Numbers 31:37

Summary

The verse records the amount of the tax (mekhes) set apart for Yehovah from the sheep taken as spoil: six hundred seventy-five animals. It functions as one item in a list detailing how the war plunder was divided and consecrated.

Key words

• va-y.Hi ("and it was", H9001+H1961) — narrative vav plus the qal verb "to be," marking the sentence as a continuation of the ongoing narrative sequence, introducing a stated fact ("and it came to be...").
• ha-Me.khes ("the tax/tribute", H9009+H4371) — definite noun; the article specifies this particular portion already established in the surrounding text as the set-aside share.
• la-Yehovah ("for Yehovah", H9005+H3068G) — preposition + proper name, marking the recipient/beneficiary of the mekhes, i.e., to whom the portion is designated.
• min-ha-Tzon ("from the sheep", H4480A+H9009+H6629G) — preposition of source + definite noun, specifying the category of livestock from which this tax is drawn.
• shesh me'ot chamesh ve-shiv'im ("six hundred, five and seventy", H8337+H3967+H2568+H9002+H7657) — compound cardinal number construction: "six hundred" stands in construct-like position before the units, and "five and seventy" (75) is added, together yielding 675.

What the text says

The clause opens with the narrative formula va-y.Hi ("and it was"), a standard device in Biblical Hebrew narrative that signals a new statement of fact within a sequence of reported events — here, the tallying of spoils. The subject of this "to be" clause is ha-Mekhes ("the tax"), a definite noun referring back to the portion previously designated for Yehovah. The prepositional phrase la-Yehovah identifies the recipient, while min-ha-Tzon specifies the source category: sheep, as distinct from other livestock or spoil mentioned elsewhere in the chapter.

The numeral construction is built additively: shesh me'ot ("six hundred") is the base figure, and chamesh ve-shiv'im ("five and seventy") is added onto it, a Hebrew numeral pattern where the smaller unit (5) precedes the larger tens unit (70), joined by the conjunction ve- ("and"). The total, 675, expresses the specific quantity of sheep constituting the tax portion for Yehovah, distinguishing it from the whole flock captured as spoil described in the surrounding verses.

Differences between versions

No substantive divergence appears among the versions provided: the Hebrew numeral (675), the LXX's ἑξακόσιοι ἑβδομήκοντα πέντε, and the Vulgate's sexcentae septuaginta quinque all render the same total. The Vulgate additionally supplies the phrase "in partem Domini" ("in the portion of the Lord"), which corresponds to the Hebrew la-Yehovah but phrases it more explicitly as a designated share.