Numbers 25:7

Summary

The verse narrates three successive actions of Phinehas, identified through a three-generation genealogy (son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest): he sees, he rises from the midst of the congregation, and he takes a spear in his hand.

Key words

• va-yar ("and he saw", H7200G) — qal wayyiqtol, first in a chain of narrative verbs marking sequential action ("and then he saw").
• ben ("son of", H1121A) — masculine singular construct, used twice to build the genealogical chain Phinehas–Eleazar–Aaron.
• va-yakom ("and he arose", H6965B) — qal wayyiqtol, second verb in the sequence, marking the physical movement that follows perception.
• edah ("congregation", H5712) — feminine singular noun with definite article, the collective body from whose midst (mi-tokh, H9006+H8432) Phinehas separates himself.
• va-yikkach ("and he took", H3947G) — qal wayyiqtol, third verb, completing the action sequence with the object romach ("spear", H7420).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain of three wayyiqtol verbs — va-yar, va-yakom, va-yikkach — each introduced by the narrative vav (H9001). This construction presents the three actions (seeing, rising, taking) as sequential and equally weighted events in the story's timeline, a typical feature of Biblical Hebrew narrative syntax where the main narrative line advances through this chained verb form rather than through subordination.

The identification of Phinehas uses a double construct chain: Pinechas ben-Elazar ben-Aharon ha-kohen ("Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest"). The construct form ben (H1121A) appears twice, linking three generations in a single genitive chain without any additional connecting word, and the title ha-kohen ("the priest", H3548 with article H9009) attaches to Aaron, the final name in the chain.

The phrase mi-tokh ha-edah ("from the midst of the congregation") uses tokh (H8432) in construct with edah (H5712), a noun phrase describing physical separation from a defined group.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew presents va-yar as an independent finite verb (first in the chain), giving the seeing equal narrative weight to the rising and taking. The LXX renders this with a participle, ἰδών ("having seen"), which subordinates the act of seeing to the following main verb ἐξανέστη ("he rose up"). The Vulgate similarly uses a subordinate temporal clause, Quod cum vidisset ("when he had seen this"), also subordinating the seeing rather than presenting it as a parallel narrative action.

For the object taken, the Hebrew romach (H7420, "spear") is rendered in the LXX as σειρομάστην (a hunting-spear/javelin type weapon) and in the Vulgate as pugione ("dagger"), showing variation in how the specific weapon is identified across the versions.