Numbers 6:10

Summary

The verse specifies that on the eighth day a person brings two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. This is a procedural instruction regarding timing, offering material, and location.

Key words

• ya.Vi' ("he will bring", H0935P) — Hiphil imperfect, third person masculine singular. The Hiphil stem is causative, so the underlying sense is "he will cause [it] to come," i.e., he will bring/present the offering; the imperfect aspect marks this as an action to be carried out, not yet completed.
• she.mi.Ni ("eighth", H8066) — masculine singular ordinal number, modifying Yom ("day", H3117G) and marked with the definite article ha. (H9009), producing "the eighth day," a specific fixed point in a sequence rather than a general reference to "an eighth day."
• she.Tei ("two", H8147) — cardinal number in construct state, feminine dual form, governing to.Rim ("turtle-doves", H8449). The construct form ties the number directly to its noun, functioning like "a pair of turtledoves."
• be.Nei ("young ones of", H1121H) — masculine plural construct of the noun for "sons/offspring," here used idiomatically before yo.Nah ("a dove", H3123) to mean "young pigeons" (literally "sons of a dove").
• Pe.tach ("entrance of", H6607) and 'O.hel ("tent of", H0168G) — both masculine singular nouns in construct state, chaining together as "entrance of the tent of meeting," a construct chain expressing spatial location without needing additional prepositions between the nouns.

What the text says

The verse opens with a temporal clause, u.vai.Yom ha.she.mi.Ni ("and on the eighth day"), placing the action within a numbered sequence implied by context. The main verb ya.Vi' ("he will bring") is Hiphil imperfect, meaning the subject causes the birds to be brought/presented rather than simply carrying them himself in a plain sense — the Hiphil stem often marks causative or formal presentation, relevant for procedural or ritual bringing.

The offering itself is given as two paired options joined by 'o ("or", H0176A): she.Tei to.Rim ("two turtledoves") or she.Nei be.Nei yo.Nah ("two young ones of a dove"). Both numbers appear in construct form directly attached to their nouns, a common Hebrew way of expressing quantities without an intervening "of." The phrase be.Nei yo.Nah uses the construct "sons of a dove" idiomatically to denote young pigeons, a construction that does not translate literally into English without paraphrase.

The destination is expressed through a doubled preposition: first 'el- ha.ko.Hen ("to the priest"), then repeated as 'el- Pe.tach 'O.hel mo.'Ed ("to the entrance of the tent of meeting"). This construct chain (Pe.tach + 'O.hel + mo.'Ed) stacks three nouns without conjunctions, a typical Hebrew method for building compound locative phrases.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders be.Nei yo.Nah ("young ones of a dove") as νοσσοὺς περιστερῶν ("young ones of doves," plural), while the Hebrew yo.Nah is singular. The Vulgate's pullos columbæ keeps the singular "dove," aligning more closely with the Hebrew construct singular noun.