Numbers 18:15

Summary

The verse establishes that every firstborn from a womb, whether human or animal, offered to Yehovah belongs to the priest, with the explicit qualification that the firstborn of humans and of unclean animals must be redeemed rather than kept or sacrificed.

Key words

• Pe.ter ("firstborn of", H6363A) — construct form paired with Re.chem ("a womb", H7358), together meaning "that which opens/breaks open a womb," the technical term for a firstborn offspring.
• yak.Ri.vu ("they will bring near", H7126H) — hiphil (causative) imperfect, describing the ongoing/future act of people presenting offerings to Yehovah; the causative stem marks it as bringing something to the deity, not merely approaching.
• pa.Doh tif.Deh ("certainly you will redeem", H6299 twice) — an infinitive absolute followed by a finite imperfect of the same root, a construction that intensifies or emphasizes the verb's certainty: "you shall surely redeem."
• ha.T'me.'Ah ("unclean", H2931) — feminine singular adjective modifying be.he.Mah ("animal", H929), restricting the redemption requirement specifically to unclean animals among firstborn animals.
• ba.'A.dam...ba.behe.Mah ("among humankind... among animal[s]", H120, H929) — paired prepositional phrases with the article, marking the two categories (human, animal) to which the general rule about firstborns applies.

What the text says

The sentence opens with a long construct chain — kol pe.ter re.chem le.khol ba.sar ("every firstborn of a womb of all flesh") — functioning as the subject of the clause, followed by a relative clause ('a.sher yak.ri.vu la.Yehovah, "which they will bring near to Yehovah") that specifies these are offerings actually presented. The main verb yih.yeh ("it will belong", H1961, qal imperfect) declares that this firstborn "will belong to you," using the second-person suffix -kha to address the priestly recipient (Aaron, per context).

The clause beginning with 'akh ("only", H389) introduces a restriction. The infinitive absolute + imperfect construction (pa.Doh tif.Deh) grammatically emphasizes obligation — the redemption of the human firstborn is not optional. The text then separates the two categories: bekhor ha.'adam ("firstborn of humankind") uses the definite article, while bekhor ha.behemah ha.teme'ah ("firstborn of the unclean animal") narrows the animal category specifically to unclean animals, each object marked by 'et (H853, untranslated object marker). The repetition of tif.Deh at the end of the verse applies the same redemption verb separately to this second category.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the final redemption clauses with two different verb forms: λυτρωθήσεται (passive, "shall be redeemed") for the human firstborn, and λυτρώσῃ (middle/active, "you shall redeem") for animals — where the Hebrew uses the same active verb form (tif.Deh) with the same second-person subject for both categories. The Vulgate similarly diverges by using pretium accipias ("you shall receive a price") for the human firstborn, distinct from redimi facias ("you shall cause to be redeemed") for unclean animals, introducing a verbal distinction between the two clauses that the Hebrew text does not mark, since it uses the identical root padah (H6299) in both instances.