Numbers 26:1

Summary

The verse marks a narrative transition: after "the plague," Yehovah speaks to Moses and to Eleazar, described as son of Aaron the priest. The verse ends with the formulaic le'mor ("saying"), which introduces the divine speech that follows.

Key words

• va-yeHi ("and it was", H1961) — wayyiqtol (narrative past) form of "to be," opening a temporal clause that anchors the following events to a prior moment.
• 'acharei ("after", H0310A) — construct form meaning "after," linking the temporal clause to hammagephah.
• ha-mmagePHah ("the plague", H4046) — noun with definite article; the article marks the plague as an already-known referent rather than introducing a new one.
• va-yoMer ("and he said", H0559) — second wayyiqtol verb, the main narrative action of the verse, chained to the first by the same narrative vav (H9001).
• le-'Mor ("saying", H0559) — infinitive construct of the same root as va-yoMer, functioning as the standard formula that introduces reported divine speech.

What the text says

The verse is built on two chained wayyiqtol verbs — va-yeHi and va-yoMer — both carrying the narrative vav that signals sequential storytelling ("and then... and then..."). This double structure first sets a temporal frame (after the plague) and then moves to the main reported action (Yehovah spoke). The infinitive le-'Mor at the end does not add new content but formally opens the speech that follows in subsequent verses.

The phrase 'el Mosheh ve-'el 'El'azar ben-'Aharon ha-kohen names two addressees, Moses and Eleazar. Eleazar is identified through a construct chain, ben-'Aharon ("son of Aaron", H1121A + H0175), followed by ha-kohen ("the priest", H3548) with the definite article. In the Hebrew word order, ha-kohen stands adjacent to 'Aharon, so it can be read as qualifying either Aaron (Aaron the priest, the more commonly known title) or as continuing to describe Eleazar's own office, since Eleazar had also assumed priestly duties. The Hebrew syntax alone does not disambiguate which of the two names ha-kohen modifies.

Differences between versions

The LXX (SWETE) reads πρὸς Ἐλεαζὰρ τὸν ἱερέα ("to Eleazar the priest"), omitting the phrase corresponding to ben-'Aharon ("son of Aaron") found in the Hebrew — in this Greek text, "the priest" is attached directly to Eleazar's name without mention of Aaron. The Vulgate (Clementine) instead preserves "Eleazarum filium Aaron sacerdotem," keeping the son-of-Aaron phrase and placing "sacerdotem" ("priest") last, which in Latin word order reads more naturally as modifying Eleazar. The Hebrew hammagephah ("the plague") is rendered by the Vulgate periphrastically as "postquam noxiorum sanguis effusus est" ("after the blood of the guilty was poured out"), an interpretive expansion not present as such in the Hebrew noun itself.