Numbers 27:19

Summary

The verse instructs that the designated successor be made to stand before Eleazar the priest and before the whole congregation, and that he be commissioned in their sight. The action is directed to a single addressee (Moses, per the wider context) who must perform both the presentation and the commissioning.

Key words

• ha'amadta ("you will make stand", H5975G) — hiphil (causative) sequential perfect: the subject does not simply "stand" but causes another to stand; the causative form marks that this is an act performed upon Joshua by Moses.
• lifnei ("before", H6440G) — construct plural noun literally "in the face(s) of," used prepositionally; it frames a formal, public positioning rather than mere physical presence.
• tzivitah ("you will commission", H6680) — piel (intensive) sequential perfect, from the same root used for divine commandments; the intensive stem marks a formal charge or mandate, not a casual instruction.
• 'eynei ("eyes", H5869H) — construct dual noun with 3rd person plural suffix (-hem, H9028), producing "to their eyes," i.e., "in their sight" — emphasizing visibility and public witness to the act.
• 'edah ("congregation", H5712) — feminine singular noun referring to the collective assembly, paired with kol ("all", H3605) to stress totality: "all the congregation."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence chains two sequential perfect verbs joined by the narrative vav (H9001/H9002): ha'amadta ("you will make stand") and tzivitah ("you will commission"). Both verbs continue a sequence begun earlier in the passage, indicating successive actions Moses must perform. The causative hiphil of the first verb distinguishes it from a simple "he will stand" — the grammatical subject actively positions another person (marked by the object marker 'oto, H0853, with suffix "him," H9033).

The repeated construct noun lifnei ("before") appears twice, first linking to Eleazar haKohen ("Eleazar the priest," H0499G/H3548) and then to kol ha'edah ("all the congregation," H3605/H5712), placing the priest and the assembly on structurally parallel footing as witnesses to the same act of standing.

The final clause uses the piel verb tzivitah ("you will commission") with the idiom le'eynei hem ("to their eyes," H5869H/H9028) — a Hebrew expression for public visibility, rendered literally as "eyes" but functioning idiomatically to mean "in their sight" or "in their presence."

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) shifts the grammatical subject: where the Hebrew and LXX have Moses as the one causing Joshua to stand ("you will make him stand" / "you will make him stand," καὶ στήσεις αὐτὸν), the Vulgate reads Qui stabit ("who will stand"), making Joshua the grammatical subject of standing rather than the object of Moses' causative action. The LXX also adds a second occurrence of ἐντελῇ ("you will command") — "καὶ ἐντελῇ περὶ αὐτοῦ" ("and you will command concerning him") — not present as a separate clause in the Hebrew, which has only one commissioning verb (tzivitah).