Numbers 5:17

Summary

The verse describes the priest taking holy water in a clay vessel, then adding to it dust taken from the floor of the tabernacle. The action is presented in two linked steps, both introduced by forms of the same verb "to take."

Key words

• la.Kach ("he will take", H3947G) — sequential perfect (vav-consecutive), opening the ritual action as the next step in a narrated sequence.
• ke.do.Shim ("holy", H6918G) — masculine plural adjective agreeing with Ma.yim ("water", H4325G), qualifying the water as consecrated rather than ordinary.
• kh.li- ("vessel of", H3627) — construct form linking to Cha.res ("earthenware", H2789), producing "a vessel of earthenware," i.e. a clay container.
• 'a.Sher ("which/that", H0834A) — relative particle introducing a clause describing the dust, tying it to its location.
• yi.Kach ("he will take", H3947G) — imperfect form of the same root as la.Kach, marking a second, resumed act of taking after the intervening description of the dust.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence unfolds in two movements built on the same verbal root, la.Kach / yi.Kach ("to take", H3947G). The first movement is simple: ve.la.Kach ha.ko.Hen Ma.yim ke.do.Shim bi.kh.li-Cha.res — "and the priest shall take holy water in a vessel of earthenware." The second movement is more elaborate: the object, min-he.'a.Far 'a.Sher yih.Yeh be.qar.Ka' ha.mish.Kan ("some of the dust that will be on the floor of the tabernacle"), is placed before the verb that governs it, yi.Kach ha.ko.Hen ("the priest shall take"). This fronting of the object before its verb is a construction sometimes called casus pendens: the dust and its qualifying relative clause are stated first, and only afterward does the verb "take" appear to govern it, followed by na.Tan ("he will put", H5414H) directing the action toward ha.Ma.yim ("the water", H4325G). The repetition of the root for "take" across both clauses, rather than a single verb governing both objects, gives the Hebrew a stepwise, almost procedural rhythm, marking the water and the dust as two separately gathered ingredients before their combination.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint (Swete) renders Ma.yim ke.do.Shim ("holy water") as ὕδωρ καθαρὸν ζῶν, "pure, living water," adding a qualifier ("living") not present in the Hebrew adjective ke.do.Shim ("holy", H6918G). The LXX also specifies τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου, "the tabernacle of the testimony," where the Hebrew simply has ha.mish.Kan ("the tabernacle", H4908) without the qualifier "of testimony." The Vulgate's pauxillum terrae ("a small amount of earth") interprets min-he.'a.Far ("some of the dust", H6083) with an explicit diminutive sense of quantity not marked morphologically in the Hebrew partitive construction itself.