Numbers 3:32

Summary

The verse identifies Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, as the chief over the leaders of the Levites, and states that he holds the oversight of those who keep the duty of the holy place.

Key words

• ne.Si' ("[the] leader of", H5387A) — masculine singular construct noun, opening a construct chain that establishes Eleazar's rank as chief over other chiefs.
• ne.si.'Ei ("[the] leaders of", H5387A) — plural construct of the same noun, forming the phrase "leader of the leaders," a superlative-type construction indicating supremacy within the group.
• pe.ku.Dat ("[the] oversight of", H6486) — feminine singular construct noun from a root related to appointing/counting, introducing what Eleazar's authority actually consists of.
• sho.me.Rei ("[the] keepers of", H8104H) — qal participle, masculine plural construct, describing an ongoing group action ("those who keep") rather than a static title, and placed in construct with the following noun.
• mish.Me.ret ("[the] duty of", H4931) — feminine singular construct noun paired with ha.Ko.desh ("holy place", H6944G), specifying the object of the guarding duty.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built entirely on chained construct phrases (semikhut). The first chain, ne.Si' ne.si.'Ei ha.Le.vi ("leader of the leaders of the Levite[s]"), places Eleazar's title before naming him, so the grammar itself establishes hierarchy before identity: he is leader over leaders. His personal identification follows in apposition — 'El'azar ben-'Aharon ha.Kohen ("Eleazar son of Aaron the priest") — anchoring his authority in genealogy and priestly status rather than in a separate verbal clause.

The second half of the verse has no finite verb; it continues as a noun phrase, peQudat shomeRei mishMeret ha.Qodesh ("the oversight of the keepers of the duty of the holy place"). This creates a second, nested construct chain: "oversight" governs "keepers," which governs "duty," which governs "the holy place." The participle shomeRei ("keepers of") functions as a substantive within the chain, referring to the group performing guard duty, not to a single event of guarding. Because there is no verb "to be" in the Hebrew, translators must supply one (e.g., "he oversaw," "will be") to render the phrase as a full sentence in English or Spanish.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the opening title with two distinct terms, archōn and archontōn ("ruler... of the rulers"), and adds a participle, kathestamenos ("having been appointed"), which is not present as a separate word in the Hebrew construct chain — the Hebrew expresses this appointment relationship purely through construct-noun syntax (peQudat, "oversight of"). The Vulgate similarly inserts the verb erit ("he will be"), turning the Hebrew's verbless noun phrase into an explicit future-tense clause. The BSB and SBLIBRE likewise supply verbs ("was," "oversaw," "supervisará") absent in the Hebrew construct construction.