Numbers 7:34

Summary

This verse fragment lists one component of a tribal leader's offering in the extended catalogue of Numbers 7: a single male goat designated as a chattat ("sin offering"). It is a short, formulaic clause consisting of an animal description followed by its ritual purpose.

Key words

• se'ir ("a male goat of", H8163B) — construct-state noun, the first element of a construct chain meaning literally "goat of goats."
• 'izzim ("goats", H5795) — plural absolute noun completing the construct chain; together with se'ir it forms the idiomatic expression for "a male goat" (from the flock of goats).
• 'echad ("one", H0259) — cardinal number quantifying the goat; its ending in the source data is marked feminine, though the head noun se'ir is grammatically masculine.
• le ("to", H9005) — preposition attached to the following noun, marking purpose ("for...").
• chattat ("a sin offering", H2403H) — feminine singular noun naming the ritual category to which the goat is assigned.

What the text says

The clause is built as a construct chain, se'ir 'izzim ("goat of goats"), a standard Hebrew way of specifying the species — literally "a goat belonging to [the category of] goats," functioning as "a male goat." This construct pair is then quantified by 'echad ("one"), stating that a single animal is meant. The final element, le-chattat, uses the preposition le to attach a purpose: the goat is designated "for a sin offering." The sentence has no verb; it is a nominal list-item, consistent with the enumerative style of the surrounding chapter, which catalogues the offerings brought by each tribal leader. The construct chain plus numeral plus prepositional purpose phrase is a compact structure: object — quantity — function, with no finite verb needed because the verse belongs to a running inventory list.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint renders the construct chain differently: instead of the Hebrew's noun-noun construct ("goat of goats"), it uses a prepositional phrase, ἐξ αἰγῶν ("from goats"), governing the numeral ἕνα ("one"), so the goat is expressed as "one from among goats" rather than as a fixed idiomatic species term. The Vulgate simplifies further, using only hircum ("a male goat") with the connective -que ("and"), without an explicit equivalent for 'echad ("one") and without reproducing the construct-chain idiom found in the Hebrew.