Numbers 32:7

Summary

Numbers 32:7 records a rhetorical question addressed to the Gadites and Reubenites, asking why they are discouraging the rest of the Israelites from crossing into the land that Yehovah has given them. The verse frames their reluctance as an act with an effect on the collective "heart" of the people.

Key words

• te.nu.'u.n ("do you discourage", H5106) — hiphil imperfect, causative voice: the subject causes the heart to turn away or lose courage; the paragogic nun adds rhetorical emphasis to the question.
• lev ("heart of", H3820A) — masculine singular construct, opening a construct chain; in Hebrew idiom "heart" is the seat of will and resolve, not merely emotion.
• bene ("sons/people of", H1121G) — masculine plural construct, linking "heart" to "Israel" to form "the heart of the people of Israel," a single conceptual unit.
• 'a.Vor ("passing over", H5674A) — qal infinitive, used with the preposition min ("from") to express a negative purpose: "[preventing them] from crossing."
• na.Tan ("he has given", H5414G) — qal perfect, marking a completed, settled action: the land's grant by Yehovah is treated as already accomplished, not a future promise.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a single rhetorical question introduced by velammah ("and why"), followed by the hiphil verb teni'un with its emphatic paragogic nun. The direct object is the compound phrase 'et-lev bene Yisra'el ("the heart of the sons of Israel"), using the construct chain to present the nation's collective resolve as one entity being acted upon. The purpose clause is expressed economically: the preposition min prefixed to the infinitive 'avor ("from crossing") conveys "so as not to cross," without a separate negative particle. The relative clause 'asher-natan lahem Yehovah closes the verse, using the perfect natan to mark the land-grant as a completed divine act, contrasting with the incomplete human action of crossing.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders lev ("heart") as διανοίας ("minds/thoughts"), and translates the causative teni'un with διαστρέφετε ("you pervert/twist"), a stronger verb than the Hebrew's "discourage." The LXX also makes the purpose clause explicit with μὴ διαβῆναι ("not to cross"), spelling out what the Hebrew min + infinitive implies more compactly. The Vulgate's subvertitis mentes ("you overturn the minds") parallels the LXX's shift from "heart" to "mind," and adds ne transire audeant ("so that they might not dare to cross"), introducing the notion of "daring" not present in the Hebrew text. The Vulgate also uses locum ("place") rather than a direct equivalent of 'eretz ("land"), a lexical variation from the Hebrew noun.