תְּמוּנָה is a visible shape. Brown, Driver, and Briggs define it as likeness or form: a shape the eye can take in, or a shape a hand could copy. In Numbers 12:8 the word is the construct וּתְמֻנַת יְהוָה. In the WOTA Bible that line is printed “the form of Yahweh,” not “Yahweh’s form.” The construct keeps the form as something that extends from Yahweh to represent him. It is not Yahweh himself as he is unseen. John 1:18 says no one has seen God at any time. If Moses sees a form, the question is whose form he sees. The wording marks a visible representation, not the invisible source.

The same noun is what Israel did not see at Horeb, and what the law forbids them to carve. Deuteronomy 4:12 says they heard the voice of words, but saw no form. Deuteronomy 4:15 says they saw no kind of form on the day Yahweh spoke from the fire. Exodus 20:4 says “nor any image.” Deuteronomy 5:8 says “any likeness.” Deuteronomy 4:16, Deuteronomy 4:23, and Deuteronomy 4:25 warn against a carved image in the form of anything. Why ban a handmade temunah? Because God has already given an image to behold. Israel must not copy one of their own.

Job 4:16 uses the noun for a night apparition: “A form was before my eyes.” Psalm 17:15 hopes to awake and be satisfied with seeing God’s form.

This noun is a different word from the verb יָצַר, to form or fashion. In the WOTA Bible “form” links here where the Hebrew is תְּמוּנָה. Exodus 20:4 prints the noun “any image,” and Deuteronomy 5:8 prints it “any likeness.” The verb “form” links to יָצַר.

The verbs in Numbers 12:8

In the WOTA Bible the verse is printed in the present: “I speak” and “he sees.” The Hebrew verbs are imperfects. אֲדַבֶּר is Piel imperfect. יַבִּיט is Hiphil imperfect of נָבַט, “he looks.” Hebrew has no separate future tense. An imperfect can be read as present or as future, and the speech decides. Yahweh is telling Miriam and Aaron how he deals with Moses. Numbers 12:6 uses the same form אֲדַבֶּר for how he speaks with a prophet in a dream. Numbers 12:7 says Moses is faithful, a participle for a present standing. The question at the end of verse 8 is a perfect, יְרֵאתֶם: why were you not afraid. The rebuke rests on the access Moses already has.

The World English Bible and many English Bibles print “will speak” and “shall see.” Young’s Literal Translation prints the imperfects as present: “I do speak” and “he beholdeth.” The Vulgate does the same with loquor, “I speak,” and videt, “he sees.” English future wording is the long habit of rendering a Hebrew imperfect. Here the present fits the scene.

Greek, glory, and εἰκών

There is no single Greek word that always stands for תְּמוּנָה. The Greek Old Testament chooses by the verse. In Numbers 12:8 it does not keep “form.” It reads τὴν δόξαν κυρίου εἶδεν, “he has seen the glory of the Lord.” δόξα is glory. That glory is taken up of the Son: Hebrews 1:3 says he is the radiance of his glory and the exact imprint of his substance. Colossians 1:15 names him the εἰκών (eikōn), the image of the invisible God. εἰκών is a likeness or representation that stands for another, not the thing itself. The form Moses sees and the image the apostles name belong to that same truth: God is made known in a living representation, not by a carved copy.

Elsewhere the same Hebrew is often ὁμοίωμα (homoiōma), likeness or representation: Exodus 20:4 and Deuteronomy 5:8. That is the nearest regular Greek match for temunah in the law. Job 4:16 uses μορφή, form or appearance. Psalm 17:15 again leans toward δόξα in the Greek. εἰκών is related in sense to both temunah and ὁμοίωμα. It is not how the Greek Old Testament usually renders this Hebrew noun, and it is not the word in Numbers 12:8, but it is the New Testament word for the living image God has given.