Numbers 15:31

Summary

Numbers 15:31 states the reason and consequence for a particular transgression: the person in question has despised the word of Yehovah and broken his commandment, and for that reason the person will certainly be cut off, carrying the guilt of the offense.

Key words

• devar ("word of", H1697G) — masculine singular construct noun, bound to the following name, "the word of Yehovah."
• bazah ("he has despised", H0959) — qal perfect, marking a completed, simple action by the subject.
• hefar ("he has broken", H6565A) — hiphil perfect, a causative stem: the subject actively caused the commandment to become void, distinct from a simple action.
• hikkaret tikkaret ("certainly it will be cut off", H3772I) — infinitive absolute followed by the niphal imperfect of the same root; this doubling intensifies the passive verb, expressing certainty of the future event.
• avonah ("her iniquity", H5771G) — masculine singular noun in construct with a pronominal suffix, referring back to the feminine noun nefesh ("person," H5315J).

What the text says

The verse opens with the particle ki (H3588A), introducing the cause: two parallel perfect-tense clauses describe the offense. The first uses the qal stem bazah ("despised") applied to devar Yehovah ("the word of Yehovah"), and the second uses the hiphil stem hefar ("broke/annulled") applied to mitzvato ("his commandment," H4687 + suffix H9023). The shift from qal to hiphil marks a difference in verbal force: the first verb describes an attitude toward the word, the second describes an action that causes the commandment to be nullified.

The consequence follows with the construction hikkaret tikkaret, pairing an infinitive absolute with a finite niphal imperfect of the same root (H3772I). This doubling, common in Biblical Hebrew for emphasis, underlines the certainty of the passive outcome — the subject undergoes the cutting off rather than performing it. The subject of this verb is ha-nefesh ha-hi ("that person," feminine singular), and the verb tikkaret agrees with it in gender.

The closing clause, avonah vah ("her iniquity [is] in her"), is verbless — a nominal clause pairing the construct noun avonah with the prepositional phrase bah ("in her," H9003+H9034), both carrying feminine suffixes that refer back to nefesh.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders devar (singular, "word of") as τὰ ῥήματα ("the words," plural). For hefar ("broke," hiphil) the LXX has διεσκέδασεν ("scattered/dispersed"), a different image from the Hebrew's causative "annul." The LXX mirrors the Hebrew doubling with ἐκτρίψει ἐκτριβήσεται (future active + future passive of the same root), paralleling the infinitive-absolute-plus-imperfect structure. The Vulgate uses single verbs without doubling — "delebitur" ("will be blotted out") — and renders the final clause "portabit iniquitatem suam" ("will bear her own iniquity"), using a verb of bearing rather than the Hebrew's stative "is in her."