Numbers 36:13
אֵלֶּה הַמִּצְוֹת וְהַמִּשְׁפָּטִים אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה בְּיַד־מֹשֶׁה אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּעַֽרְבֹת מוֹאָב עַל יַרְדֵּן יְרֵחֽוֹ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
אֵ֣לֶּה הַמִּצְוֹ֞ת וְהַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֨ר צִוָּ֧ה יְהוָ֛ה בְּיַד־מֹשֶׁ֖ה אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל בְּעַֽרְבֹ֣ת מוֹאָ֔ב עַ֖ל יַרְדֵּ֥ן יְרֵחֽוֹ׃
αὗται αἱ ἐντολαὶ ὶ τὰ δικαιώματα κοὶ τὰ κρίματα ἃ ἐνετείλατο Κύριος ἐν χειρὶ Μωυσῆ Μωὰβ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰορδάνου κατὰ Ἰερειχώ.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Hæc sunt mandata atque judicia, quæ mandavit Dominus per manum Moysi ad filios Israël, in campestribus Moab supra Jordanem contra Jericho.
Estos son los mandamientos y las leyes que Yehová les dio a los israelitas por medio de Moisés, mientras estaban acampados en las llanuras de Moab, junto al río Jordán, frente a Jericó.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Estos son los mandamientos y los estatutos que mandó Jehová por mano de Moisés á los hijos de Israel en los campos de Moab, junto al Jordán de Jericó.
These are the commandments and ordinances that the LORD gave the Israelites through Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Numbers 36:13 is a closing formula that summarizes a set of legal material as "commandments" and "judgments" that Yehovah transmitted through Moses to the Israelites. It closes with a geographic notice locating the transmission at the plains of Moab, by the Jordan opposite Jericho.
Key words
- mitzvot ("commandments", H4687) — feminine plural noun, paired with the following term to form a two-part legal category.
- mishpatim ("judgments", H4941G) — masculine plural noun; joined to the previous word by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002), forming the compound phrase "the commandments and the judgments."
- tzivvah ("he commanded", H6680) — Piel perfect of the verb, third person masculine singular. The Piel stem carries an intensive/factitive nuance, and the perfect aspect marks the commanding as a completed act.
- yad ("hand of", H3027J) — construct singular noun in the phrase be-yad-Mosheh ("by the hand of Moses"), an idiom expressing agency or means of transmission.
- arvot ("plains of", H6160I) — construct plural form, part of the toponymic phrase "plains of Moab" that anchors the verse geographically.
What the text says
The verse opens with the demonstrative elleh ("these", H0428) followed by two nouns joined by ve: ha-mitzvot ("the commandments") and ha-mishpatim ("the judgments"). Both carry the definite article ha (H9009), marking them as a specific, already-known body of material rather than commandments in general. This pairing functions as a summary label for legal content that precedes the verse, closing off a unit of text.
The relative clause asher tzivvah Yehovah ("which Yehovah commanded") uses the Piel perfect tzivvah (H6680), the standard verb for divine legal commanding in this stem. The agent of transmission is marked by the idiom be-yad-Mosheh ("by the hand of Moses", H3027J), a common Biblical Hebrew expression indicating that Moses served as the means through which the commandments reached their recipients, bnei Yisra'el ("the people of Israel", H1121G construct + H3478).
The final clause locates this transmission spatially: be-arvot Mo'av ("in the plains of Moab"), al Yarden Yerecho ("at the Jordan of Jericho"), using construct chains (H6160I, H3405G) that link the place names into a single geographic designation.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders the Hebrew pair mitzvot / mishpatim as three terms — ἐντολαὶ ("commandments"), δικαιώματα ("ordinances/statutes"), and κρίματα ("judgments") — where the Hebrew text presents only two nouns joined by ve. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew's two-term structure with mandata atque judicia ("commandments and judgments"), matching the Hebrew pairing rather than the LXX's tripartite one.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.