Numbers 3:16

Summary

Numbers 3:16 states that Moses enrolled the Levites according to a command received directly from Yehovah, and that this action conformed exactly to what had been previously commanded. The verse closes the counting narrative by grounding it in divine authority rather than Moses' own initiative.

Key words

• va-yifqod ("and he enrolled", H6485A) — qal verb with narrative vav, marking this as the next sequential event in the story; the verb itself carries the sense of counting/mustering, not mere listing.
• 'otam ("them", H0853 + H9038) — the direct object marker fused with a third-person masculine plural suffix, pointing back to the Levites counted in the preceding verses.
• pi ("mouth of", H6310I) — construct noun literally meaning "mouth," used idiomatically with 'al ("on/according to", H5921A) to form the expression "by the mouth of," i.e., by direct utterance.
• ka'asher ("just as", H9004 + H0834D) — a compound of preposition and relative particle introducing a comparison clause: the action matches a prior instruction.
• tzuvah ("he had been commanded", H6680) — pual (intensive passive) perfect verb; the passive voice omits the agent grammatically, though context identifies Yehovah as the source of the command.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence has a simple main clause — va-yifqod 'otam Mosheh ("and Moses enrolled them") — followed by two modifying phrases that both point to divine authorization. The first, 'al pi Yehovah ("on the mouth of Yehovah"), is an idiom meaning "according to the spoken word of Yehovah," emphasizing that the command was verbal and direct. The second, ka'asher tzuvah ("as he had been commanded"), uses a pual perfect, a passive intensive form: the grammatical subject is unstated, so the text does not repeat "Moses" as the one commanded but leaves the passive construction to imply it through context.

The repetition of the idea of command — first through the idiom "mouth of Yehovah," then through the passive verb "was commanded" — creates a doubled emphasis within a single verse. The Hebrew does not specify who reported the command to Moses; the pual form simply states that the commanding happened, without naming an intermediary agent.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Septuagint) renders the subject as "Moses and Aaron" (Μωυσῆς καὶ Ἀαρών), adding Aaron's name where the Hebrew text names only Mosheh ("Moses", H4872) as the one who enrolled them. The LXX also renders 'al pi Yehovah as "διὰ φωνῆς Κυρίου" ("through the voice of the Lord"), using "voice" rather than the Hebrew idiom "mouth." The Vulgate (VULCLEM) gives a shortened rendering, "Numeravit Moyses, ut praeceperat Dominus" ("Moses numbered, as the Lord had commanded"), omitting the idiomatic "mouth of Yehovah" phrase found in the Hebrew and compressing the sentence into a single clause.