Numbers 16:7

Summary

The verse instructs the rebels to place fire and incense before Yehovah the next day, stating that whoever Yehovah chooses will be ha-qadosh ("the holy one"). The passage closes with a terse statement addressed to "the sons of Levi" involving the word rav ("enough"/"much").

Key words

• te.Nu ("put", H5414H) — qal imperative plural, a direct command to place fire in the censers, opening the ritual test.
• si.Mu ("set", H7760H) — second imperative plural, parallel to te.Nu, ordering the placement of incense on the fire.
• yiv.Char ("he will choose", H0977) — qal imperfect, denoting an act not yet completed; the identity of "the one Yehovah chooses" remains open at the moment of speaking.
• ha.Yah ("it will be", H1961) — sequential perfect (vav + perfect) continuing the narrative sequence begun by the imperatives; it marks the outcome that follows once the ritual is performed.
• ka.Do.osh ("holy [person]", H6918H) — masculine singular adjective with definite article, functioning as a predicate noun identifying the chosen man's status.

What the text says

The verse opens with two parallel imperative clauses, te.Nu ("put") and si.Mu ("set"), both governing the placement of 'esh ("fire", H0784) and ketoret ("incense", H7004) "before Yehovah" (li-fnei Yehovah, using the construct noun fnei, H6440G). The repeated imperative structure gives the instruction a procedural, almost liturgical rhythm — first the fire, then the incense on it — before the phrase machar ("tomorrow", H4279) sets the temporal frame.

The sentence then shifts from command to consequence through the sequential perfect ha.Yah ("it will be"), introducing a conditional-narrative clause: "the man whom ('asher, H0834A) Yehovah will choose (yiv.Char, imperfect) — he (hu', H1931) is ha-qadosh." The imperfect yiv.Char leaves the choice grammatically unresolved at the time of speaking, while the independent pronoun hu' emphatically isolates the subject before the predicate adjective ha-qadosh, marking identification rather than mere possession of quality.

The closing phrase, rav-lakhem benei Levi ("rav to-you sons of Levi"), uses rav (H7227A), an adjective meaning "much" or "enough," attached to the preposition la-khem ("for you," H9005+H9036) and the construct benei Levi ("sons of Levi," H1121G). The construction is terse and elliptical, without a verb, which is why translations render its force differently.

Differences between versions

The phrase rav-lakhem receives divergent renderings: the LXX has ἱκανούσθω ὑμῖν ("let it be sufficient for you"), RV1909 "básteos esto" (same sense of sufficiency), while the Vulgate reads "multum erigimini" ("you are greatly exalted/lifted up"), and BSB/SBLIBRE render it as an accusation of overreach ("taken too much upon yourselves," "gone too far"). The Hebrew rav allows both the sense of "enough" and "too much," and the versions differ in which sense they draw out.