Numbers 34:13

Summary

Moses gives the Israelites instructions concerning the land they will inherit by lot, specifying that Yehovah had already commanded that this land be allotted to nine and a half of the tribes. The verse frames a human command (Moses to Israel) that transmits a prior divine command (Yehovah to Moses) about the same subject.

Key words

• yetzav ("he commanded", H6680) — piel narrative form (wayyiqtol); marks Moses' act of commanding as the main verb opening the verse.
• tit'nachalu ("you will inherit", H5157) — hithpael imperfect, second person plural; the reflexive/reciprocal stem frames the action as the people taking possession for/among themselves, not merely receiving passively.
• goral ("lot", H1486) — masculine singular noun governed by the preposition be ("by"), indicating the method of land division.
• tzivvah ("he has commanded", H6680) — same root as yetzav but in the perfect (completed) aspect; marks Yehovah's command as prior and already finished, contrasting with Moses' present, ongoing command to the people.
• chatzi ha-matteh ("the half of the tribe", H2677 + H4294) — construct chain with definite article; refers to a tribe split into two portions without naming it in the Hebrew text.

What the text says

The verse opens with a narrative vav-chain: "and he commanded" (yetzav), establishing Moses as the one issuing instruction to bene Yisra'el ("the sons/people of Israel", H1121G/H3478). The content of the command is introduced by le'mor ("saying", H0559), a common formula preceding direct speech. Within that speech, the demonstrative zot ("this", H2063) plus the definite noun ha'aretz ("the land", H0776G) sets up an identification: "this is the land." The relative clause asher tit'nachalu otah be-goral uses the hithpael verb tit'nachalu to describe the tribes' allotment process — the reflexive stem suggests the tribes actively receiving/dividing the inheritance among themselves, done "by lot" (be-goral).

A second relative clause, introduced again by asher ("which", H0834A), shifts the temporal frame: tzivvah Yehovah uses the perfect aspect of the same root (tzavah, H6680) that opened the verse, but now describing a completed prior act — Yehovah's command — as opposed to Moses' present narrative command. This creates a structural echo: Moses commands now what Yehovah commanded before. The purpose clause latet ("to give", infinitive) specifies the recipients: tish'at ha-mattot ("nine of the tribes", construct form) va-chatzi ha-matteh ("and the half of the tribe"), the Hebrew leaving the identity of that half-tribe unstated within this verse.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the second command as given "τῷ Μωυσῇ" ("to Moses"), making explicit that Yehovah's command was directed at Moses — a detail not present as a separate phrase in the Hebrew clause structure, where the recipient of tzivvah Yehovah is implicit. The LXX also specifies "φυλῆς Μανασσή" ("tribe of Manasseh") for the half-tribe, naming it explicitly, where the Hebrew text at this point only reads chatzi ha-matteh ("the half of the tribe") without naming which tribe. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew more closely in leaving the half-tribe unnamed, using "dimidiæ tribui" ("to the half tribe").