Numbers 32:15

Summary

Moses warns the Reubenites and Gadites that if they turn back from following the LORD, he will again leave the people in the wilderness, and they themselves will bring about the destruction of the whole community.

Key words

• ki ("for/if", H3588A) — introduces the clause as a condition ("if"), even though the gloss given is "for"; most translations render it as conditional.
• teshuvun ("you will turn back", H7725I) — qal imperfect 2mp with paragogic nun (word 3), a form that adds emphasis to the ongoing/future action of turning away.
• yasaf ("he will repeat/add", H3254G) — qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular; the subject here is grammatically distinct from the "you" addressed earlier, marking a shift to a third party's action.
• lehanicho ("to leave/cause him to rest", H5117 + H9033) — hiphil (causative) infinitive with 3ms suffix; the causative stem frames the abandonment as a deliberate act, and the suffix "him/it" is grammatically ambiguous as to its referent.
• shichattem ("you will destroy", H7843) — piel (intensive) sequential perfect, 2mp; returns the address to "you" (the tribes), framing their turning-back as the cause of destruction.

What the text says

The verse is built as a conditional sentence: ki ("if") governs teshuvun ("you will turn back," 2mp, with emphatic paragogic nun), naming the addressees' potential action of turning "from after him" (me'acharav, H0310A with 3ms suffix — presumably referring to the LORD, based on the surrounding context). The consequence clause shifts grammatical subject: ve-yasaf ("and he will repeat," 3ms) introduces a third-person actor — distinct from the "you" being addressed — who "adds again" (od, H5750) the infinitive action lehanicho ("to leave him/it," hiphil causative with 3ms suffix) "in the wilderness" (ba-midbar, H4057B). The suffix on lehanicho is grammatically ambiguous: it could point back to "the people" not yet named, or to a generic object, since "this people" (ha'am ha-zeh, H5971A + H2088) is only stated explicitly in the final clause. The sentence closes returning to 2mp address: ve-shichattem ("and you will destroy," piel intensive) "all this people," making the addressees the grammatical agents of the destruction, syntactically parallel to their earlier act of turning back.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate resolves the ambiguous suffix on lehanicho by supplying an explicit object, "populum" ("he will abandon the people"), while the Hebrew suffix alone does not specify this. The RV1909 instead renders the suffix as "you" ("volverá... á dejaros," "he will leave you"), a different resolution of the same ambiguity. SBLIBRE paraphrases teshuvun me'acharav ("you turn back from after him") as "si se niegan a obedecerle" ("if you refuse to obey him"), shifting from a spatial/relational verb ("turn back from following") to one of direct obedience. The LXX text as given contains an irregular verb form (ἀνοεἰς) where a form corresponding to "destroy" would be expected to match shichattem.