Numbers 31:51

Summary

The verse reports that Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the military commanders, described as "every article of work" — that is, all the gold objects that had been crafted. This concludes the section on the distribution of war spoils described earlier in the chapter.

Key words

• va-yiqqach ("and he took", H3947H) — qal verb in narrative form (vav-consecutive), marking the next action in the story sequence; singular verb governing the compound subject that follows.
• Mosheh ("Moses", H4872) — proper name, first element of the compound subject performing the action of taking.
• ha-kohen ("the priest", H3548) — noun with definite article, functioning as an appositive title for Eleazar, specifying his priestly role in this transaction.
• me'ittam ("from with them", H0854 + H9038) — preposition 'et ("with") combined with the pronominal suffix "them," indicating the source from which the gold was taken.
• kol keli ma'aseh ("every article of work", H3605 + H3627 + H4639G) — a construct chain: kol ("every") governs keli ("article of," construct form), which itself governs ma'aseh ("work"), producing the sense "every worked/crafted article."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the narrative verb va-yiqqach ("and he took," H3947H), a qal form in the vav-consecutive pattern typical of Biblical Hebrew storytelling, which links this action directly to the preceding narrative. Although the verb is singular in form, it governs a compound subject — Mosheh ("Moses," H4872) and ve-'El'azar ha-kohen ("and Eleazar the priest," H0499G + H3548) — a common construction in Biblical Hebrew where a singular verb precedes a compound subject, with agreement following the first-named element.

The object of the action is marked by the direct object particle 'et (H0853, untranslated) followed by ha-zahav ("the gold," H2091). The phrase me-'ittam ("from with them," H9006 + H0854 + H9038) specifies that the gold came "from them" — referring back to the officers of the army mentioned in the preceding verses, though not named again here.

The final phrase, kol keli ma'aseh ("every article of work," H3605 + H3627 + H4639G), is a construct chain stacking three nouns: "every" governs "article/vessel," which governs "work" or "craftsmanship." This grammatical structure produces the sense of "every crafted item," emphasizing that the gold received consisted of finished, worked objects rather than raw material.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders keli ma'aseh as σκεῦος εἰργασμένον ("a worked vessel/object," singular), while the Hebrew construct chain kol keli ma'aseh more naturally reads as a plural collective ("every article of work"). The Vulgate's in diversis speciebus ("in various kinds/forms") interprets the construct phrase more loosely, emphasizing variety of forms rather than the "workmanship" nuance carried by ma'aseh ("work," H4639G) in the Hebrew.