Numbers 27:8

Summary

This verse presents a legal instruction that Moses is to speak to the people of Israel: if a man dies without a son, his inheritance is to be transferred to his daughter. It establishes a rule of inheritance transfer contingent on the absence of a male heir.

Key words

• te.da.Ber ("you will speak", H1696G) — piel imperfect, second person masculine singular, indicating an intensive/emphatic form of "speaking," directed at Moses as the one who will communicate this law.
• ki ("if", H3588A) — a conditional particle introducing the hypothetical case ("if a man dies"), setting up the legal scenario.
• ya.Mut ("he will die", H4191) — qal imperfect, third person masculine singular, expressing a future/potential event within the conditional clause.
• 'ein ("not", H0369) — a construct noun functioning as a negator of existence, used with the preposition-plus-suffix lo ("to him") to express "there is no [son] to him."
• ha.'a.var.Tem ("you will make pass over", H5674A) — hiphil sequential perfect, second person masculine plural, a causative form meaning "you [plural] shall cause to pass," referring to the collective action of transferring the inheritance.

What the text says

The verse opens with a directive: te.da.Ber ("you will speak", H1696G) is addressed to Moses in the singular, instructing him to communicate this ruling 'el- be.Nei Yis.ra.'El ("to the sons of Israel", H0413/H1121G/H3478). The conditional clause begins with 'ish ki- ya.Mut ("a man if he will die", H0376G/H3588A/H4191), establishing the hypothetical scenario using the qal imperfect for a general or future case.

The negation of a male heir is expressed through the construction u.Ven 'ein l.o ("and a son there is not to him", H1121A/H0369/H9005+H9033), a common Hebrew existential-negation pattern using 'ein plus a prepositional phrase rather than a simple negative particle with a verb. This structure indicates possession or lack thereof without a finite verb "to be."

The consequence clause shifts to plural address: ha.'a.var.Tem ("you will make pass over", H5674A) is second person masculine plural, in contrast to the singular te.da.Ber at the start. This hiphil form is causative, literally "you shall cause [the inheritance] to cross over," and it is marked as a sequential perfect (vav plus perfect), continuing the narrative logically from the conditional clause. The object is nachalato ("his inheritance", H5159 with suffix), transferred le.vit.to ("to his daughter", H1323G with suffix).

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ha.'a.var.Tem ("you will make pass over") as περιθήσετε ("you will place around" or "bestow"), a different verb choice than the Hebrew's causative "cause to cross over," though both convey transfer of inheritance. The Vulgate uses transibit ("it will pass"), an intransitive verb with the inheritance itself as subject, differing grammatically from the Hebrew's transitive causative construction where the addressees are the ones causing the transfer.