Numbers 7:3

Summary

The verse describes the leaders of Israel bringing their collective offering before Yehovah: six covered carts and twelve oxen, distributed as one cart per two leaders and one ox per leader. The offering is then brought near to the front of the tabernacle.

Key words

• va-yya.vi'u ("they brought", H0935P) — hiphil narrative verb; the causative stem marks the leaders as the ones who "caused to come" the offering, not passive receivers.
• korban ("offering", H7133A) — construct noun with pronominal suffix -am ("their"), marking collective ownership: "the offering of them."
• tzav ("covering", H6632A) — a noun modifying eglot ("carts of", H5699), describing the carts as covered ones; the construct chain "carts of covering" produces the sense "covered carts."
• nesi'im ("leaders", H5387A) — plural noun with definite article ha- (H9009), referring back to a defined group established earlier in the chapter.
• va-yyak.rivu ("they brought near", H7126H) — second hiphil narrative verb, distinct from the first verb of bringing (yavi'u), marking a second stage: presentation at the tabernacle itself.

What the text says

The verse contains two narrative-vav clauses, each anchored by a hiphil verb: yavi'u ("they brought", H0935P) and yakrivu ("they brought near", H7126H). This creates a two-step action — first the leaders bring the offering lifney Yehovah ("before Yehovah", H6440G+H3068G), then they bring it near lifney ha-mishkan ("before the tabernacle", H6440G+H4908). The repetition of the construct phrase lifney with two different objects (Yehovah, then the tabernacle) structures the verse as a movement from a general presentation to a specific placement.

The distribution formula uses construct chains and prepositions to specify ratios: shenei ha-nesi'im ("two of the leaders", H8147+H5387A) governs one cart ('agalah, H5699), while le-'echad ("for one", H9005+H0259) governs one ox (shor, H7794) per single leader. The numbers shesh ("six", H8337) and shenei 'asar ("twelve", H8147+H6240) are stated first as totals, then the verse clarifies the per-leader ratio using 'al ("on/for", H5921A) and le- ("for", H9005) as distributive prepositions. This syntactic layering allows the Hebrew to state a total count and then unpack the individual contribution without repeating full noun phrases.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders tzav ("covering", H6632A) with the descriptive adjective λαμπηνικάς ("wagon-type" or "covered-wagon"), and translates the distributive structure using παρά ("from/by") rather than a construct chain, phrasing it as "a wagon from two rulers" and "a calf from each" — shifting the Hebrew's noun-based distribution into a prepositional one. The Vulgate follows a similar distributive sense with "duo duces... unum plaustrum" ("two leaders... one cart") and "singuli... unum bovem" ("each one... one ox"), maintaining the ratio but using Latin distributive pronouns instead of the Hebrew's dual-numeral construct (shenei, H8147).