Numbers 34:14

Summary

Numbers 34:14 explains that the tribes of Reuben and Gad, along with half the tribe of Manasseh, had already received their territorial inheritance according to their ancestral houses, giving the reason (marked by ki) for how the remaining land is to be divided among the other tribes.

Key words

• ki ("for", H3588A) — subordinating particle opening a causal clause that grounds the instruction in a prior fact.
• laqechu ("they have taken", H3947H) — qal perfect, 3rd person plural, occurring twice; the perfect aspect marks completed action, showing these tribes' inheritance was already settled.
• matteh ("tribe of", H4294H) — masculine singular construct, used three times to introduce each tribal group.
• leveit 'avotam ("to the house of their fathers", H1004M + H0001G + H9028) — construct chain with pronominal suffix, denoting distribution organized by ancestral clan unit.
• nachalatam ("their inheritance", H5159 + H9028) — feminine singular construct with suffix, naming the allotted territorial possession; it appears only with the second occurrence of laqechu.

What the text says

The verse forms a causal clause (introduced by ki) built on two parallel statements sharing the verb laqechu ("they have taken") in the qal perfect. In the first statement, the subjects are matteh benei ha-Re'uveni ("the tribe of the sons of the Reubenite") and u-matteh benei ha-Gadi ("and the tribe of the sons of the Gadite"), each followed by le-veit 'avotam ("to the house of their fathers"). The gentilic terms ha-Re'uveni and ha-Gadi are grammatically singular with the definite article, functioning as collective names for the peoples, even though combined with the plural construct benei ("sons of").

The second statement repeats the same verb laqechu, now with chatzi matteh Menasheh ("half the tribe of Manasseh") as subject, followed directly by the object nachalatam ("their inheritance"). The object noun appears only after this second verb; the first occurrence of laqechu has no separate object stated, so the grammar leaves it unclear whether nachalatam is meant to cover the earlier clause as well.

Differences between versions

The LXX uses two different Greek verbs for the repeated Hebrew laqechu: elaben ("received") for Reuben and Gad, and apelabon ("received in turn") for Manasseh, where the Hebrew repeats the identical verb both times. The LXX also places the phrase corresponding to le-veit 'avotam — kat' oikous patrion auton — only once, after both Reuben and Gad together, rather than repeating it for each tribe as in the Hebrew. The Vulgate excerpt given lists the three groups (tribus filiorum Ruben, tribus filiorum Gad, media... tribus Manasse) without a visible main verb within this fragment, indicating the sentence structure there continues beyond the portion supplied.