Numbers 4:14
וְנָתְנוּ עָלָיו אֶֽת־כָּל־כֵּלָיו אֲשֶׁר יְֽשָׁרְתוּ עָלָיו בָּהֶם אֶת־הַמַּחְתֹּת אֶת־הַמִּזְלָגֹת וְאֶת־הַיָּעִים וְאֶת־הַמִּזְרָקֹת כֹּל כְּלֵי הַמִּזְבֵּחַ וּפָרְשׂוּ עָלָיו כְּסוּי עוֹר תַּחַשׁ וְשָׂמוּ בַדָּֽיו׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְנָתְנ֣וּ עָ֠לָיו אֶֽת־כָּל־כֵּלָ֞יו אֲשֶׁ֣ר יְֽשָׁרְת֧וּ עָלָ֣יו בָּהֶ֗ם אֶת־הַמַּחְתֹּ֤ת אֶת־הַמִּזְלָגֹת֙ וְאֶת־הַיָּעִ֣ים וְאֶת־הַמִּזְרָקֹ֔ת כֹּ֖ל כְּלֵ֣י הַמִּזְבֵּ֑חַ וּפָרְשׂ֣וּ עָלָ֗יו כְּס֛וּי ע֥וֹר תַּ֖חַשׁ וְשָׂמ֥וּ בַדָּֽיו׃
καὶ ἐπιθήσουσιν ἐπ’ αὐτὸ πάντα τὰ σκεύη ὅσοις λειτουργοῦσιν ἐπ’ αὐτὸ ἐν αὐτοῖς, καὶ τὰ πύρια καὶ τὰς κρεάγρας καὶ τὰς φιάλας καὶ τὸν καλυπτῆρα καὶ πάντα τὰ σκεύη τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου· καὶ ἐπιβαλοῦσιν ἐπ’ αὐτὸ κάλυμμα δερμάτινον ὑακίνθινον, καὶ διεμβαλοῦσιν τοὺς ἀναφορεῖς αὐτοῦ· καὶ λήμψονται ἱμάτιον πορφυροῦν καὶ σὺν καλύψουσιν τὸν λουτῆρα καὶ τὴν βάσιν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐμβαλοῦσιν αὐτὸ εἰς κάλυμμα δερμάτινον ὑακίνθινον, καὶ ἐπιθήσουσιν ἐπὶ ἀναφορεῖς. ἀναθορεῖς.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
ponentque cum eo omnia vasa, quibus in ministerio ejus utuntur, id est, ignium receptacula, fuscinulas ac tridentes, uncinos et batilla. Cuncta vasa altaris operient simul velamine janthinarum pellium, et inducent vectes.
Pondrán sobre él todos los utensilios con los que sirven en él: los braseros, los tenedores, las palas y los tazones, todos los utensilios del altar; extenderán sobre él una cubierta de piel de tejón, y le colocarán sus varas.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y pondrán sobre él todos sus instrumentos de que se sirve: las paletas, los garfios, los braseros, y los tazones, todos los vasos del altar; y extenderán sobre él la cubierta de pieles de tejones, y le pondrán además las varas.
and place on it all the vessels used to serve there: the firepans, meat forks, shovels, and sprinkling bowls — all the equipment of the altar. They are to spread over it a covering of fine leather and insert the poles.
✦ What the text says
Summary
This verse describes the priestly procedure for covering the bronze altar before the Israelites move camp: all its service vessels are to be placed on it, then a covering of tachash skin is spread over it, and its carrying poles are inserted. The verse lists the specific implements involved and closes the instructions for preparing the altar for transport.
Key words
- na.te.Nu ("they will put", H5414H) — qal sequential perfect, continuing a chain of ritual actions begun earlier in the chapter; it marks a required step rather than a simple past event.
- ye.sha.re.Tu ("they will serve", H8334) — piel imperfect, describing the ongoing/repeated function of the vessels ("with which they minister"), distinguishing regular cultic use from a one-time act.
- ke.Lei ("articles of", H3627) — masculine plural construct, forming the phrase "all the articles of the altar," grammatically binding the noun to ha.miz.Be.ach ("the altar," H4196).
- fa.re.Su ("they will spread out", H6566) — qal sequential perfect, parallel in form to na.te.Nu, marking the next required action in the same procedural sequence.
- Ta.chash ("dolphin/tachash", H8476) — singular noun in construct with or ("skin of", H5785), naming the specific animal material of the covering; its precise referent is debated and not resolved by the grammar alone.
What the text says
The verse is built as a chain of sequential perfect verbs (na.te.Nu, fa.re.Su, sa.Mu) that function like a continuing narrative "and they will..." sequence, each introduced by the vav H9001. This grammatical chaining shows the actions as successive steps of one procedure rather than isolated commands: first placing the vessels, then spreading the covering, then inserting the poles. The relative clause with 'a.Sher ("which," H0834A) plus ye.sha.re.Tu ("they will serve," H8334) qualifies ke.Lai ("its articles," H3627 + suffix) by specifying that these are the tools used in ministering at the altar, not merely stored objects.
The list of implements (mach.Tot "fire-pans," miz.la.Got "forks," ya.'Im "shovels," miz.ra.Kot "bowls") is each introduced by the untranslatable direct object marker 'et (H0853), which in Hebrew simply flags each noun as a grammatical object of na.te.Nu without adding meaning of its own. The construct phrase kol ke.Lei ha.miz.Be.ach ("all the articles of the altar") summarizes the preceding list as a totality before the text moves to the covering action with fa.re.Su.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew names the covering material as or Ta.chash ("skin of tachash," H5785 + H8476). The LXX renders this as κάλυμμα δερμάτινον ὑακίνθινον ("a leathern covering, hyacinth-colored"), interpreting the material through its color rather than the animal named in the Hebrew. The Vulgate similarly reads "velamine janthinarum pellium" ("a covering of violet/hyacinth-colored skins"), following the same color-based rendering as the LXX rather than the Hebrew's animal term. Additionally, the Swete LXX text as given contains extended material (concerning a λουτῆρ, "basin," and further coverings) not present in the Hebrew of this verse, representing a longer text in the Greek witness.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.