Numbers 3:30

Summary

The verse names the leader appointed over the Kohathite clans within the tribe of Levi. It identifies him by name, Elitzafan, and by patronymic, son of Uzziel.

Key words

• nasi ("leader of", H5387A) — masculine singular construct noun, syntactically bound to the following phrase "house of a father," meaning this word cannot stand alone but requires a following noun to complete its sense ("leader of X").
• beit ("house of", H1004M) — construct form of "house," here forming part of the fixed expression beit av ("house of a father"), a term denoting a family or clan grouping within the tribe.
• mishpechot ("clans of", H4940) — feminine plural construct noun, marking the specific clan groupings that the leader governs; the construct chain links it forward to "the Kohathite."
• haqqehati ("the Kohathite", H6956) — gentilic noun with the definite article ha ("the", H9009) attached, identifying the clan-group by ancestral affiliation to Kohath.
• ben ("son of", H1121A) — construct noun introducing the patronymic, linking Elitzafan to his father Uzziel.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built almost entirely on construct chains, a grammatical structure where a noun in construct form ("of") is bound tightly to the noun that follows it, creating a single compound meaning. Here the chain runs: nasi ("leader of") → beit av ("house of a father") → mishpechot ("clans of") → haqqehati ("the Kohathite"). This produces the sense "the leader of the paternal house of the clans of the Kohathite [group]," a layered administrative title rather than a simple phrase like "leader of the Kohathites." The construct chain reflects a hierarchical organizational vocabulary: individual clans (mishpechot) are grouped under a "house of a father" (beit av), and this whole grouping has one nasi.

After this title, the text supplies the personal identification: Elitzafan, followed by ben ("son of") plus Uzziel, the standard Hebrew patronymic formula. The verse's structure thus moves from institutional role (the title, expressed through nested construct nouns) to individual identity (name plus father's name), a common pattern in these administrative lists in Numbers.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) renders the construct chain differently, using οἴκου πατριῶν τῶν δήμων τοῦ Καὰθ ("house of the patriarchal groups of the peoples of Kaath"), inserting "peoples" (δήμων) where the Hebrew has "clans" (mishpechot) directly bound to "the Kohathite," slightly reorganizing the nesting of terms. The Vulgate compresses the title altogether, giving only "Princepsque eorum erit" ("and their prince will be"), omitting explicit mention of beit av ("house of a father") and mishpechot ("clans") found in the Hebrew construct chain.