Numbers 27:21

Summary

The verse describes the procedure by which Joshua will receive divine guidance: he is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will inquire on his behalf by the judgment of the Urim before Yehovah. The outcome of that inquiry — expressed as "his mouth" — will determine when Joshua and the whole congregation of Israel go out and come in.

Key words

• ya'amod ("he will stand", H5975G) — qal imperfect, describing Joshua's posture of subordination before the priest, an ongoing/future action.
• sha'al ("he will enquire", H7592) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative sequence begun by ya'amod; the subject is Eleazar, who performs the inquiry.
• mishpat ("the judgment of", H4941G) — masculine singular construct, linking to ha'urim ("the Urim", H0224) to form "the judgment of the Urim," the specific mechanism of divine consultation.
• pi ("mouth", H6310I) — masculine singular construct with pronominal suffix -o ("his"), repeated twice (al-pi... ve'al-pi..., "on his mouth... and on his mouth"), a construct phrase denoting authoritative pronouncement.
• yetze'u ("they will go out", H3318G) and yavo'u ("they will come", H0935G) — both qal imperfect plural, forming a merism ("going out and coming in") for the totality of the people's movements under this directive.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence structure places Eleazar's role first: ve-lifnei El'azar ha-kohen ya'amod ("and before Eleazar the priest he will stand"), establishing a spatial and hierarchical relationship before naming the action. The verb sha'al ("he will enquire", H7592) is sequential to ya'amod, indicating that the inquiry follows immediately upon Joshua's standing before the priest — a chain of narrative action typical of Biblical Hebrew's vav-consecutive syntax.

The phrase be-mishpat ha-urim ("by the judgment of the Urim") specifies the method: the construct chain ties mishpat ("judgment", H4941G) directly to ha-urim ("the Urim", H0224), a plural noun functioning as a technical term without further explanation in this verse. The double repetition of al-pi-v ("on his mouth", H6310I plus suffix) — once for going out, once for coming in — creates a chiastic-like emphasis: the pronouncement issuing from Eleazar (via the Urim before Yehovah) governs both directions of the people's movement, expressed by the paired imperfects yetze'u ("they will go out") and yavo'u ("they will come").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ha-urim ("the Urim", H0224) as τῶν δήλων ("the manifestations/signs"), an interpretive translation rather than a transliteration of the technical term. The Vulgate compresses the Urim mechanism entirely, stating simply that Eleazar "will consult the Lord" (consulet Dominum) without mentioning the Urim by name. The Vulgate also renders the double "mouth" construction (al-pi-v... ve'al-pi-v) as a single phrase, "ad verbum ejus" ("at his word"), collapsing the Hebrew's repeated structure into one clause.