Numbers 9:11

בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי בְּאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר יוֹם בֵּין הָעַרְבַּיִם יַעֲשׂוּ אֹתוֹ עַל־מַצּוֹת וּמְרֹרִים יֹאכְלֻֽהוּ׃

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The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

בַּחֹ֨דֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִ֜י בְּאַרְבָּעָ֨ה עָשָׂ֥ר י֛וֹם בֵּ֥ין הָעַרְבַּ֖יִם יַעֲשׂ֣וּ אֹת֑וֹ עַל־מַצּ֥וֹת וּמְרֹרִ֖ים יֹאכְלֻֽהוּ׃

Greek (Septuagint)

ἐν τῷ μηνὶ τῷ δευτέρῳ ἐν τῇ τεσσαρε ἡμέρᾳ τὸ πρὸς ἑσπέραν ποιήσουσιν αὐτό. ἐπ’ ἀζύμων καὶ πικρ φάγονται αὐτό,

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

in mense secundo, quartadecima die mensis ad vesperam. Cum azymis et lactucis agrestibus comedent illud:

Spanish

En el segundo mes, el día catorce por la tarde, la celebrarán; la comerán con panes sin levadura y hierbas amargas.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

En el mes segundo, á los catorce días del mes, entre las dos tardes, la harán: con cenceñas y hierbas amargas la comerán;

English

Such people are to observe it at twilight on the fourteenth day of the second month. They are to eat the lamb, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs;

What the text says

Summary

Numbers 9:11 specifies the alternate date for observing the Passover offering: the fourteenth day of the second chodesh ("month", H2320G), at the time called "between the evenings." The verse states that the offering is to be eaten together with matzot ("unleavened breads", H4682) and merorim ("bitter herbs", H4844).

Key words

  • Cho.desh ("month", H2320G) — masculine singular noun, here modified by the article and the ordinal she.Ni ("second", H8145), fixing the calendar month for this alternate observance.
  • bein ("between", H0996G) — construct form meaning "between of," governing the following phrase ha'Ar.ba.yim to form the fixed expression "between the evenings," a twilight time reference.
  • 'Ar.ba.yim ("evenings", H6153) — masculine dual noun, marking a paired/double form of "evening," which together with bein produces the idiomatic time designation.
  • ya.'a.Su ("they will observe/do", H6213A) — qal imperfect, third person masculine plural, expressing an action projected into the future or habitually repeated, referring to those performing the rite.
  • yo.khe.Lu ("they will eat", H0398) — qal imperfect, third person masculine plural, parallel in form to ya'asu, describing the consumption that follows the offering's preparation.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built from two clauses sharing the same subject (unstated, third masculine plural "they") and each ending in a pronominal suffix -o/-hu ("it/him", H9033) referring back to the offering. The first clause fixes the time: ba-chodesh ha-sheni be-arba'ah 'asar yom bein ha-'arbayim ("in the second month, on the fourteenth day, between the evenings"), followed by ya'asu oto ("they will observe/do it"). The second clause, 'al-matzot u-merorim yo'kheluhu ("with unleavened breads and bitter herbs they will eat it"), describes how the offering is consumed. The phrase bein ha'arbayim, built from the construct bein ("between of") and the dual noun 'arbayim ("evenings"), uses the dual form to designate the specific twilight interval, a temporal marker not expressed as a dual in translations that simply render "twilight" or "evening."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders bein ha'arbayim as πρὸς ἑσπέραν ("toward evening"), collapsing the dual "between the evenings" into a single reference point. The Vulgate similarly gives "ad vesperam" ("toward evening"). Modern versions such as BSB and RV1909 render it as "at twilight" or "entre las dos tardes" (literally "between the two afternoons/evenings"), the latter preserving more of the dual structure found in the Hebrew 'arbayim.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.