Numeri 34:13 (Numbers 34:13)

Posted on June 1, 2006 by Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

Nm 34:13 Præcepitque Moyses filiis Israel, dicens: Hæc erit Terra, quam possidebitis sorte, et quam iussit Dominus dari novem tribubus, et dimidiæ tribui.

And Moyses commanded the children of Israel, saying: “This shall be the Land which you shall possess by lot, and which the LORD commanded to be given to nine tribes and to half a tribe.

# Latin Gloss Grammar Tag
1 Præcepitque and commanded 3SG.PERF.ACT.IND 3RD CONJ
2 Moyses Moses NOM.SG.M
3 filiis the children DAT.PL.M 2ND DECL.IOBJ
4 Israel of Israel INDECL
5 dicens saying NOM.SG.M.PRES.ACT.PTCP
6 Hæc this NOM.SG.F.DEM
7 erit shall be 3SG.FUT.ACT.IND
8 Terra the Land NOM.SG.F 1ST DECL.PRED
9 quam which ACC.SG.F.REL.OBJ
10 possidebitis you shall possess 2PL.FUT.ACT.IND 2ND CONJ
11 sorte by lot ABL.SG.F 3RD DECL
12 et and CONJ INVAR
13 quam which ACC.SG.F.REL
14 iussit commanded 3SG.PERF.ACT.IND 2ND CONJ
15 Dominus the LORD NOM.SG.M 2ND DECL
16 dari to be given PRES.PASS.INF 1ST CONJ
17 novem nine ADJ INDECL
18 tribubus to tribes DAT.PL.F 4TH DECL.IOBJ
19 et and CONJ INVAR
20 dimidiæ half DAT.SG.F.ADJ.POS
21 tribui to a tribe DAT.SG.F 4TH DECL.IOBJ

Syntax

Introductory Main Clause: Præcepitque Moyses filiis Israel means “And Moses commanded the children of Israel.” Moyses is the nominative singular subject of Præcepitque, while filiis Israel identifies those receiving the command. The enclitic -que connects Moyses’ command with the preceding divine instructions concerning the land’s boundaries.

Participial Phrase: dicens is a nominative singular masculine present active participle agreeing with Moyses. It introduces the words Moyses speaks to Israel: “saying.”

Copular Clause: Hæc erit Terra means “This shall be the Land.” Hæc is the demonstrative subject, erit is the future copular verb, and Terra is the predicate nominative identifying what “this” will be.

First Relative Clause: quam possidebitis sorte modifies Terra. The relative pronoun quam is accusative singular feminine because it is the direct object of possidebitis, while agreeing in gender and number with its antecedent Terra. sorte is an ablative expressing the means by which possession is assigned: “by lot.”

Second Coordinated Relative Clause: et quam iussit Dominus dari novem tribubus, et dimidiæ tribui gives a second description of Terra. The relative pronoun quam is the accusative subject of the passive infinitive dari: “which the LORD commanded to be given.” Dominus is the nominative subject of iussit.

Infinitive Construction: dari is a present passive infinitive dependent on iussit. Its understood grammatical subject is quam, referring to the Land. Thus the construction means that the LORD commanded the Land to be given.

Recipients: novem tribubus, et dimidiæ tribui gives the recipients of dari. tribubus is dative plural and is modified by the indeclinable numeral novem. tribui is dative singular and is modified by dimidiæ, giving the sense “to nine tribes and to half a tribe.”

Morphology

  1. Præcepitque — Lemma: præcipio; Part of Speech: Verb with enclitic conjunction; Form: Third person singular, perfect active indicative, third conjugation in -io, with enclitic -que; Function: Main verb with Moyses as subject and filiis Israel as recipients of the command; Translation: “and commanded”; Notes: The attached -que links Moyses’ command to Israel with the preceding instructions given by the LORD.
  2. Moyses — Lemma: Moyses; Part of Speech: Proper noun; Form: Nominative singular masculine, biblical proper name; Function: Subject of Præcepitque and antecedent of dicens; Translation: “Moyses”; Notes: The nominative form identifies Moyses as the person transmitting the divine boundary instructions to Israel.
  3. filiis — Lemma: filius; Part of Speech: Noun; Form: Dative plural masculine, second declension; Function: Indirect object or recipient with Præcepitque; Translation: “the children”; Notes: In the fixed biblical expression filiis Israel, the noun refers collectively to the Israelites.
  4. Israel — Lemma: Israel; Part of Speech: Proper noun; Form: Indeclinable biblical proper name; Function: Dependent modifier of filiis, equivalent in sense to “of Israel”; Translation: “of Israel”; Notes: Its genitival relationship to filiis is expressed syntactically rather than by an inflectional ending.
  5. dicens — Lemma: dico; Part of Speech: Verb, participle; Form: Nominative singular masculine, present active participle, third conjugation; Function: Circumstantial participle agreeing with Moyses and introducing his speech; Translation: “saying”; Notes: The participle presents Moyses’ speech as accompanying his act of commanding the Israelites.
  6. Hæc — Lemma: hic; Part of Speech: Demonstrative pronoun; Form: Nominative singular feminine; Function: Subject of erit, with Terra as predicate nominative; Translation: “this”; Notes: The feminine form corresponds to Terra and points to the territory whose boundaries have just been described.
  7. erit — Lemma: sum; Part of Speech: Verb; Form: Third person singular, future active indicative, irregular verb; Function: Copular verb linking Hæc with Terra; Translation: “shall be”; Notes: The future tense presents the bounded territory as the land Israel will receive.
  8. Terra — Lemma: terra; Part of Speech: Noun; Form: Nominative singular feminine, first declension; Function: Predicate nominative with erit and antecedent of both occurrences of quam; Translation: “the Land”; Notes: The noun refers specifically to the territory whose limits were defined in the preceding verses.
  9. quam — Lemma: qui; Part of Speech: Relative pronoun; Form: Accusative singular feminine; Function: Direct object of possidebitis, with Terra as antecedent; Translation: “which”; Notes: Its feminine singular gender and number agree with Terra, while its accusative case comes from its object function within the relative clause.
  10. possidebitis — Lemma: possideo; Part of Speech: Verb; Form: Second person plural, future active indicative, second conjugation; Function: Verb of the first relative clause, with quam as direct object; Translation: “you shall possess”; Notes: The plural subject is the children of Israel, and the verb describes their future possession of the Land.
  11. sorte — Lemma: sors; Part of Speech: Noun; Form: Ablative singular feminine, third declension; Function: Ablative of means or manner modifying possidebitis; Translation: “by lot”; Notes: The noun identifies allotment by lot as the means by which the land is apportioned among the tribes.
  12. et — Lemma: et; Part of Speech: Conjunction; Form: Indeclinable coordinating conjunction; Function: Coordinates the second relative clause with the first; Translation: “and”; Notes: It links two descriptions of the same Land: the land Israel will possess and the land the LORD commanded to be given.
  13. quam — Lemma: qui; Part of Speech: Relative pronoun; Form: Accusative singular feminine; Function: Accusative subject of the passive infinitive dari, with Terra as antecedent; Translation: “which”; Notes: Within the infinitive construction dependent on iussit, the Land is the thing commanded to be given, so quam functions as the accusative subject of dari.
  14. iussit — Lemma: iubeo; Part of Speech: Verb; Form: Third person singular, perfect active indicative, second conjugation; Function: Main verb of the second relative clause, governing the infinitive dari; Translation: “commanded”; Notes: The verb introduces the divine command concerning the distribution of the Land.
  15. Dominus — Lemma: dominus; Part of Speech: Noun; Form: Nominative singular masculine, second declension; Function: Subject of iussit; Translation: “the LORD”; Notes: Here Dominus refers to YHWH, who commanded the distribution of the Land among the tribes.
  16. dari — Lemma: do; Part of Speech: Verb, infinitive; Form: Present passive infinitive, first conjugation; Function: Infinitive dependent on iussit, with quam as its accusative subject and the following datives as recipients; Translation: “to be given”; Notes: The passive infinitive expresses what the LORD commanded to happen to the Land: it was to be given to the designated tribes.
  17. novem — Lemma: novem; Part of Speech: Adjective, numeral; Form: Indeclinable cardinal numeral; Function: Modifies tribubus; Translation: “nine”; Notes: As an indeclinable numeral, novem does not change form despite modifying a dative plural noun.
  18. tribubus — Lemma: tribus; Part of Speech: Noun; Form: Dative plural feminine, fourth declension; Function: Dative of recipient with dari; Translation: “to tribes”; Notes: Modified by novem, the noun identifies nine tribes as recipients of the allotted Land.
  19. et — Lemma: et; Part of Speech: Conjunction; Form: Indeclinable coordinating conjunction; Function: Coordinates dimidiæ tribui with novem tribubus; Translation: “and”; Notes: It adds the half-tribe to the nine full tribes receiving territory within the stated boundaries.
  20. dimidiæ — Lemma: dimidius; Part of Speech: Adjective; Form: Dative singular feminine, positive degree, first-and-second-declension adjective; Function: Modifies tribui; Translation: “half”; Notes: The adjective agrees with the feminine dative singular tribui and indicates one half of a tribe rather than an additional whole tribe.
  21. tribui — Lemma: tribus; Part of Speech: Noun; Form: Dative singular feminine, fourth declension; Function: Dative of recipient with dari, coordinated with tribubus; Translation: “to a tribe”; Notes: Together with dimidiæ, it means “to half a tribe,” completing the enumeration of the recipients of the Land.

 

About Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

Born around 346 A.D. in Stridon, St. Jerome was a scholar fluent in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew whose ascetic discipline and deep engagement with Scripture prepared him for a monumental task: translating the Bible into Latin. Commissioned by Pope Damasus I around 382 A.D., Jerome began by revising the flawed Old Latin Gospels, then expanded his work to the entire Bible. For the New Testament, he corrected Latin texts using Greek manuscripts; for the Old Testament, he translated most books directly from Hebrew—a controversial but principled choice. His final Psalter, however, followed the Greek Septuagint tradition for liturgical use. This composite translation, later known as the Vulgate (editio vulgata), became the authoritative biblical text of the Western Church, formally endorsed at the Council of Trent in 1546. The Vulgate’s influence extends beyond theology into textual criticism and Latin education. As one of the earliest translations grounded in original-language scholarship, it offers a vital witness to the state of biblical texts in late antiquity. Jerome’s lexical and syntactic decisions are studied to trace manuscript history and assess variant readings. Its elegant Latin, consistent in grammar and rich in vocabulary, became a model for medieval and Renaissance learning, bridging classical and ecclesiastical Latin. More than a translation, the Vulgate helped define Christian doctrine, preserved the Latin language, and laid essential groundwork for the critical study of Scripture—remaining indispensable to students of Latin, theology, and textual history.
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