Numbers 7:17

Summary

The verse lists the animals offered by Nahshon son of Amminadab as a zevach shelamim ("sacrifice of peace offerings"): two oxen, five rams, five goats, and five year-old lambs. It closes by identifying this collection of animals as his specific offering (qorban).

Key words

• Ze.vach ("sacrifice of", H2077) — construct noun linking to shelamim, forming the phrase "sacrifice of peace offerings"; construct state shows this is not a standalone sacrifice but a specific category.
• she.la.Mim ("peace offerings", H8002) — masculine plural noun with definite article ha (H9009), naming the offering type this sacrifice belongs to.
• cha.mi.Shah ("five", H2568) — cardinal number repeated three times (for rams, goats, and lambs), each time following its counted noun rather than preceding it.
• be.nei- ("sons of", H1121H) — construct plural noun forming the idiom "sons of a year" (bnei shanah, H8141) to indicate the lambs' age.
• ka.re.Ban ("offering of", H7133A) — construct noun introducing the closing summary formula that names Nahshon as the one who brought this offering.

What the text says

The verse continues an inventory of offerings, beginning with the construct phrase zevach ha-shelamim ("sacrifice of the peace offerings", H2077 + H8002), which categorizes the animals that follow as belonging to this specific sacrificial type. The listing itself follows a consistent pattern: noun followed by number — bakar shenayim ("oxen, two", H1241 + H8147), eilim chamishah ("rams, five", H352A + H2568), atudim chamishah ("goats, five", H6260 + H2568), and kevasim ... chamishah ("lambs ... five", H3532 + H2568). This noun-then-number order is a feature of the Hebrew that differs from the more common English/Spanish rendering of number-then-noun.

The lambs receive an additional qualifier: bnei shanah ("sons of a year", H1121H + H8141), an idiomatic construct phrase indicating age (one year old) rather than literal sonship. The verse closes with a summary formula using the demonstrative zeh ("this", H2088) followed by the construct noun qorban ("offering of", H7133A), which names Nahshon (H5177) and identifies him via the construct phrase ben Amminadav ("son of Amminadab", H1121A + H5992G). This closing formula mirrors similar summary statements used for other tribal leaders' offerings in the surrounding chapter.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders zevach ha-shelamim as θυσίαν σωτηρίου ("sacrifice of salvation/deliverance"), using σωτηρίου where the Hebrew has shelamim ("peace offerings", H8002). The Vulgate's sacrificio pacificorum ("sacrifice of peaceful things") stays closer to the Hebrew semantic range of shelamim. The LXX also renders the lambs as ἀμνάδας ("ewe lambs," feminine) where the Hebrew kevasim (H3532) is masculine plural, a divergence in gender specification not present in the Hebrew or Vulgate texts.