Numbers 32:5

Summary

The speakers (the tribes of Gad and Reuben) request that Moses grant them the land already conquered east of the Jordan as their permanent possession, explicitly asking not to be required to cross the Jordan river into the land west of it.

Key words

• matzanu ("we have found", H4672) — qal perfect, marking a completed state ("we have found favor") that grounds the conditional request.
• chen ("favor", H2580) — masculine singular noun, part of the idiom "to find favor in the eyes of," a conventional formula of respectful petition.
• yuttan ("let it be given", H5414G) — hophal (causative-passive) imperfect: the land is to be given by an unstated agent (Moses/YHWH), not taken; the passive voice removes the speakers as actors in the granting.
• ta'avirenu ("you make pass over", H5674A) — hiphil (causative) imperfect, 2nd person, with 1st-plural suffix -nu ("us"): "you would cause us to cross," directly naming Moses as the one who would compel the crossing.
• achuzzah ("a possession", H0272) — feminine singular noun denoting a permanent, held property, distinct from temporary occupation.

What the text says

The verse is built as a conditional clause introduced by 'im ("if", H0518A) followed by two requests. The first clause, matzanu chen be'eineikha ("we have found favor in your eyes"), uses the perfect verb matzanu to present the condition as already fulfilled, softening the request that follows. The main request uses the hophal verb yuttan, a passive causative form: the land is asked to be "given," with no explicit subject stated — grammatically avoiding naming who performs the giving, though context implies Moses or YHWH.

The second part of the request shifts to a direct negative command aimed at the addressee: 'al-ta'avirenu 'et-hayarden ("do not make us cross the Jordan"). Here the hiphil form ta'avirenu makes Moses (2nd person masculine singular) the causative agent of the action, with the suffix -nu identifying the speakers as the ones who would be caused to cross. The construct phrases la'avadeikha ("to your servants", H5650) and la'achuzzah ("to a possession", H0272) specify the purpose of the grant: permanent tenure for the servants, not merely temporary use.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the passive request with δοθήτω ("let it be given"), matching the hophal yuttan, and adds ἐν καὶ ("also/among") before the final clause, a phrase not reflected in the Hebrew text as given. The Vulgate expands the opening with precamurque ("and we pray"), an interpretive addition not present in the Hebrew wording, which simply reports vayyomru ("and they said").