Numbers 13:5

Summary

This verse identifies the representative sent from the tribe of Simeon among those chosen to scout the land: Shaphat, son of Hori. The sentence consists entirely of a prepositional phrase and a genealogical formula, without a finite verb.

Key words

• le ("for", H9005) — the preposition attached to matteh, marking this clause as an entry in a list of tribal representatives ("for/of the tribe of...").
• ma.Teh ("[the] tribe of", H4294) — masculine singular construct noun, forming a construct chain with the tribe's name (shim'on) that follows.
• shim.'on ("Simeon", H8095) — proper name marking which tribe is in view; grammatically the absolute noun completing the construct chain begun by ma.Teh.
• sha.Fat ("Shaphat", H8202) — proper name, the subject of the entry, standing in apposition to the tribal phrase.
• ben ("[the] son of", H1121) — masculine singular construct noun introducing patronymic identification, linking sha.Fat to his father cho.Ri.

What the text says

The Hebrew clause has no verb; it is a nominal list-entry consisting of two construct chains placed side by side. The first chain, le-matteh shim'on ("for the tribe of Simeon"), identifies the tribal affiliation. The second, shafat ben-chori ("Shaphat son of Hori"), identifies the individual by his personal name and patronymic. The construct state in both matteh and ben signals a tight grammatical bond with the following noun — "tribe of X" and "son of Y" — a standard formula for census or delegation lists in this section of Numbers. There is no independent clause structure; the verse functions as one line in a longer enumeration, syntactically dependent on the list format established in the surrounding verses.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text (TAHOT) names the tribe of shim'on ("Simeon") and the individual sha.Fat ben-cho.Ri ("Shaphat son of Hori"). The Septuagint text given (LXXSWETE) instead reads "the tribe of Rouben, Samouel son of Zakchur" (τῆς φυλῆς Ῥουβήν, Σαμουὴλ υἱὸς Ζακχυρ), and the Vulgate (VULCLEM) similarly reads "De tribu Ruben, Sammua filium Zechur" — both naming the tribe of Reuben and a different personal name and patronymic. The modern translations (RV1909, BSB, SBLIBRE) all follow the Hebrew reading of Simeon/Shaphat/Hori. This is a substantive divergence in tribal name, personal name, and patronymic between the Hebrew tradition reflected here and the Greek/Latin texts as given, rather than a matter of translation style.