Numbers 4:1

Summary

Numbers 4:1 opens a new divine speech: Yehovah addresses both Moses and Aaron together, introducing the instructions that follow with the standard formula for reported speech.

Key words

• va-y'daBer ("and he spoke", H1696G) — piel verb with narrative vav, marking a new sequential unit in the story and using the intensive (piel) stem for "speaking" as an act of authoritative communication.
• Yehovah ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the proper divine name, functioning as the subject of the verb.
• 'el- ("to", H0413) — preposition repeated twice (before Mosheh and before 'Aharon), marking each addressee separately.
• 'Aharon ("Aaron", H0175) — proper name, second addressee, joined to Moses by the conjunction ve- ("and", H9002).
• leMor ("saying", H0559) — qal infinitive construct, the standard formula introducing direct speech that follows.

What the text says

The verse follows the basic Hebrew narrative pattern: verb–subject–object, opened by the narrative vav attached to y'daBer ("and he spoke", H1696G). This vav-consecutive construction signals continuation from a prior narrative unit, situating this speech as the next event in sequence rather than an isolated statement. The verb is in the piel stem, commonly used for the act of verbal communication, with Yehovah as its grammatical subject placed immediately after.

The preposition 'el- ("to", H0413) is repeated before each recipient — first Mosheh ("Moses", H4872), then, joined by ve- ("and", H9002), 'Aharon ("Aaron", H0175). This repetition of the preposition, rather than a single 'el- governing both names conjointly, gives each addressee syntactic distinctness, even though they receive the message jointly in a single speech-event.

The clause closes with leMor ("saying", H0559), a qal infinitive construct built on the preposition le- ("to", H9005), which functions in Biblical Hebrew as a formulaic marker introducing direct discourse — comparable to placing a colon before a quotation in English. This infinitive does not carry independent tense; it signals that the words to follow are the content of what was spoken.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Ἐλάλησεν Κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν καὶ Ἀαρὼν λέγων) and the Vulgate (Locutusque est Dominus ad Moysen et Aaron, dicens) both render the two Hebrew occurrences of 'el- ("to", H0413) with a single preposition (πρὸς / ad) governing both names jointly, rather than repeating the preposition for each name as the Hebrew does. This slightly reduces the distinct address to each figure that the Hebrew's doubled preposition preserves, though both versions retain the joint recipients and the concluding participle of speech (λέγων / dicens) corresponding to leMor ("saying", H0559).