Numbers 33:50

Summary

The verse reports that Yehovah spoke to Moses, locating this speech act geographically: in the plains of Moab, by the Jordan, across from Jericho. It functions as an introductory formula preparing the reader for the divine speech that follows.

Key words

• yedaber ("he spoke", H1696G) — piel stem verb marking the narrative vav construction; the piel here carries the sense of formal, intensive speech (a proclamation) rather than casual talk, and the vav-consecutive form signals sequential narrative action ("and then he spoke").
• Yehovah ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the divine proper name functioning as grammatical subject of yedaber.
• 'Arvot ("plains of", H6160I) — construct-state noun forming a bound phrase with Mo'av, specifying the geographic setting.
• Yarden ("Jordan", H3383) — proper name governed by the preposition 'al ("at", H5921A), placing the location relative to the river.
• le'mor ("saying", H0559) — qal infinitive construct with prefixed le-, the standard formula introducing reported speech; it signals that direct discourse follows.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence follows a fixed narrative pattern common in the Torah: verb (yedaber) + subject (Yehovah) + preposition + addressee ('el-Mosheh) + locative phrase + le'mor. The locative phrase itself is built through a chain of prepositions and construct nouns: be-'Arvot Mo'av ("in the plains of Moab") situates the general region, then 'al-Yarden Yericho ("at the Jordan of Jericho") narrows the location further by relating it to the river and the city of Jericho. This layered geographic specification — region, then river, then city — is typical of the itinerary notices in Numbers 33, anchoring the speech event precisely in space before its content is given.

The infinitive le'mor at the end functions purely as a discourse marker, opening the quotation that follows in subsequent verses; it does not carry independent semantic weight beyond signaling "here is what was said."

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) renders only "Ubi locutus est Dominus ad Moysen" ("Where the Lord spoke to Moses"), omitting the specific place names 'Arvot Mo'av and Yarden Yericho found in the Hebrew and in the LXX. The LXX (Καὶ ἐλάλησεν κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν λέγων ἐπὶ δυσμῶν Μωὰβ παρὰ τὸν Ἰορδάνην κατὰ Ἰερειχώ) places the infinitive λέγων ("saying") immediately after Μωυσῆν, before the geographic phrase, differing from the Hebrew word order where le'mor comes last, after all locative information.