Numbers 7:20

Summary

This verse lists one item among the offerings brought by the tribal leaders: a gold dish or pan, described by a numeral usually understood to indicate its weight, and filled with incense. The clause has no verb; it functions as an appositional list entry continuing the inventory begun in the surrounding verses.

Key words

• kaf ("a pan", H3709I) — feminine singular noun in construct form, meaning "X of...", here functioning as the head noun for the item being counted.
• 'achat ("one", H0259) — feminine singular cardinal number agreeing with kaf, specifying the quantity of dishes (one).
• 'asarah ("ten", H6235) — feminine singular numeral; in this bare form it states "ten" without an explicit noun for the unit being counted.
• zahav ("gold", H2091) — masculine singular noun describing the material of the dish.
• mele'ah ("full", H4392) — feminine singular adjective agreeing with kaf, describing the dish's contents.
• qetoret ("incense", H7004) — feminine singular noun naming what fills the dish.

What the text says

The Hebrew clause is verbless, typical of list-style inventory text. Kaf ("a pan", H3709I) stands in construct form, though here it functions as the item counted rather than introducing a genitive phrase, paired with 'achat ("one", H0259) to yield "one pan." The numeral 'asarah ("ten", H6235) follows without an explicit unit word attached to it in this verse — no Hebrew word for "shekels" appears here, unlike in verse 13 of the same chapter where the unit is stated explicitly. Readers must infer the unit of ten from the established pattern of the surrounding verses. Zahav ("gold", H2091) specifies the material, and the final phrase mele'ah qetoret ("full incense", H4392 + H7004) describes the pan's content, with the adjective mele'ah agreeing in gender with kaf.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew leaves the unit for 'asarah ("ten", H6235) unstated in this verse. The Vulgate makes this explicit by inserting "siclos" ("shekels"), producing "decem siclos" ("ten shekels"), a word not present in the Hebrew of this verse. The Vulgate also adds the participle "habens" ("having"), supplying a verb where the Hebrew has none. The LXX renders the numeral construction as "δέκα χρυσῶν" ("ten of gold"), using a genitive plural of χρυσός where the Hebrew zahav ("gold", H2091) functions adjectivally rather than as a genitive noun phrase. Modern translations (RV1909, BSB, SBLIBRE) follow the Vulgate's interpretive addition of "shekels," a word absent from the Hebrew text of this particular verse.