Numbers 7:33

Summary

Numbers 7:33 lists three animals offered by a tribal leader as part of the dedication offerings for the tabernacle: one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb one year old, all designated for a burnt offering.

Key words

• par ("a young bull", H6499) — masculine singular noun, the first animal named, further specified by the following construct phrase.
• ben-bakar ("a young one of cattle", H1121H + H1241) — construct chain meaning literally "son of cattle," clarifying that par refers to a bovine offspring, i.e., a young bull from the herd.
• 'ayil ("a ram", H0352A) — masculine singular noun, the second animal, paired with 'echad ("one", H0259) as in the other two cases.
• ben-shenato ("son of its year", H1121H + H8141 + H9023) — construct phrase with pronominal suffix, an idiomatic way of expressing "one year old," applied to the lamb.
• le'olah ("for a burnt offering", H9005 + H5930A) — preposition le ("to/for") prefixed to 'olah, stating the purpose for which all three animals are designated.

What the text says

The verse is built as a simple list of three sacrificial animals, each marked by the cardinal number 'echad ("one", H0259) following its noun — a common Hebrew pattern where the numeral follows rather than precedes the noun it counts. The first item, par 'echad ben-bakar, uses a construct chain (ben-bakar, "son of cattle") to specify that the par ("young bull") is drawn from the herd (bakar, H1241), a way of identifying the animal's category rather than adding an separate noun for "herd."

The third animal, kevesh 'echad ben-shenato, uses a parallel construct structure, ben-shenato ("son of its year"), an idiomatic Hebrew expression for age that literally personifies the year as a parent of the animal. This is grammatically identical in form to ben-bakar earlier in the verse, though it expresses age rather than category. All three animals are grouped under the single purpose clause le'olah ("for a burnt offering") at the end, which governs the whole list rather than being repeated for each animal.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ben-bakar as ἐκ βοῶν ("from the oxen"), using a prepositional phrase rather than a construct noun chain, though the sense of "young bull from the herd" is preserved. The Vulgate similarly uses de armento ("from the herd"). The RV1909 and SBLIBRE Spanish translations simplify par 'echad ben-bakar to un becerro ("a calf"), omitting an explicit rendering of ben-bakar as a separate phrase, while the BSB combines the elements into "one young bull" without a separate herd reference.