Numbers 8:5

Summary

The verse is a short introductory formula stating that Yehovah spoke to Moses. It contains no independent content of its own but serves as the narrative frame introducing the divine instructions that follow in the passage.

Key words

• va-y'daBer ("and he spoke", H1696G) — piel narrative verb, third person masculine singular, marking the sequential onset of speech ("and then he spoke") with intensive verbal stem.
• Yehovah ("Yehovah", H3068G) — proper name functioning as the subject of the verb, identifying the speaker.
• 'el ("to", H0413) — preposition marking the addressee of the speech, here directing it toward Moses.
• Mosheh ("Moses", H4872) — proper name, masculine, functioning as the object of the preposition, i.e., the recipient of the speech.
• leMor ("saying", H0559) — qal infinitive construct, introducing the reported speech that follows; grammatically it frames the upcoming discourse as direct quotation.

What the text says

The clause follows a fixed formulaic structure common in narrative sections of the Pentateuch: verb + subject + prepositional phrase + infinitive of quotation. The verb y'daBer ("he spoke", H1696G) is in the piel stem, which in this verbal root regularly carries the basic meaning "to speak" without necessarily implying a heightened or repeated intensity beyond the standard usage of this stem for this root. The narrative vav attached to the verb (va, H9001) signals continuation of the story sequence, linking this verse to what precedes it in the text.

The subject Yehovah (H3068G) immediately follows the verb, a common word order in Biblical Hebrew for narrative main clauses (verb-subject). The prepositional phrase 'el-Mosheh ("to Moses", H0413 + H4872) identifies the addressee. The final word, the infinitive leMor ("saying", H0559), functions here syntactically as a marker that opens direct discourse — it does not carry independent semantic weight beyond signaling that quoted speech follows.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the verse with the participle λέγων ("saying") corresponding to the Hebrew infinitive leMor (H0559), a common Greek equivalent for this Hebrew discourse-opening construction. The Vulgate uses dicens ("saying"), similarly a participle, matching the same function. No substantive divergence in content is present among the Hebrew, LXX, and Vulgate for this verse; differences are limited to normal grammatical adaptation between languages (infinitive vs. participle forms for introducing direct speech).