Exodus 20:22

Posted on March 11, 2006 by Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

Ex 20:22 Dixit præterea Dominus ad Moysen: Hæc dices filiis Israel: Vos vidistis quod de cælo locutus sim vobis.

The LORD also said to Moyses: “These things you shall say to the sons of Israel: You yourselves have seen that from heaven I have spoken to you.

# Latin Gloss Grammar Tag
1 Dixit said 3SG.PERF.ACT.IND
2 præterea moreover ADV INDECL
3 Dominus LORD NOM.SG.M 2ND DECL
4 ad to PREP+ACC
5 Moysen Moses ACC.SG.M 3RD DECL
6 Hæc these things ACC.PL.N PRON.DEM
7 dices you shall say 2SG.FUT.ACT.IND
8 filiis to the sons DAT.PL.M 2ND DECL
9 Israel Israel GEN.SG.INDECL
10 Vos you NOM.PL.PERS
11 vidistis you have seen 2PL.PERF.ACT.IND
12 quod that CONJ/PRON REL/COMP
13 de from PREP+ABL
14 cælo heaven ABL.SG.N 2ND DECL
15 locutus spoken NOM.SG.M PTCP.PERF.DEP
16 sim I have 1SG.PRES.ACT.SUBJ
17 vobis to you DAT.PL.PERS

Syntax

Primary narrative frame: Dixit præterea Dominus ad Moysen — verb Dixit, subject Dominus, ad + accusative (ad Moysen) marks the recipient.

Direct command: Hæc dices filiis Israel — future indicative dices used imperatively (“you shall say”); Hæc is object; filiis Israel indirect object.

Content clause: Vos vidistis quod … locutus sim vobis — emphasized subject Vos; perfect indicative vidistis governs the subordinate clause introduced by quod; locutus sim is perfect subjunctive in indirect statement.

Prepositional phrase: de cælo — indicates the heavenly origin of the divine speech.

Morphology

  1. Dixit — Lemma: dico; Part of Speech: verb; Form: third person singular perfect active indicative; Function: main narrative verb; Translation: “said”; Notes: Introduces divine speech.
  2. præterea — Lemma: præterea; Part of Speech: adverb; Form: invariable; Function: adds additional information (“moreover”); Translation: “moreover”; Notes: Strengthens the sense of continuation.
  3. Dominus — Lemma: Dominus; Part of Speech: noun; Form: nominative singular masculine, 2nd declension; Function: subject of Dixit; Translation: “the LORD”; Notes: Refers to YHWH.
  4. ad — Lemma: ad; Part of Speech: preposition; Form: governs accusative; Function: indicates direction (“to Moses”); Translation: “to”; Notes: Standard marker of the addressee.
  5. Moysen — Lemma: Moyses; Part of Speech: proper noun; Form: accusative singular masculine; Function: object of ad; Translation: “Moses”; Notes: Hebrew name declined in Latin.
  6. Hæc — Lemma: hic; Part of Speech: demonstrative pronoun; Form: accusative plural neuter; Function: direct object of dices; Translation: “these things”; Notes: Refers to the divine instructions to follow.
  7. dices — Lemma: dico; Part of Speech: verb; Form: second person singular future active indicative; Function: divine command expressed with future indicative; Translation: “you shall say”; Notes: Common biblical legal style.
  8. filiis — Lemma: filius; Part of Speech: noun; Form: dative plural masculine, 2nd declension; Function: indirect object; Translation: “to the sons”; Notes: Marks the addressees of Moses’ speech.
  9. Israel — Lemma: Israel; Part of Speech: proper noun; Form: genitive singular invariable; Function: depends on filiis (“sons of Israel”); Translation: “of Israel”; Notes: Hebrew name treated as indeclinable in Latin.
  10. Vos — Lemma: vos; Part of Speech: pronoun; Form: nominative plural; Function: emphasized subject of vidistis; Translation: “you”; Notes: Draws attention to the people’s eyewitness status.
  11. vidistis — Lemma: video; Part of Speech: verb; Form: second person plural perfect active indicative; Function: main verb of embedded statement; Translation: “you have seen”; Notes: Perfect tense expresses completed perception.
  12. quod — Lemma: quod; Part of Speech: subordinating conjunction / relative pronoun; Form: neuter singular; Function: introduces content clause; Translation: “that”; Notes: Here functioning as a completive conjunction.
  13. de — Lemma: de; Part of Speech: preposition; Form: governs ablative; Function: expresses source; Translation: “from”; Notes: Indicates heavenly origin of the speech.
  14. cælo — Lemma: cælum; Part of Speech: noun; Form: ablative singular neuter, 2nd declension; Function: object of de; Translation: “heaven”; Notes: Locative ablative expressing origin-point.
  15. locutus — Lemma: loquor; Part of Speech: participle; Form: nominative singular masculine perfect participle (deponent); Function: part of periphrastic perfect subjunctive; Translation: “spoken”; Notes: Deponent participle with active sense.
  16. sim — Lemma: sum; Part of Speech: verb; Form: first person singular present active subjunctive; Function: completes periphrastic locutus sim in subordinate clause; Translation: “I have”; Notes: Subjunctive due to indirect statement after vidistis quod.
  17. vobis — Lemma: vos; Part of Speech: pronoun; Form: dative plural; Function: indirect object; Translation: “to you”; Notes: Marks recipients of God’s speech.

 

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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