Numbers 18:27

Summary

The verse states that the contribution set aside by the Levites will be counted or credited to them in the same way that grain from the threshing floor and produce from the wine-press are counted — that is, treated as equivalent to full agricultural offerings.

Key words

• nechShav ("it will be reckoned", H2803) — niphal (passive) verb, sequential perfect continuing the narrative; the action happens to the offering, without naming who reckons it.
• terumatKhem ("your contribution", H8641) — feminine singular noun in construct with the pronominal suffix "your" (m. pl.), naming the specific portion set apart.
• dagan ("grain", H1715) — masculine singular noun, the standard of comparison for how the contribution is valued.
• goren ("threshing floor", H1637) — feminine singular noun with definite article, the place where grain is processed, marking the source of the standard.
• melе'ah ("full produce", H4395) — feminine singular noun, referring to the fullness/yield from the wine-press, paired with dagan as a second point of comparison.

What the text says

The clause opens with the narrative ve ("and", H9001) attached to nechShav, a niphal (passive) verb form of H2803, meaning the contribution is the grammatical subject that "will be reckoned" — no explicit agent performs the reckoning; the passive voice keeps the focus on the status of the offering itself rather than on who evaluates it. The verb governs a prepositional phrase, lakhem ("to you", H9005/H9036), indicating for whose benefit or account the reckoning occurs.

The noun terumatkhem ("your contribution", H8641) is in construct form with a second-person plural suffix, so the phrase names a specific portion belonging to the addressees. The comparison is built with two parallel ka- ("like the", H9004) prepositional phrases: kadagan min-hagoren ("like grain from the threshing floor", H1715 + H1637) and ve-khamelе'ah min-hayyakev ("and like the full produce from the wine-press", H4395 + H3342). Both comparisons use the preposition min ("from", H4480A) to specify the origin of the grain and produce being used as the standard of equivalence. The parallel structure — two nouns, each linked to its source location by min — creates a balanced pairing: processed grain from the threshing floor and pressed produce from the wine-press, both functioning as reference points for how the contribution is to be counted or valued.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders terumatkhem ("your contribution") with the plural ta aphairemata ("the offerings"), a slightly different number treatment than the singular construct noun in the Hebrew. The Vulgate renders the clause with in oblationem primitivorum ("as an offering of firstfruits"), introducing the concept of "firstfruits," a specification not present in the Hebrew wording, which simply says terumatkhem ("your contribution") without the term corresponding to firstfruits.