Numbers 4:6

Summary

Numbers 4:6 describes three sequential actions performed on a cultic object (referred to by the pronoun "it/him" from the previous verse): covering it with a skin, spreading a cloth of blue material over that, and inserting its carrying poles. The verse uses a chain of consecutive perfect verbs typical of procedural/ritual instruction in Biblical Hebrew.

Key words

• na.tenu ("they will put", H5414) — qal sequential perfect, 3rd person plural; continues the narrative sequence of prescribed actions begun in the preceding verse.
• tachash ("dolphin", H8476) — masculine singular noun in construct chain with 'or ("skin of", H5785); specifies the material of the first covering.
• keliyl ("entirety of", H3632) — masculine singular adjective in construct with tekhelet; modifies the cloth as being wholly or entirely of the blue material, not merely trimmed with it.
• tekhelet ("violet stuff", H8504) — feminine singular noun naming the dye/color of the second cloth layer.
• baddav ("its poles", H905 + suffix) — masculine plural noun with 3rd person masculine singular suffix, construct form referring to the carrying poles of the object.

What the text says

The verse is built on three parallel clauses, each opened by a sequential perfect verb (na.tenu, fare.su, sa.mu), a common construction in Hebrew for describing an ordered sequence of ritual or procedural steps: "and they will put... and they will spread... and they will put in." Each verb takes a construct-chain object: kesuy 'or tachash ("a covering of skin of tachash"), beged keliyl tekhelet ("a covering, entirety of tekhelet"), and baddav ("its poles"). The construct chains stack nouns without independent articles, so the exact material identity of tachash is expressed only through this construct relationship with 'or ("skin of").

The phrase keliyl tekhelet uses an adjective in construct form to indicate that the cloth is described as being wholly of the tekhelet material, rather than partially or decoratively colored — the construct syntax intensifies the totality of the color/material rather than merely naming a shade. The directional he suffixed to ma'ela ("above") reinforces the spatial sense of layering: the blue cloth goes over and above the skin covering already placed.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew 'or tachash ("skin of tachash", H5785/H8476) names an animal-hide material, while the LXX renders it δέρμα ὑακίνθινον ("hyacinth-colored skin") and the Vulgate has velamine janthinarum pellium ("covering of violet-colored skins") — both Greek and Latin traditions interpret tachash as a color descriptor rather than preserving it as a distinct animal-skin term. The Hebrew keliyl tekhelet ("entirety of violet stuff") is rendered by the LXX as ἱμάτιον ὅλον ὑακίνθινον ("a garment wholly hyacinth-colored"), which aligns closely with the construct sense of totality present in the Hebrew grammar.