Deuteronomy 1:23

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

The thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe:

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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וַיִּיטַ֥ב

yâṭab

H3190

“and · to be good”

Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 112× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 4:7

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 863

to be good, be pleasing, be well, be glad - (Qal) - to be glad, be joyful - to be well placed - to be well for, be well with, go well with - to be pleasing, be pleasing to - (Hiphil) - to make glad, rejoice - to do good to, deal well with - to do well, do thoroughly - to make a thing good or right or beautiful - to do well, do right

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

11: words
10: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
5 nouns
3 adjectives
1 preposition

Verb forms

וַיִּיטַ֥ב Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וָאֶקַּ֤ח Qal · Sequential Imperfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

אֲנָשִׁ֔ים man H376 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 17 words from the Hebrew and 17 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 11 Hebrew tokens and 16 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Deuteronomy 1:23 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Numbers 13:3–33 Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the commandment of Yahweh: all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Deuteronomy 1:23 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיִּיטַ֥ב בְּעֵינַ֖י הַדָּבָ֑ר וָאֶקַּ֤ח מִכֶּם֙ שְׁנֵ֣ים עָשָׂ֣ר אֲנָשִׁ֔ים אִ֥ישׁ אֶחָ֖ד לַשָּֽׁבֶט

The thing pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe:

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Deuteronomy 1:23 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ἀρέσκω ἐναντίον ἐγώ ὁ ῥῆμα καί λαμβάνω ἐκ σύ δώδεκα ἀνήρ ἀνήρ εἷς κατά φυλή

And the saying pleased me: and I took of you twelve men, one man of a tribe.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וּשְׁפַר בְּעֵינַי פִּתְגָמָא וּדְבָרִית מִנְכוֹן תְּרֵין עֲשַׂר גֻבְרִין גַבְרָא חַד לְשִׁבְטָא

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וּשְׁפַר בְּעֵינַי פִּתְגָמָא וּדְבָרִית מִנְכוֹן תְּרֵיסַר גּוּבְרִין בְּרִירִין גּוּבְרָא חָד לְשִׁבְטָא

And the thing was proper in my eyes; and I took from you twelve chosen men, one man for a tribe,

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Deuteronomy 1:23 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Deu 1:23 And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe:

Ver. 23. Pleased me well.] Seeing you were set upon it, and it would be no better.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

23. and I took twelve men of you] So P, Num_13:2-16, adding their names. JE does not give their number but may originally have done so; see on Deu_1:22.

tribe] Heb. shebeṭ; see on Deu_1:13.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And the saying pleased me well,.... Taking it to be a rational and prudent scheme, not imagining it was the effect of fear and distrust:

and I took twelve men of you out of a tribe; whose names are given in Num 13:4.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Pleased me. Even Moses was deceived by the appearance of prudence: and God permitted the people to follow the directions of their cowardice, ver. 26, 32. (Chap. ix. 29., and Numbers xiii. 1.) (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

The saying pleased me well; for there seemed to be some prudence and good policy in it: but Moses could not see into their hearts, nor from what root this desire grew; but God saw it, and therefore in just judgment complied with their desire, and permitted them to do so for their trial and exercise, Num 13:1-3.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

וייטב בעיני הדבר AND THE MATTER WAS GOOD IN MY SIGHT — in my sight, said Moses, but not in the sight of the Omnipresent God. — But if it was good in Moses' sight why did he mention it in these reproofs? A parable! It may he compared to the case of a man who says to his fellow, "Sell me this ass of yours”. He replies to him, "Yes”. He asks him, "Will you give it to me on trial?” He replies: "Yes”. — "May I try it on hills and mountains?” Again he replies, "Yes" — When he sees that he puts no obstacles in his way, the would-be purchaser says to himself: “This man is quite confident that I shall not find any defect in it", and he at once says to him, “Take your money, I need not now put it to trial”. I, too, consented to your words, thinking that you would perhaps turn back on yourselves (re-consider the question of sending spies) when you saw that I put no obstacle in your way, but you did not re-consider (Sifrei Devarim 21:1).

ואקח מכם AND I TOOK OF YOU — of the choicest that were amongst you, of the finest that were amongst you (Sifrei Devarim 21:2).

שנים עשר אנשים איש אחד לשבט [AND I TOOK] … TWELVE MEN, ONE MAN FOR A TRIBE — This (the statement: “twelve men”) tells us that the tribe of Levi was not with them in this request (Sifrei Devarim 21:3; cf. Rashi on Numbers 31:4).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Ramban (Nachmanides)

Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (Ramban / Nachmanides)

AND I TOOK TWELVE MEN OF YOU. He did not praise them as being princes [of their tribes], Verse 2. and their being leaders of the children of Israel, Verse 3. for, since they acted wickedly, he would not speak in praise of wicked men.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Deuteronomy, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 11 words (10 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is yâṭab (“to be good”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “to be good” (yâṭab) shape what this verse is saying?
How does Numbers 13:3–33, which shares this passage’s theme, read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “man” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
«וַיִּיטַ֥ב» is a Qal Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 11 Hebrew ↔ 16 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 13 words in this verse.
“man” occurs 2× in this single verse.
10 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 11 words in this verse.