Numbers 32:16
וַיִּגְּשׁוּ אֵלָיו וַיֹּאמְרוּ גִּדְרֹת צֹאן נִבְנֶה לְמִקְנֵנוּ פֹּה וְעָרִים לְטַפֵּֽנוּ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
Tap a word to see its entry
✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיִּגְּשׁ֤וּ אֵלָיו֙ וַ֣יֹּאמְר֔וּ גִּדְרֹ֥ת צֹ֛אן נִבְנֶ֥ה לְמִקְנֵ֖נוּ פֹּ֑ה וְעָרִ֖ים לְטַפֵּֽנוּ׃
καὶ προσῆλθον αὐτῷ καὶ ἔλεγον᾿Επαύλεις προβάτων οἰκοδομήσωμεν ὧδε τοῖς κτήνεσιν ἡμῶν καὶ πόλεις ταῖς ἀποσκευαῖς ἡμῶν,
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
At illi prope accedentes, dixerunt: Caulas ovium fabricabimus, et stabula jumentorum, parvulis quoque nostris urbes munitas:
Pero ellos se acercaron a Moisés y le explicaron: “Lo único que queremos es construir aquí unos corrales para nuestro ganado y unas ciudades fortificadas para nuestras familias.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Entonces ellos se llegaron á él y dijeron: Edificaremos aquí majadas para nuestro ganado, y ciudades para nuestros niños;
Then the Gadites and Reubenites approached Moses and said, “ We want to build sheepfolds here for our livestock and cities for our little ones.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The Reubenites and Gadites approach Moses and propose to build enclosures for their livestock and settlements for their dependents in the territory east of the Jordan. The verse presents their direct speech, outlining a two-part building plan tied to two groups: animals and children.
Key words
- va-yiggeshu ("and they drew near", H5066G) — qal narrative verb, third person plural, marking a new narrative beat: their approach to Moses.
- gidrot ("folds of", H1448) — feminine plural noun in construct state, meaning it must be joined to the following noun tzon to form "folds of sheep."
- tzon ("sheep/flock", H6629G) — common gender singular noun, functioning as the item enclosed, completing the construct chain begun by gidrot.
- nivneh ("we will build", H1129) — qal imperfect, first person plural, expressing an intended or future action ("we will build" or "let us build").
- tappenu ("our little ones", from tap, H2945, with suffix H9025) — masculine singular noun in construct with a possessive suffix, referring collectively to dependents/children, paired with le- ("for") to indicate purpose.
What the text says
The verse opens with two narrative-vav verbs, va-yiggeshu ("they drew near", H5066G) and va-yomeru ("they said", H0559), both qal forms marking sequential action: first the approach, then the speech. This chains the verse tightly to the preceding narrative context.
The direct speech itself centers on the verb nivneh ("we will build", H1129), a first-person plural imperfect that expresses the group's proposed or intended action. This single verb governs two objects introduced by the preposition le- ("for", H9005): "for miqnenu" ("our livestock", H4735 with H9025) and, after the connector ve- ("and", H9002), "for tappenu" ("our little ones", H2945 with H9025). The object of the first clause is expressed through a construct chain, gidrot tzon ("folds of sheep", H1448 + H6629G), literally "enclosures of flock," while the second object, arim ("cities", H5892B), is a plain plural noun without construct marking to tappenu, though the preposition le- still links them.
The adverb poh ("here", H6311) specifies location only for the first structure (the folds), not explicitly repeated for the cities, though the sentence structure implies both are built in the same location, the territory being requested.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders tappenu ("our little ones", H2945) as ταῖς ἀποσκευαῖς ἡμῶν ("our baggage/possessions"), a broader term than the Hebrew's specific reference to children. The Vulgate's parvulis...nostris ("our little ones") and urbes munitas ("fortified cities") stays closer to the Hebrew sense of children but adds the qualifier "fortified," which is not present in the Hebrew arim ("cities", H5892B) alone.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.