Numbers 9:3

Summary

The verse specifies the precise timing for observing Passover: the fourteenth day of "this month," at twilight, and instructs that it be carried out according to all its statutes and ordinances. The instruction to "observe it" is stated twice, framing the legal specifications between two occurrences of the same verb form.

Key words

• 'ar.ba.'Ah 'a.sar ("fourteen", H0702/H6240) — a compound cardinal number specifying the exact day of the month for the observance.
• bein ha'arbayim ("between the evenings", H0996G/H6153) — 'arbayim is a masculine dual noun ("evenings," a pair), giving the temporal phrase a two-part structure not conveyed by a single word like "evening" or "twilight."
• ta.'a.Su ("you will observe/do", H6213A) — qal imperfect, second person masculine plural, appearing twice in the verse, addressed to a collective "you" (the community), not an individual.
• mo.'a.D + suffix ("its appointed time", H4150G) — masculine singular construct with a possessive suffix, tying the timing directly back to the festival itself.
• chu.ko.Ta + suffix ("its statutes", H2708) — feminine plural construct with suffix, paired with mish.pa.Ta ("its judgments", H4941G, masculine plural construct with suffix), forming a two-term legal formula ("statutes... and judgments").

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with a stacked temporal phrase: day of the month ('arba'ah 'asar yom), the month itself (ba-chodesh ha-zeh, "in this month"), and the time of day (bein ha'arbayim, literally "between the two evenings," using the dual form of 'arbayim). This threefold temporal specification precedes the main verb, so the timing is established before the action is named.

The verb ta'asu ("you will observe/do") appears twice, each time followed by the object marker 'oto ("it") referring back to the Passover offering mentioned in the preceding verse. This repetition creates a bracket structure: the first ta'asu 'oto is followed by be-mo'ado ("at its appointed time"), and then a chain of two prepositional phrases ke-khol-chuqotav ("according to all its statutes") and u-khe-khol-mishpatav ("and according to all its judgments") intervenes before the second ta'asu 'oto closes the verse. Both chuqotav and mishpatav carry a third-person masculine singular suffix ("its"), referring back to the Passover offering, and both nouns are in construct plural form governing the whole clause "all of."

Differences between versions

The Hebrew dual bein ha'arbayim ("between the evenings") is rendered in the LXX as πρὸς ἑσπέραν ("toward evening"), a singular expression, and in the Vulgate as ad vesperam ("at evening"), also singular — neither preserves the dual structure of the Hebrew phrase. The LXX further specifies τοῦ μηνὸς τοῦ πρώτου ("of the first month"), naming the month explicitly, where the Hebrew only says ba-chodesh ha-zeh ("in this month") without naming it. The Hebrew verb ta'asu is second person plural ("you all will observe"), while the LXX uses the singular ποιήσεις ("you will do"), addressing a singular subject rather than the collective addressed in the Hebrew.