Numbers 15:8

Summary

The verse describes a conditional case: when someone offers a young bull as a burnt offering or as a sacrifice, either to fulfill a vow or as a peace offering, dedicated to Yehovah. It functions as a continuation of a legal/ritual protasis begun with ve-khi ("and if"), listing the possible offerings covered by the following instructions.

Key words

• khi ("if", H3588A) — subordinating particle opening a conditional clause; introduces the ritual scenario that the following verses regulate.
• ta'aseh ("you will offer", H6213I) — qal imperfect, second person masculine singular; the imperfect aspect marks a habitual or future-oriented action, fitting the case-law style ("whenever you do X").
• ben-bakar ("young one of cattle", H1121H + H1241) — construct chain; ben ("son of") plus bakar ("cattle") together mean "a young bovine," with bakar left unmarked for gender.
• le-fale ("to fulfill", H6381) — piel infinitive with prefixed le-; the piel stem of the root pala (elsewhere "to be extraordinary/marvelous") here denotes performing a vow in a deliberate, formal manner.
• shelamim ("peace offerings", H8002) — masculine plural noun, naming a distinct sacrificial category alongside the burnt offering and the vow-sacrifice.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a conditional clause (ve-khi + imperfect verb ta'aseh), a construction typical of case law in the Torah: "and if/when you do X, then...". The object of the verb is introduced through a chain of nouns joined by 'o ("or", H0176A): ben-bakar ("a young of the herd") functions as the animal offered, qualified as either 'olah ("burnt offering", H5930A) or zevach ("sacrifice", H2077). A second 'o clause then specifies the purpose of that sacrifice: le-fale neder ("to fulfill a vow") or shelamim ("peace offerings"), both dedicated la-YHWH ("to Yehovah").

The infinitive le-fale is grammatically dependent on the preceding verb, expressing purpose ("in order to fulfill"). Its root pala (H6381) carries a semantic range tied to being "extraordinary" or "marvelous," so the piel infinitive here suggests carrying out the vow as a formal, marked act, not merely a generic aspects of "keeping" a promise. The construct ben-bakar narrows the general term bakar ("cattle", ungendered) to a "young" animal, distinguishing it from a fully grown one without stating sex explicitly.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint renders le-fale neder as μεγαλῦναι εὐχήν ("to magnify a vow"), a literal rendering of the root pala's core sense of "being great/extraordinary." The Vulgate instead gives ut impleas votum ("that you may fulfill a vow"), and the English (BSB) and Spanish (RV1909, SBLIBRE) translations follow this functional sense ("fulfill", "cumplir"), rather than the LXX's more literal "magnify." The Hebrew singular verb ta'aseh ("you will offer," second person singular) contrasts with the LXX's plural ποιῆτε ("you all offer"), reflecting a shift in addressed number between the Hebrew and Greek texts.