Numbers 32:24

Summary

The verse records an imperative command instructing the addressees to build cities for their dependents and enclosures for their livestock, followed by a directive to carry out whatever has come from their own mouths — that is, to fulfill a prior verbal commitment.

Key words

• benu ("build", H1129) — qal imperative, masculine plural: a direct command addressed to a group.
• tappekhem ("your little ones", H2945) — masculine singular construct noun with 2nd person plural suffix, literally "little-one(s) of you all," referring collectively to dependents.
• tzona'akhem ("your sheep/flock", H6792) — masculine singular construct noun with suffix, naming the livestock for which enclosures are built.
• hai-yotze' ("the one going out", H3318O) — qal participle with definite article, functioning as a substantive: "that which goes out" or "that which has gone out."
• ta'asu ("you will do", H6213A) — qal imperfect, masculine plural: expresses a future or ongoing obligation, "you shall do."

What the text says

The verse divides into two commands. The first, benu lakhem 'arim le-tappekhem u-gederot le-tzona'akhem ("build for yourselves cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep"), uses the imperative benu ("build", H1129) followed by two parallel construct phrases marking purpose: cities are "for" (le-, H9005) the dependents (tappekhem), and folds (gederot, H1448) are "for" the flock (tzona'akhem). Both target nouns are singular in form but function collectively.

The second clause, ve-ha-yotze' mi-pikhem ta'asu ("and the thing going out from your mouth you shall do"), shifts from imperative to imperfect verb form (ta'asu, H6213A). The subject is a participial phrase, ha-yotze' mi-pikhem ("the one/thing going out from your mouth"), built on the participle yotze' (H3318O) with the article, referring to something previously spoken — a statement, promise, or vow that emerged from the mouth (pi-, H6310G, construct "mouth of"). The imperfect ta'asu here carries an obligative or commanding sense ("you shall do"), rather than simple future prediction, since it follows directly after an imperative and completes its instruction.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the participial phrase ha-yotze' mi-pikhem as to ekporeuomenon ek tou stomatos hymōn ("the thing going out from your mouth"), closely matching the Hebrew participle structure. The Vulgate instead interprets this phrase more explicitly as quod polliciti estis ("what you have promised"), naming the act of promising rather than preserving the image of something "going out from the mouth." The English and Spanish versions given (BSB, RV1909, SBLIBRE) follow the Vulgate's interpretive sense with "promised" or "ha salido de vuestra boca" (closer to the Hebrew idiom in RV1909).