Numbers 31:47

וַיִּקַּח מֹשֶׁה מִמַּחֲצִת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־הָֽאָחֻז אֶחָד מִן־הַחֲמִשִּׁים מִן־הָאָדָם וּמִן־הַבְּהֵמָה וַיִּתֵּן אֹתָם לַלְוִיִּם שֹֽׁמְרֵי מִשְׁמֶרֶת מִשְׁכַּן יְהוָה כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה אֶת־מֹשֶֽׁה׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

Tap a word to see its entry

✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וַיִּקַּ֨ח מֹשֶׁ֜ה מִמַּחֲצִ֣ת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל אֶת־הָֽאָחֻז֙ אֶחָ֣ד מִן־הַחֲמִשִּׁ֔ים מִן־הָאָדָ֖ם וּמִן־הַבְּהֵמָ֑ה וַיִּתֵּ֨ן אֹתָ֜ם לַלְוִיִּ֗ם שֹֽׁמְרֵי֙ מִשְׁמֶ֙רֶת֙ מִשְׁכַּ֣ן יְהוָ֔ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר צִוָּ֥ה יְהוָ֖ה אֶת־מֹשֶֽׁה׃

Greek (Septuagint)

κοὶ ἔλαβεν Μωυσῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἡμισεύματος τῶν υἱῶν ᾿Ισραὴλ τὸ ἕν ἀπὸ τῶν πεντήκοντα, ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν κτηνῶν, καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτὰ τοῖς Λευείταις τοῖς φυλάσσουσιν τὰς φυλακὰς τῆς σκηνῆς κυρίου, ὃν τρόπον συνέταξεν κύριος τῷ Μωυσῇ.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

tulit Moyses quinquagesimum caput, et dedit Levitis, qui excubabant in tabernaculo Domini, sicut præceperat Dominus.

Spanish

de esta mitad correspondiente a los israelitas, Moisés tomó uno de cada cincuenta, tanto de personas como de animales, y se los entregó a los levitas encargados del tabernáculo de Yehová, tal como Yehová se lo había ordenado.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

De la mitad, pues, para los hijos de Israel tomó Moisés uno de cada cincuenta, así de las personas como de los animales, y diólos á los Levitas, que tenían la guarda del tabernáculo de Jehová; como Jehová lo había mandado á Moisés.

English

From the Israelites ’ half, Moses took one out of every fifty persons and animals and gave them to the Levites who kept charge of the tabernacle of the LORD, as the LORD had commanded him. The Voluntary Offering

✦ What the text says

Summary

Numbers 31:47 narrates that Moses took, from the half of the tribute belonging to the Israelites, one unit out of every fifty — both from humans and from livestock — and gave them to the Levites who kept charge of the tabernacle of Yehovah, in accordance with Yehovah's earlier command to Moses.

Key words

va-yi.Kach ("he took", H3947G) — qal narrative verb, continuing the sequence of actions from prior verses ("and then he took").
ma.cha.Tzit ("half of", H4276) — feminine singular construct noun, linking directly to be.nei-Yis.ra.'El ("sons of Israel"), marking the specific portion of spoil under discussion.
'a.Chuz ("drawn/seized", H0270) — qal passive participle, describing the "one" unit as something taken out or set apart from the group of fifty.
sho.me.Rei ("keepers of", H8104H) — qal participle construct, plural, describing the Levites' ongoing function as those who "keep the charge" of the tabernacle.
tzi.Vah ("he had commanded", H6680) — piel perfect verb, marking a completed prior act of command that grounds the present action in obedience to a previous instruction.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative verb va-yi.Kach ("and he took", H3947G), with mo.Sheh ("Moses", H4872) as subject, establishing Moses as the one performing the action. The phrase mi-ma.cha.Tzit be.nei-Yis.ra.'El ("from the half of the sons of Israel", H4276 + H1121G + H3478) uses a construct chain to specify that the portion in question is the half already allotted to the Israelites, distinguishing it from any other portion (such as one for soldiers, mentioned earlier in the chapter). The object taken is marked by 'et- (H0853) plus the participle 'a.Chuz ("drawn", H0270) modifying 'e.Chad ("one", H0259), yielding "the one drawn out from the fifty" — a single unit extracted proportionally, as clarified by min-ha-cha.mi.Shim ("from the fifty", H2572).

The second clause, introduced by another narrative verb va-yi.Ten ("and he gave", H5414G), states that Moses gave "them" ('o.Tam, object marker + 3mp suffix) to la-le.vi.Yim ("to the Levites", H3881). The Levites are further described by the construct participle sho.me.Rei mish.Me.ret mish.Kan Yah.weh ("keepers of the charge of the tabernacle of Yehovah"), a triple construct chain that ties their identity to their custodial role over the tabernacle. The closing clause ka-'a.Sher tzi.Vah Yah.weh 'et-mo.Sheh ("just as Yehovah had commanded Moses") uses the piel perfect tzi.Vah (H6680) to indicate that this distribution fulfills an instruction given prior to the narrated events.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) renders the passage more compactly, stating Moses "took the fiftieth head" (quinquagesimum caput) and omits explicit mention of "livestock" separately, simplifying the Hebrew's distinction between ha-'a.Dam ("humankind", H0120G) and ha-be.he.Mah ("livestock", H0929) into a single phrase. The LXX (LXXSWETE) preserves both categories (ἀνθρώπων "of humans" and κτηνῶν "of cattle"), matching the Hebrew's structure more closely than the Vulgate does.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.