Numbers 3:1

Summary

Numbers 3:1 opens a new section by introducing the toledot ("descendants/genealogy") of Aaron and Moses, situating this account temporally at the moment Yehovah spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. The verse functions as a heading connecting the following genealogical material to the Sinai revelation narrative.

Key words

• 'Elleh ("these", H0428) — demonstrative particle opening the verse, pointing forward to what follows, a common formulaic opener for genealogical or narrative sections in the Hebrew Bible.
• tolDot ("[the] descendants of", H8435) — feminine plural noun in construct state, meaning it must be followed by a genitive; here it governs both 'ahaRon and moSheh, linking the term grammatically to both names as a compound construct chain.
• diBer ("[when] he spoke", H1696G) — Piel perfect verb, third person masculine singular. The Piel stem here carries intensive/factitive force ("to speak" as a deliberate act of communication), and the perfect aspect marks the action as completed, anchoring the temporal clause introduced by beYom.
• Yom ("[the] day of", H3117G) — masculine singular noun in construct state, forming with the following verbal clause a temporal expression equivalent to "on the day [that]..."
• Har ("[the] mountain of", H2022G) — masculine singular construct noun, requiring the following proper name siNai to complete the phrase "mountain of Sinai."

What the text says

The verse begins with the conjunction ve ("and", H9002) plus the demonstrative 'Elleh, a standard formula introducing a new textual unit while linking it to what precedes. The construct noun tolDot takes two coordinated genitives, 'ahaRon and moSheh, joined by the conjunction u ("and", H9002). Grammatically, the construct chain does not distinguish whether the descendants belong equally to both figures or primarily to one with the other included by association; the Hebrew simply places both names as genitive complements of the same construct noun.

The temporal clause beYom diBer Yehovah 'et-moSheh behar siNai uses the construct noun Yom followed directly by a finite verb (diBer), a construction where the construct noun functions almost adverbially, meaning "on the day [when] X spoke," without an intervening relative particle in the Hebrew. The preposition 'et here (H0854, "with") marks the accompanying party of the speech-act, indicating Yehovah spoke with Moses rather than merely to him, though the same construction elsewhere in Hebrew can carry either nuance depending on context.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders tolDot as γενέσεις ("generations/origins"), and the Vulgate as generationes, both preserving the genealogical sense. However, the BSB gives "the account of Aaron and Moses," using "account" rather than "descendants" or "generations," a broader English rendering. The Vulgate and LXX both render 'et-moSheh with a simple dative/prepositional construction ("ad Moysen," "τῷ Μωυσῇ"), corresponding to "to Moses," whereas the Hebrew 'et (H0854) more literally denotes "with," a nuance the Latin and Greek here do not preserve.