Numbers 15:10

Summary

The verse instructs that half a hin of wine is to be brought as a drink offering, described as an offering made by fire producing a soothing odor for Yehovah. It specifies both the liquid quantity and the sensory/ritual quality of the offering.

Key words

• tak.Riv ("you will bring near", H7126H) — Hiphil imperfect, second person masculine singular: a causative verb meaning "to cause to come near," here referring to the act of presenting the wine offering; the imperfect aspect indicates an ongoing or prescribed future action.
• Ne.sekh ("drink offering", H5262) — masculine singular noun, preceded by preposition + article la. ("for the"), marking the purpose of the wine being brought.
• cha.Tzi (" half of", H2677) — masculine singular noun in construct state, linking directly to Hin, indicating a fractional measurement ("half of the hin").
• 'i.Sheh ("a fire offering of", H0801) — masculine singular noun in construct state, beginning a chain of construct nouns that describe the category and quality of the offering.
• ni.Cho.ach ("soothing", H5207) — masculine singular noun, completing the construct chain rei.ach-ni.Cho.ach ("odor of soothing"), describing the sensory quality attributed to the offering.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with ve.Yayin ("and wine"), placing the offering material at the front of the clause before the verb tak.Riv ("you will bring near"). This word order emphasizes the wine itself as the topic, with the verb following. The verb is Hiphil, a causative stem, meaning the subject causes the wine to be brought near or presented — this is a technical cultic verb for offering-presentation.

The phrase cha.Tzi ha.Hin ("half of the hin") uses a construct chain to specify quantity: cha.Tzi ("half of") is grammatically bound to Hin, the definite measurement unit, so the phrase functions as a single measurement expression.

The final portion of the verse, 'i.Sheh rei.ach-ni.Cho.ach la.Yehovah ("a fire offering of an odor of soothing to Yehovah"), is a chain of three construct nouns: 'i.Sheh ("fire offering of"), rei.ach ("odor of"), and ni.Cho.ach ("soothing"). Each noun modifies the next, building a compound description rather than a full sentence — the Hebrew presents this as an appositional phrase characterizing the offering, not as a separate clause with its own verb. The preposition la. before Yehovah indicates the offering's directionality — it is presented "to" or "for" Yehovah.

Differences between versions

The LXX (κάρπωμα ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας κυρίῳ, "an offering, an odor of sweetness, to the Lord") preserves only the final descriptive phrase and omits the wine and measurement details found in the Hebrew clause, likely because this portion of the Greek text continues from the preceding verse. The Vulgate (et vinum ad liba fundenda ejusdem mensuræ in oblationem suavissimi odoris Domino, "and wine for drink offerings to be poured of the same measure, into an offering of most sweet odor to the Lord") renders ni.Cho.ach ("soothing") with the superlative suavissimi ("most sweet"), intensifying the Hebrew's simple adjective.