Numbers 18:11
וְזֶה־לְּךָ תְּרוּמַת מַתָּנָם לְכָל־תְּנוּפֹת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לְךָ נְתַתִּים וּלְבָנֶיךָ וְלִבְנֹתֶיךָ אִתְּךָ לְחָק־עוֹלָם כָּל־טָהוֹר בְּבֵיתְךָ יֹאכַל אֹתֽוֹ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְזֶה־לְּךָ֞ תְּרוּמַ֣ת מַתָּנָ֗ם לְכָל־תְּנוּפֹת֮ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵל֒ לְךָ֣ נְתַתִּ֗ים וּלְבָנֶ֧יךָ וְלִבְנֹתֶ֛יךָ אִתְּךָ֖ לְחָק־עוֹלָ֑ם כָּל־טָה֥וֹר בְּבֵיתְךָ֖ יֹאכַ֥ל אֹתֽוֹ׃
καὶ τοῦτο ἔσται ὑμῖν ἀπαρχῶν δομάτων αὐτῶν, ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν ἐπιθεμάτων τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ· σοὶ δέδωκα αὐτὰ καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς σου κοὶ ταῖς θυγατράσιν σου μετὰ σοῦ, νόμιμον αἰώνιον· πᾶς καθαρὸς ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ σου ἔδεται αὐτά.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Primitias autem, quas voverint et obtulerint filii Israël, tibi dedi, et filiis tuis, ac filiabus tuis, jure perpetuo: qui mundus est in domo tua, vescetur eis.
“También será tuyo lo siguiente: las ofrendas especiales que los israelitas presenten como un don. Te las he dado a ti, a tus hijos y a tus hijas, como una ley permanente. Cualquier persona de tu familia que esté ritualmente pura podrá comer de ellas.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Esto también será tuyo: la ofrenda elevada de sus dones, y todas las ofrendas agitadas de los hijos de Israel, he dado á ti, y á tus hijos y á tus hijas contigo, por estatuto perpetuo: todo limpio en tu casa comerá de ellas.
And this is yours as well: the offering of their gifts, along with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given this to you and your sons and daughters as a permanent statute. Every ceremonially clean person in your household may eat it.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Numbers 18:11 specifies that the priest (addressed in second person masculine singular) receives a portion of the offerings brought by the Israelites — described as terumat ("contribution of", H8641) their matanam ("gift", H4976) and all the tenufot ("wave-offerings", H8573) of the people. This portion is granted to him, his sons, and his daughters as a perpetual statute, to be eaten by any ritually clean member of his household.
Key words
- terumat ("contribution of", H8641) — feminine singular construct noun, opening a chain of construct relations ("contribution of the gift of...") that defines the type of offering in view.
- tenufot ("wave-offerings of", H8573) — feminine plural construct, linked to bene Yisra'el ("sons of Israel", H1121G/H3478), specifying the source of the offerings as coming from the whole people.
- netaTi ("I have given", H5414G) — qal perfect, first person singular, marking a completed act of giving; the perfect aspect frames the statute as already established at the moment of speaking.
- chok ("prescribed portion of", H2706H) — masculine singular construct, paired with olam ("perpetuity", H5769G) to form the fixed expression "a portion for perpetuity."
- tahor ("clean [person]", H2889) — masculine singular adjective, functioning substantively ("the clean one"), setting the condition of ritual purity required for consumption.
What the text says
The verse opens with a casus pendens construction: ve-zeh-lekha ("and this to you", H9002+H2088+H9005+H9031) states the topic before the predicate is unpacked. The referent "this" is then specified through a chain of construct nouns — terumat matanam le-khol-tenufot bene Yisra'el — literally "the contribution of their gift, from all the wave-offerings of the sons of Israel." This stacking of construct forms narrows the category of offering step by step rather than naming it in a single term.
The verb netaTi ("I have given", H5414G), a qal perfect, restates the grant already announced by zeh-lekha, reinforcing it with a first-person declarative act. The recipients are expanded beyond the addressee (lekha, "to you") to include vaneikha ("your sons", H1121A) and venoteikha ("your daughters", H1323G), joined by itekha ("with you", H0854), before the whole grant is fixed as chok-olam ("a prescribed portion of perpetuity", H2706H+H5769G). The final clause conditions consumption on ritual status: kol-tahor be-veitkha yokhal oto ("every clean person in your household will eat it", H2889+H1004M+H0398), using the qal imperfect yokhal to express an ongoing, repeatable permission rather than a single event.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew names the offerings through the construct chain terumat matanam and tenufot, both referring to categories of contribution and wave-offering. The LXX renders this as ἀπαρχῶν δομάτων ("firstfruits of gifts") and τῶν ἐπιθεμάτων ("things laid upon"), terms not identical to "wave-offering." The Vulgate departs further, using primitias quas voverint et obtulerint ("firstfruits which they have vowed and offered"), introducing the notion of vowing (voverint) that is not present in the Hebrew wording of this verse.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.