Numbers 19:2

Summary

Numbers 19:2 opens the instructions for a ritual by identifying it as a fixed legal statute commanded by Yehovah. Moses is told to instruct the Israelites to procure a red heifer that is unblemished, defect-free, and has never borne a yoke.

Key words

• chuKat ("[is] [the] statute of", H2708) — feminine singular construct noun, linking directly to haTorah to form the phrase "statute of the law/instruction."
• tzi.Vah ("he has commanded", H6680) — piel perfect of the verb "to command," indicating a completed, authoritative act by the subject that follows.
• yikChu ("they may bring", H3947J) — qal imperfect with vav, expressing purpose or result following the imperative daBer ("speak"): the command to speak leads to the people's action of bringing.
• parah 'aduMah temiMah ("a heifer... red... unblemished") — a string of noun plus two feminine singular adjectives, each qualifying the animal required: color ('aduMah, H0122A) and physical wholeness (temiMah, H8549G).
• 'ein-bah mum ("there is no blemish in it", H0369 + H3971B) — a negative existential construction using 'ein ("there is not") with the noun mum ("blemish"), reinforcing the adjective temiMah with an explicit negative clause.

What the text says

The verse begins with the demonstrative zot ("this", H2063) pointing forward to the regulation about to be described, followed immediately by the construct phrase chuKat haTorah ("statute of the law"), where chuKat (H2708) stands in construct relationship to haTorah (H8451). This construct chain frames the entire passage as a formal legal category rather than a general instruction. The relative clause 'asher tzivah Yehovah ("which Yehovah has commanded") uses the piel perfect tzivah (H6680) to mark the divine command as an accomplished act preceding the narrated speech.

The imperative daBer ("speak", H1696G) addressed to Moses initiates a chain of action: he is to speak 'el-benei Yisra'el ("to the sons of Israel", H1121G + H3478), and the vav-consecutive imperfect yikchu (H3947J) expresses the intended outcome — "so that they may bring." The object of this bringing, parah ("a heifer", H6510), receives three successive qualifications: 'adumah ("red", H0122A), temimah ("unblemished", H8549G), and then two full relative clauses reinforcing purity — 'asher 'ein-bah mum ("which has no blemish in it") and 'asher lo-'alah 'aleiha 'ol ("which no yoke has gone up on it," using the qal perfect 'alah, H5927G). This repetition of purity criteria across an adjective and two relative clauses is a feature of the Hebrew that flattens somewhat in translation, where "unblemished" and "no blemish" may appear redundant but in the source text function as distinct grammatical layers (adjective vs. explicit negated clause).

Differences between versions

The LXX renders chuKat haTorah as "τῆς τοῦ νόμου" (roughly "of the law"), omitting an explicit equivalent for chuKat as a separate noun, while the Vulgate uses "religio victimæ" ("the religious rite of the victim/offering"), diverging from the Hebrew's more general "statute of the law" by specifying the ritual as concerning the sacrificial victim. The Hebrew parah ("heifer") is rendered as "δάμαλιν"/"vaccam" in LXX and Vulgate respectively, consistent with the source term but the Vulgate adds "ætatis integræ" ("of complete/whole age"), an element not present in the Hebrew's temimah ("unblemished") alone.