midianite woman before his brothers, visible to Moses and the entire congregation, while they were weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
Key words
- va-yaqrev ("he brought near", H7126) — hiphil narrative form, causative: the subject causes the woman to approach/draw near to the brothers, not a simple act of leading.
- 'e.chav ("his brothers", H0251) — masculine plural construct with 3ms suffix; the destination of the action is a group ("brothers"), not a single individual.
- ha-Midyanit ("the Midianite [woman]", H4084) — gentilic adjective, feminine singular, functioning as the direct object marked by 'et; identifies her by ethnic origin only, with no added qualifier in the Hebrew.
- 'einei ("eyes of", H5869) — feminine dual construct, used twice (of Moses, then of the congregation); the idiom "to the eyes of" expresses that the act took place in full view.
- vochim ("weeping", H1058) — qal participle, masculine plural; describes an ongoing, continuous state (the people were in the act of weeping) rather than a completed event.
What the text says
The sentence opens with the presentative hinneh ("there!", H2009), which draws attention to the scene as it unfolds. The verb ba ("was coming", H0935) is a qal perfect, marking a completed arrival, followed by the narrative-chain verb va-yaqrev, a hiphil form that expresses causation: the man causes the Midianite woman to be brought near. The direction of this bringing is 'el-'echav ("to his brothers"), while the object of the causative verb — marked by the untranslated object marker 'et — is ha-Midyanit ("the Midianite woman").
The double use of the construct dual 'einei ("eyes of") — first for Moses, then for "all the congregation of the people of Israel" — is a Hebrew idiom meaning the act happened in their full sight, not privately. The final clause shifts to a participle, vochim ("weeping"), describing the ongoing emotional state of the people at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, contrasting the completed narrative actions (ba, va-yaqrev) with this continuous background scene.
Differences between versions
The LXX reverses the grammatical roles found in the Hebrew: it renders προσήγαγεν τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὴν Μαδιανεῖτιν — "he brought his brother (singular) to the Midianite woman" — where the Hebrew has the Midianite woman as the object brought "to his brothers" (plural, 'echav).
The Vulgate uses intravit ("he entered") instead of a causative "bringing" verb, and adds scortum ("harlot/prostitute") to describe the Midianite woman — a qualifier not present in the Hebrew, which uses only the gentilic ha-Midyanit ("the Midianite [woman]") without additional description.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.