Numbers 33:56

Summary

The verse states a divine warning formulated as a symmetrical statement: what had been intended for "them" (the previous inhabitants of the land) will now be done to "you" (the Israelites) if the conditions set in the preceding verse are not met. The syntax uses two forms of the same root to link intention and execution.

Key words

• veHayah ("it will be", H1961) — sequential perfect with narrative vav; continues the logical/narrative chain from the prior verse, introducing a consequence.
• dimmiti ("I intended", H1819) — piel perfect, first person; the piel stem intensifies the sense of "planning" or "reckoning" as a completed act.
• la'asot ("to do", H6213A) — qal infinitive; paired with the following verb from the same root, creating a grammatical echo between "planning to do" and "doing."
• e'eseh ("I will do", H6213A) — qal imperfect, first person; same root as la'asot, but shifted to future/ongoing aspect, marking the shift from past intention to future action.
• lakhem ("to you", H9036 + H9005) — preposition with second-person plural suffix, mirroring lahem ("to them", H9038 + H9005) earlier in the verse; the suffix swap (-hem → -khem) is the grammatical pivot of the whole statement.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a tight parallel: dimmiti la'asot lahem ("I intended to do to them") is answered by e'eseh lakhem ("I will do to you"). Both verbs come from the same root, H6213A, appearing first as an infinitive (la'asot, "to do") and then as an imperfect (e'eseh, "I will do"). This repetition of the same root in two different grammatical forms creates a structural mirror that a translation using two different verbs ("planned" / "do") cannot fully preserve. The prepositional phrases lahem ("to them") and lakhem ("to you") differ only in their pronominal suffix, reinforcing the symmetry between the two groups referenced in the verse. The opening veHayah, a sequential perfect, ties this statement to what precedes it, functioning as the apodosis of a conditional construction begun earlier in the chapter.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (et quidquid illis cogitaveram facere, vobis faciam) closely mirrors the Hebrew's two-part structure, preserving both the "them/you" contrast and the planning/doing distinction. The LXX text as given (καὶ ἔσται καθότι διεγνώκειν ποιῆσαι, "and it will be, just as I had resolved to do") appears truncated in the provided data — it lacks an explicit rendering of "to them" and the final clause "I will do to you," which are present in both the Hebrew and the Vulgate.