Numbers 27:12

Summary

Yehovah commands Moses to ascend the mountain of Abarim and to look at the land that Yehovah has given to the sons of Israel. The verse consists of two divine imperatives following the report formula "and Yehovah said to Moses."

Key words

• va-yomer ("and he said", H0559) — narrative vav + qal verb marking the next event in the story sequence.
• aleh ("go up", H5927G) — qal imperative, a direct command addressed to Moses (masculine singular "you").
• har ha-Avarim ("mountain of Abarim", H2022G + H5682) — construct chain: har ("mountain of") governs the proper name Avarim, identifying a specific mountain by place-name.
• re'eh ("see", H7200G) — second qal imperative, parallel to aleh, both commands directed at Moses.
• natati ("I have given", H5414G) — qal perfect, first person singular, denoting a completed action: the giving of the land is presented as already accomplished at the moment of speech.

What the text says

The verse opens with the standard narrative formula va-yomer Yehovah el-Mosheh ("and Yehovah said to Moses"), which introduces direct speech. The divine speech itself contains two coordinated imperatives, aleh ("go up") and re'eh ("see"), joined by the conjunction u- ("and"). This pairing structures the command as a two-step action: first ascend, then observe. The object of ascent is specified through the construct phrase har ha-Avarim ha-zeh ("this mountain of Abarim"), where the demonstrative zeh ("this", H2088) narrows the mountain further, and the double definite article on ha-Avarim and ha-zeh marks both nouns as definite within the phrase.

The object of re'eh is ha-aretz ("the land"), followed by the direct object marker 'et, which is grammatically required in Hebrew but has no lexical translation. A relative clause introduced by asher ("which/that") qualifies the land: asher natati li-vnei Yisra'el ("which I have given to the sons of Israel"). The verb natati is in the qal perfect, presenting the giving as a completed act from the speaker's perspective, even though the land has not yet been physically possessed by Israel at this narrative point. The preposition li- attached to vnei ("to the sons of") marks the recipients of the land grant.

Differences between versions

The LXX specifies the mountain further by adding the name "Nabau" (τὸ ὄρος Ναβαύ), a detail not present in the Hebrew construct phrase har ha-Avarim ha-zeh. The LXX also names the land explicitly as "Chanaan" (γῆν Χανάαν), where the Hebrew simply has ha-aretz ("the land") without a proper name attached. Additionally, the LXX adds ἐν κατασχέσει ("in possession"), a phrase with no corresponding element in the Hebrew text. The Vulgate renders natati ("I have given," a completed perfect) as daturus sum ("I am about to give"), shifting the verbal aspect from completed to prospective action.