Numbers 1:6

Summary

This verse names the representative appointed for the tribe of Simeon in the census organized by tribal leaders: Shelumiel ("Shelumiel", H8017), son of Zurishaddai ("Zurishaddai", H6701). The verse is part of a list identifying one leader per tribe.

Key words

• le ("for", H9005) — the preposition attached to Shim'on marks the tribe to which this leader belongs; it introduces the phrase as "belonging to Simeon" rather than a full independent clause.
• Shim'on ("Simeon", H8095G) — proper name identifying the tribe; grammatically it is the object of the preposition le, not the subject of an action.
• Shelumi'El ("Shelumiel", H8017) — proper name of the individual designated as leader; stands in apposition to the tribal name, giving the specific person tied to that tribe.
• ben ("son of", H1121A) — a construct-state noun that grammatically links Shelumiel to his father's name, forming a genealogical identification typical of these lists.
• Tzurishaddai ("Zurishaddai", H6701) — proper name of the father, completing the patronymic formula "X son of Y."

What the text says

The Hebrew clause is elliptical: it consists only of a prepositional phrase (le-Shim'on, "for Simeon") followed by a personal name in apposition (Shelumiel) and a patronymic construction (ben-Tzurishaddai, "son of Zurishaddai"). There is no verb in this verse; the grammatical structure assumes continuation from a previous verse that supplies the governing verb (naming or appointing). The construct noun ben ("son of", H1121A) directly binds the two proper names together, a common formula in genealogical and administrative lists to identify a person by lineage rather than by title or function alone.

The absence of a finite verb in the Hebrew means the verse functions as a list entry, not a full sentence — it depends syntactically on the structure of the surrounding verses that this word-by-word entry does not include. The preposition le ("for", H9005) signals a distributive pattern, in which each tribe is matched with one designated leader through repeated use of this same preposition across the list.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders le-Shim'on ("for Simeon") as τῶν Συμεὼν (genitive, "of the [tribe of] Simeon"), using a different case relationship than the Hebrew preposition le, though conveying similar tribal association. The Vulgate's de Simeon ("from/concerning Simeon") mirrors this same shift toward a genitive-like sense rather than the Hebrew's dative-directional le. The proper names show minor transliteration variants across versions (Shelumiel/Salamiel/Selumiel; Zurishaddai/Sourisadai/Surisaddai), reflecting differences in how each version's language rendered the Hebrew consonants and vowels.