Numbers 3:45

Summary

God commands Moses to take the Levites (H3881) in place of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites in place of the livestock of the Israelites. The verse closes with a declaration that the Levites will belong to Yehovah, followed by the self-identification formula "I am Yehovah."

Key words

• kach ("take", H3947G) — qal imperative, 2nd masculine singular: a direct command addressed to Moses, opening the verse as an instruction to be carried out.
• Tachat ("in place of", H8478H) — masculine singular noun in construct state, appearing twice (positions 5 and 16); it establishes a relation of substitution, first between Levites and firstborn, then between the livestock of each group.
• bekhor ("firstborn", H1060) — masculine singular noun, governed by kol ("every", H3605) in construct, meaning "every firstborn," specifying the totality of firstborns being replaced.
• hayu ("they will belong", H1961) — qal sequential perfect, 3rd person plural: continues the narrative sequence begun by the imperative, marking the resulting state after the substitution is enacted.
• 'ani Yehovah ("I [am] Yehovah", H0589 + H3068G) — personal pronoun followed by the divine name, forming a closing self-identification without a copula verb, typical of formulaic declarations in this material.

What the text says

The verse is built on a double substitution structure marked twice by tachat (H8478H): the Levites replace the firstborn bekhor (H1060) among the bene Yisra'el ("sons of Israel", H1121G + H3478), and the livestock of the Levites replace the livestock of the Israelites, using the construct noun behemat ("livestock of", H0929) on both sides of the equation. The syntax pairs person-for-person and animal-for-animal substitution in parallel clauses joined by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002).

The verb hayu (H1961), formed as a sequential perfect continuing the initial imperative kach (H3947G), shifts the sentence from command to resulting state: once the substitution is carried out, the Levites "will belong" to the speaker, expressed through the prepositional phrase li ("to me", H9005+H9030) rather than a possessive construct noun. The verse ends with the independent personal pronoun 'ani ("I", H0589) directly followed by the name Yehovah (H3068G), a nominal (verbless) self-identification clause.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the initial imperative in the plural (Λάβετε, "take" pl.) where the Hebrew kach (H3947G) is singular, addressing a group rather than an individual. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew singular with Tolle ("take", sing.). The Vulgate also adds sum ("I am") explicitly in "Ego sum Dominus," making the verbless Hebrew clause 'ani Yehovah into a full verbal predicate, a feature the Hebrew construction does not contain.