Numbers 16:39

Summary

Numbers 16:39 describes Eleazar the priest collecting the bronze censers used by the men who died in the fire, after which the metal is hammered into a covering for the altar. The verse shifts from a singular subject (Eleazar taking the censers) to a plural, unspecified subject (those who hammered the metal).

Key words

• yiqqach ("he took", H3947G) — qal narrative form, marks Eleazar as the sole subject of the first action.
• machtot ("censers of", H4289) — feminine plural construct, linking the censers directly to the following noun "bronze."
• hikrivu ("they had brought near", H7126H) — hiphil perfect, a causative form describing a completed prior act of offering, distinguishing it from the main narrative line.
• serufim ("[ones who] were burned", H8313) — qal passive participle plural, functioning as a noun ("the burned ones") referring to the men consumed by fire.
• yeraqqe'um ("they beat them out", H7554) — piel narrative plural, an intensive verb describing the act of hammering, with a plural, unnamed subject distinct from Eleazar.

What the text says

The verse opens with va-yiqqach ("and he took"), a singular narrative verb whose subject is El'azar ha-kohen ("Eleazar the priest", H0499G/H3548). The object is machtot ha-nechoshet ("the censers of bronze", H4289/H5178A), specified further by the relative clause asher hikrivu ha-serufim ("which the burned ones had brought near"), using the hiphil perfect hikrivu to mark an action completed before the main narrative moment. The participle ha-serufim nominalizes the verb "to burn," designating the men by the fate that befell them rather than by name.

The second clause begins with a new narrative vav on va-yraqqe'um ("and they beat them out"), a piel plural verb. The subject here is grammatically distinct from Eleazar: Hebrew narrative typically continues the same subject unless the form shifts, and here the plural verb indicates an unspecified group (commonly rendered "they" in translation, referring to workers or an indefinite plural) hammering the censers into tzipui ("overlay", H6826) la-mizbeach ("for the altar", H4196), using a purpose preposition indicating the result of the action.

Differences between versions

The LXX adds υἱὸς Ἀαρὼν ("son of Aaron"), a genealogical note absent from the Hebrew text, which names Eleazar only as "the priest."

Regarding the hammering action, the Hebrew va-yraqqe'um uses a plural verb, matched by the LXX plural προσέθηκαν ("they added"), both implying an unnamed plural subject distinct from Eleazar. The Vulgate, however, renders this with the singular produxit ("he produced/drew out"), attributing the hammering action to Eleazar himself, differing from the plural subject found in both the Hebrew and the Greek.