Numbers 31:43
וַתְּהִי מֶחֱצַת הָעֵדָה מִן־הַצֹּאן שְׁלֹשׁ־מֵאוֹת אֶלֶף וּשְׁלֹשִׁים אֶלֶף שִׁבְעַת אֲלָפִים וַחֲמֵשׁ מֵאֽוֹת׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַתְּהִ֛י מֶחֱצַ֥ת הָעֵדָ֖ה מִן־הַצֹּ֑אן שְׁלֹשׁ־מֵא֥וֹת אֶ֙לֶף֙ וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֣ים אֶ֔לֶף שִׁבְעַ֥ת אֲלָפִ֖ים וַחֲמֵ֥שׁ מֵאֽוֹת׃
καὶ ἐγένετο τὸ ἡμίσευμα ἀπὸ τῆς συναγωγῆς ἀπὸ τῶν προβάτων τριακόσιαι χιλιάδες καὶ τριάκοντα χιλιάδες καὶ ἑπτακισχίλια καὶ πεντακόσια,
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
De media vero parte, quæ contigerat reliquæ multitudini, id est, de ovibus trecentis triginta septem millibus quingentis,
(esta mitad consistía en trescientas treinta y siete mil quinientas ovejas,
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
( La mitad para la congregación fué: de las ovejas, trescientas treinta y siete mil y quinientas;
this half belonged to the congregation: 337,500 sheep,
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse states that the congregation's half share of the sheep from the plunder amounted to 337,500 animals. It is a purely numerical report, continuing the census of war spoils described earlier in the chapter.
Key words
- va-teHi ("and it was", H1961) — qal verb with narrative vav, marking a new statement in the sequence of the account ("and then it came to be...").
- mecheTzat ("half of", H4275) — feminine singular noun in construct state, linking directly to ha-'edah ("the congregation") to express a possessive relationship ("the half of the congregation").
- sheloshMe'ot ("three hundred", H7969 + H3967) — cardinal number in construct form, the first component of the compound total.
- 'Elef ("thousand", H0505G) — appears three times (singular, then implied plural via 'alaFim), each attached to a different numeral to build the cumulative sum.
- shiv'At 'alaFim ("seven of thousands", H7651 + H0505G) — construct chain expressing "seven thousand," part of the additive numerical sequence.
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence is built as a numerical listing chained by conjunctions (va, u, H9001/H9002), a common construction for large sums in Biblical Hebrew. The verb teHi ("it was", H1961) opens the clause with narrative continuity, then the subject mecheTzat ha-'edah ("the half of the congregation", H4275 + H9009 + H5712) identifies what quantity is being described — the portion belonging to the community from the flock designated by min-ha-tzon ("from the sheep", H4480A + H9009 + H6629G).
The numeral itself is expressed through a sequence of construct chains: shelosh-me'ot 'elef ("three hundred thousand", H7969+H3967+H0505G), u-sheloshim 'elef ("and thirty thousand", H9002+H7970+H0505G), shiv'at 'alafim ("seven thousand", H7651+H0505G), and va-chamesh me'ot ("and five hundred", H9002+H2568+H3967). Each numeral element is joined without a single summarizing word for "total," relying instead on additive juxtaposition — a structural feature that Hebrew narrative math typically uses, listing units from largest to smallest without a explicit arithmetic operator.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew constructs the number through four sequential terms (300,000 + 30,000 + 7,000 + 500), while the LXX (Swete) mirrors this structure numeral by numeral (τριακόσιαι χιλιάδες, τριάκοντα χιλιάδες, ἑπτακισχίλια, πεντακόσια). The Vulgate (Clementine) instead compresses the figure into a single phrase, "trecentis triginta septem millibus quingentis" ("three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred"), presenting the same total as one integrated number rather than as separate additive components. The English and Spanish renderings (BSB, RV1909, SBLIBRE) follow the Vulgate's approach of giving a single consolidated figure (337,500) rather than reproducing the Hebrew's segmented listing style.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.