Numbers 4:18

Summary

This verse contains a direct prohibition addressed to Moses and Aaron (in the wider context) instructing them not to allow the Kohathite lineage to be eliminated from among the Levites. The Hebrew uses a causative verb construction with a triple construct chain identifying the group at risk.

Key words

• 'al ("may not", H0408) — negative particle used with the imperfect to form a prohibition, distinct from the more absolute lo used with other tenses.
• takhritu ("you cut off", H3772I) — hiphil (causative) imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural: literally "you must not cause to be cut off," implying an action the addressees must prevent, not merely refrain from.
• shevet ("tribe of", H7626H) — masculine singular construct, the first link in a three-noun construct chain.
• mishpechot ("clans of", H4940) — feminine plural construct, the second link, specifying subgroups within the tribe.
• ha-Qehati ("the Kohathite", H6956) — gentilic noun with definite article, naming the specific lineage being protected.

What the text says

The sentence opens with 'al-takhritu, a negated hiphil imperfect verb. Because the hiphil stem is causative, the prohibition is not simply "do not be cut off" but "do not cause [this group] to be cut off" — the verb places responsibility on the addressees to actively prevent an outcome, not just to avoid performing an act themselves.

The object of the verb is built through a stacked construct chain: shevet ("tribe of") + mishpechot ("clans of") + ha-Qehati ("the Kohathite"). Each noun in construct state depends on the next, producing a phrase that could be rendered literally as "the tribe of the clans of the Kohathite." This chain narrows the reference from the broadest category (tribe) to the specific clans, to the named ancestral group (Kohath), all governing the same referent.

Finally, mi-tokh ha-Leviyyim ("from among the Levites") uses the construct noun tokh ("midst of") with the preposition mi ("from") to locate the Kohathites as a subset within the larger Levite population, specifying the group from which they must not be separated or eliminated.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the verb as μὴ ὀλεθρεύσητε ("you shall not destroy"), matching the causative force of the Hebrew hiphil, but restructures the construct chain as τῆς φυλῆς τὸν δῆμον τὸν Καὰθ ("of the tribe, the people of Kaath"), reordering the three Hebrew nouns rather than stacking them identically. The Vulgate simplifies further with "populum Caath" ("the people of Caath"), dropping both shevet ("tribe") and mishpechot ("clans") as separate terms and collapsing the construct chain into a single noun. The modern versions BSB and SBLIBRE render the causative sense as a permissive construction ("do not allow...to be cut off" / "no permitan que...desaparezca"), making explicit in English/Spanish syntax what the Hebrew hiphil conveys through verb stem alone.