Numbers 35:10

Summary

Numbers 35:10 opens a divine instruction to Moses, commanding him to speak to the Israelites and announce to them a condition: their crossing of the Jordan into the land of Canaan. The verse functions as an introductory formula setting up the legislation that follows (concerning the cities of refuge in the subsequent verses).

Key words

• daBer ("speak", H1696G) — piel imperative, giving the verse its force as a direct command to Moses.
• ve'amarTa ("and you will say", H0559) — qal sequential perfect linked by the narrative vav, continuing the chain of commands ("speak... and [then] say").
• ki ("if/that", H3588A) — a conditional or subordinating particle introducing the clause that follows, framing the crossing of the Jordan as the circumstance under which the coming instructions apply.
• 'overim ("about to pass over", H5674A) — qal participle, masculine plural, describing the Israelites as those in the process or imminent state of crossing, rather than using a finite past or future verb form.
• 'artzah ("[the] land of", H0776G) — feminine singular construct noun combined with the directional he (H9011), producing the sense "toward/into the land," marking the goal of the crossing.

What the text says

The verse is built as a two-part command: daBer ("speak") directed at Moses regarding benei Yisra'el ("the people of Israel", H1121G/H3478), followed by ve'amarTa ("and you will say"), which continues the instruction using a sequential perfect verb tied to the initial imperative by the narrative vav. This construction — imperative followed by sequential perfect — is a common pattern in legal or instructional speech, where the second verb carries forward the force of the first as part of a single directive.

The clause introduced by ki sets up the condition or circumstance for what follows: 'atem 'overim 'et-hayarden ("you are about to pass over the Jordan"). The use of the participle 'overim rather than a finite verb form conveys an event in progress or about to happen, not a simple future action — the crossing is presented as an ongoing or imminent state tied to the following instructions. The direct object marker 'et (H0853) marks hayarden ("the Jordan", H3383) as the object being crossed, and the destination is expressed by 'artzah kena'an ("into the land of Canaan"), where the directional he suffixed to 'artzah indicates motion toward that land.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders the participial clause as Quando transgressi fueritis ("when you shall have crossed"), using a future perfect construction, which shifts the Hebrew participle's sense of an ongoing/imminent action into a completed future condition. The LXX uses a present indicative, diabainete ("you are crossing"), which is closer to the durative nuance of the Hebrew participle 'overim. The Hebrew ki functions as a conditional/subordinating particle ("if/when"), and both the LXX (with a present verb) and the Vulgate (with a future perfect) resolve this ambiguity differently in their translation of the temporal relationship.