Numbers 12:8

Authorized King James Version (1611)

With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

פֶּ֣ה אֶל־פֶּ֞ה אֲדַבֶּר־בּ֗וֹ וּמַרְאֶה֙ וְלֹ֣א בְחִידֹ֔ת וּתְמֻנַ֥ת יְהוָ֖ה יַבִּ֑יט וּמַדּ֙וּעַ֙ לֹ֣א יְרֵאתֶ֔ם לְדַבֵּ֖ר בְּעַבְדִּ֥י בְמֹשֶֽׁה׃

Transliteration

Peh ʾel-peh ʾădabbēr-bō ūmarʾeh wə-lōʾ ḇəḥîdōt ūtəmūnat YHWH yabbîṭ ūmaddūaʿ lōʾ yərēʾtem lədabbēr bə-ʿaḇdî ḇə-Mōšeh

Grammar Details

• *Peh*: masculine singular noun - 'mouth'
• *ʾel-peh*: preposition + masculine singular noun - 'to mouth'
• *ʾădabbēr-bō*: Piel imperfect, 1st person singular + preposition + 3rd person masculine singular suffix - 'I speak with him'
• *ūmarʾeh*: conjunction + masculine singular noun - 'and appearance'
• *wə-lōʾ*: conjunction + negative particle - 'and not'
• *ḇəḥîdōt*: preposition + feminine plural noun - 'in riddles'
• *ūtəmūnat*: conjunction + feminine singular construct - 'and form of'
• *YHWH*: proper noun - 'the LORD'
• *yabbîṭ*: Hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular - 'he beholds'
• *ūmaddūaʿ*: conjunction + interrogative - 'and why'
• *lōʾ*: negative particle - 'not'
• *yərēʾtem*: Qal perfect, 2nd person masculine plural - 'you feared'
• *lədabbēr*: preposition + Piel infinitive construct - 'to speak'
• *bə-ʿaḇdî*: preposition + masculine singular noun + 1st person singular suffix - 'against my servant'
• *ḇə-Mōšeh*: preposition + proper noun - 'against Moses'

Word Meanings

• *Peh* *ʾel-peh*: mouth to mouth/face to face
• *ūmarʾeh*: and appearance/and visibly/clearly
• *ḇəḥîdōt*: in riddles/in dark sayings
• *təmūnat*: form/likeness/manifestation
• *yabbîṭ*: he beholds/he looks upon/he sees
• *yərēʾtem*: you feared/you were afraid

Referenced Verses

• Deut 34:10 : 10 And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,
• 1 Cor 13:12 : 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
• Exod 33:11 : 11 And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.
• Exod 24:10-11 : 10 And they saw the God of Israel: and [there was] under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in [his] clearness. 11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.
• Exod 33:23 : 23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
• Ps 49:4 : 4 I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.
• Isa 40:18 : 18 ¶ To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
• Isa 46:5 : 5 ¶ To whom will ye liken me, and make [me] equal, and compare me, that we may be like?
• Ezek 17:2 : 2 Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel;
• Ezek 20:49 : 49 Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?
• Matt 13:35 : 35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
• Luke 10:16 : 16 ‹He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.›
• John 1:18 : 18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared [him].
• John 14:7-9 : 7 ‹If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.› 8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, ‹Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou› [then], ‹Shew us the Father?› 10 ‹Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.›
• John 15:15 : 15 ‹Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.›
• John 15:24 : 24 ‹If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.›
• Exod 34:5-7 : 5 ¶ And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear [the guilty]; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth [generation].
• 2 Cor 3:18 : 18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord.
• 2 Cor 4:4-6 : 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
• Ps 17:15 : 15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
• 1 Thess 4:8 : 8 He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
• 1 Tim 6:16 : 16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom [be] honour and power everlasting. Amen.
• 2 Pet 2:10 : 10 ¶ But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous [are they], selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
• Jude 1:8 : 8 ¶ Likewise also these [filthy] dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
• Deut 4:15 : 15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day [that] the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
• Heb 1:3 : 3 Who being the brightness of [his] glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
• Col 1:15 : 15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
• Exod 34:30 : 30 And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.
• Num 14:14 : 14 And they will tell [it] to the inhabitants of this land: [for] they have heard that thou LORD [art] among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and [that] thy cloud standeth over them, and [that] thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.
• Exod 20:4 : 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth:
• Exod 33:19 : 19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.