Numbers 6:24

Summary

Numbers 6:24 opens the priestly blessing formula, invoking two divine actions upon an addressee in the singular masculine: blessing and protective keeping. Both verbs are cast in a form that expresses wish or invocation rather than simple future statement.

Key words

• yevarekhekha ("may he bless you", H1288) — Piel imperfect of the root meaning "to bless," with the second-person masculine singular suffix -kha ("you") attached directly to the verb. The Piel stem intensifies the action compared to the simple (Qal) form.
• YHWH ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the divine proper name, functioning as the subject of both verbs in the verse.
• ve ("and", H9002) — the conjunction linking the two verbal clauses, here attached to the second verb as ve-.
• yishmerekha ("may he keep you", H8104H) — Qal (simple stem) imperfect of the root "to keep/guard," also carrying the -kha suffix ("you"). Unlike the first verb, this one is in the basic stem, not intensified.

What the text says

The verse consists of two parallel verbal clauses sharing a single subject, YHWH, which appears only once, positioned between the two verbs. The first clause, yevarekhekha YHWH ("may he bless you, Yehovah"), places the verb before its subject, a common word order in Biblical Hebrew for this kind of clause. The imperfect verbal form here does not indicate simple future tense but expresses a jussive or optative nuance — a wish, invocation, or blessing formula rather than a flat prediction. This is why translations render it as "may he bless" rather than "he will bless."

The second clause, ve-yishmerekha ("and may he keep you"), is joined by the conjunction ve- ("and") and continues the same subject, YHWH, without repeating the name. Grammatically, this second verb is in the Qal (basic) stem, while the first verb is in the Piel (intensive) stem. This stem distinction — intensive blessing versus simple keeping — is present in the Hebrew morphology but is not distinguishable in the English or Spanish translations provided, since both verbs are rendered with equivalent "may he..." constructions.

Both verbs carry the same second-person masculine singular object suffix, -kha ("you"), indicating that the blessing is addressed to a singular masculine recipient throughout.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (Benedicat tibi Dominus, et custodiat te) and the LXX (Εὐλογήσαι σε κύριος καὶ φυλάξαι) both preserve the two-verb structure and the optative sense found in the Hebrew jussive/imperfect. No substantive divergence in meaning or word order appears among the Hebrew, LXX, and Vulgate for this verse; the modern translations (RV1909, BSB, SBLIBRE) likewise render both clauses as wishes ("may...").