Numbers 35:16

Summary

Numbers 35:16 establishes a legal case: if a person strikes another with an instrument of iron (kh'li var'zel, "an instrument of iron", H3627/H1270) and death results, the one who struck is classified as rotze'ach ("a killer/murderer", H7523), and the text mandates that this killer must be put to death.

Key words

• kh'li var'zel ("an instrument of iron", H3627/H1270) — a construct chain naming the murder weapon by material; the noun kh'li is generic ("instrument/vessel/tool") and is specified as being made of barzel, "iron."
• hikkahu ("he struck him", H5221) — hiphil perfect of the root meaning "to strike," a causative verb showing completed action; the object suffix "him" is attached directly to the verb.
• vayyamot ("and he died", H4191) — qal narrative form (vav + imperfect pattern used for sequence), linking the striking to the resulting death as a consequence in the story sequence.
• rotzeach hu ("he is a killer", H7523/H1931) — a qal participle ("the one doing [killing]") combined with the independent pronoun hu, forming a nominal-type clause that classifies the striker's legal status.
• mot yumat ("he will surely be put to death", H4191) — infinitive absolute (mot) followed by the hophal imperfect (yumat) of the same root; this doubling construction intensifies or emphasizes the verbal action, here the passive causative "to be put to death."

What the text says

The verse is built as a conditional clause (ve'im, "and if") followed by two clauses of consequence. The protasis describes the instrument (kh'li barzel) and the action (hikkahu, "he struck him"), using a hiphil perfect verb with a pronominal suffix attaching the object directly to the verb form. The narrative vav on vayyamot ("and he died") sequences the death as following from the strike, using the qal stem for the simple action of dying.

The apodosis has two parts. First, rotzeach hu — a qal participle "the one doing [killing]" combined with the pronoun hu ("he") — forms a classification statement, identifying the striker's status as a killer rather than describing a further action. Second, the clause mot yumat harotzeach repeats the root H4191 twice: once as an infinitive absolute (mot), which in Biblical Hebrew grammar intensifies the following finite verb, and once as a hophal imperfect (yumat), the passive causative form meaning "he will be caused to die." This doubled construction marks the sentence as strongly emphatic regarding the killer's fate, and the subject of this second verb is repeated explicitly as harotzeach ("the killer") with the definite article, rather than relying on the pronoun used earlier.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders kh'li barzel as "ἐν σκεύει σιδήρου" ("with an instrument of iron"), closely matching the Hebrew construct phrase. The Vulgate simplifies to "ferro" ("with iron"), omitting a separate word for "instrument" or "vessel" that is present in the Hebrew kh'li. The Vulgate also renders the Hebrew's infinitive-absolute-plus-imperfect emphatic construction (mot yumat) with "reus erit homicidii, et ipse morietur" ("he will be guilty of homicide, and he himself will die"), expressing the emphasis through two distinct clauses rather than through verbal repetition of a single root as in the Hebrew.