Numbers 27:2

Summary

The verse describes a group of women (implied by the feminine verb form) taking their stand before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders, and the whole congregation, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, in order to speak.

Key words

• ta'amodnah ("they took their stand", H5975G) — qal verb, feminine plural, narrative form; the feminine plural ending -nah marks the subject as a group of women, though no noun for "women" appears in this verse itself.
• lifnei (from paneh, "before/face of", H6440G) — masculine plural construct noun preceded by the preposition le; literally "to the face of," repeated three times to structure the list of those before whom the women stand.
• ha-kohen ("the priest", H3548) — masculine singular noun with definite article, identifying Eleazar by his office rather than only by name.
• petach ("entrance of", H6607) — masculine singular construct noun, linking to 'ohel mo'ed ("tent of meeting", H0168G/H4150I) to specify the exact location of the scene.
• le'mor ("saying", H0559) — qal infinitive construct with prefixed le-, functioning to introduce direct speech that follows in the next verse.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the narrative vav attached to ta'amodnah, continuing the story from the previous verse. The verb form is feminine plural, which grammatically signals that the subject consists of women, even though the noun identifying them (the daughters mentioned in Numbers 27:1) is not repeated here — the feminine plural verb alone carries that information forward from the prior sentence.

The sentence lists four parties before whom the women stand, each introduced by the construct noun lifnei ("before," literally "to the face of"): Moses, Eleazar ha-kohen ("the priest"), the nesi'im ("leaders/chiefs", H5387A), and kol ha-'edah ("all the congregation", H3605/H5712). The repetition of lifnei before each party creates a formal, list-like structure emphasizing that the women appeared before the full assembly of authority, not merely one individual.

The location is given through a construct chain: petach 'ohel mo'ed ("entrance of the tent of meeting"), placing the action at a specific, formally significant site. The verse ends with the infinitive le'mor ("saying"), a standard formula that introduces direct speech, which follows in the next verse.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the sequence of lifnei phrases with ἔναντι ("before/in the presence of") repeated four times, matching the Hebrew's repeated structure. The Vulgate compresses the four repetitions into a single construction ("coram Moyse et Eleazaro sacerdote et cunctis principibus populi"), using coram only once and adding "populi" ("of the people") to qualify "principibus," a specification not present in the Hebrew ha-nesi'im ("the leaders").