Numbers 35:18

Summary

Numbers 35:18 addresses the case of a person killed with a wooden hand-held object. If someone struck another with such an instrument and death resulted, the text names the striker a rotzeach ("killer/murderer", H7523) and states that this rotzeach must be put to death.

Key words

• kh.Li ("instrument of", H3627) — construct noun, meaning "an instrument of," grammatically bound to the following word to form a compound description of the weapon.
• 'etz ("wood of", H6086I) — construct noun continuing the chain, so kh.Li ... 'etz ... yad together describes a wooden object suited to the hand.
• yad ("hand", H3027O) — absolute noun completing the construct chain, specifying that the wooden object is hand-held/hand-wielded.
• hiKa ("he struck down", H5221) — Hiphil (causative) perfect, marking a completed causative act: the subject caused the blow to happen.
• roTzeach ("killer", H7523) — Qal participle, appearing twice (lines 14 and 19); as a participle it functions almost as a noun/label, identifying the striker by an ongoing category ("one who kills") rather than a single event.
• Mot yuMat ("certainly ... he will be put to death", H4191) — infinitive absolute (Mot) followed by the Hophal (causative passive) imperfect (yuMat) of the same root; this doubling is a Hebrew intensifying construction, reinforcing the certainty of the action.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence builds its weapon description through a three-word construct chain — kh.Li / 'etz / yad — literally "instrument of wood of hand," which functions as a single compound noun phrase meaning a wooden implement wielded by hand. This is followed by a relative clause, 'asher yaMut bo ("which someone will die by it"), specifying that the object is lethal by nature or use, before the narrative verbs describe the action: hiKa ("he struck") in the Hiphil perfect, then the narrative-vav form vaYaMot ("and he died") in the Qal.

The verse then labels the perpetrator using the participle roTzeach ("[is] a killer") rather than a finite verb, which frames the identification as a descriptive, ongoing designation rather than a single completed act. The final clause repeats this same participle, ha-roTzeach ("the killer"), now with the definite article, referring back to the person just identified. Between these two occurrences of roTzeach stands the infinitive absolute plus imperfect construction Mot yuMat, a grammatical device that intensifies the verb "to be put to death," expressing certainty or emphasis that Hebrew marks through verbal repetition rather than an adverb.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate condenses the weapon description to "ligno percussus" ("struck by wood"), omitting the explicit "hand" (yad) element present in the Hebrew construct chain and reflected in the LXX's "ἐκ χειρὸς" ("from hand"). The Vulgate's closing clause, "percussoris sanguine vindicabitur" ("he will be avenged by the blood of the striker"), differs structurally from the Hebrew's doubled rotzeach framing and the intensified "he will surely be put to death," expressing the outcome through vengeance/blood language rather than the infinitive-absolute emphasis on execution found in the Hebrew and rendered by the LXX as "θανάτῳ θανατούσθω" ("let him be put to death by death").