Numbers 7:41

Summary

Numbers 7:41 lists the animals brought by Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai for the zevach ha-shelamim ("sacrifice of peace offerings"): two oxen, five rams, five goats, and five yearling lambs. The verse closes with a formulaic identification of this gift as his personal offering.

Key words

• Ze.vach ("sacrifice of", H2077) — construct noun linking to ha.shelaMim, forming "sacrifice of the peace offerings"; the construct state ties the two nouns into one phrase naming the offering type.
• she.la.Mim ("peace offerings", H8002) — masculine plural noun with definite article, naming the specific category of sacrifice among the several types offered by the tribal leaders.
• cha.mi.Shah ("five", H2568) — cardinal number repeated three times (lines 9, 11, 15), each time governing a different plural noun (goats, lambs) or following it (rams), showing the number precedes or follows depending on the noun counted.
• be.nei- ("sons of", H1121H) — construct plural noun forming the idiom "sons of a year" (be.nei-shaNah), meaning yearling animals, a construct chain expressing age.
• ka.re.Ban ("offering of", H7133A) — construct noun introduced by the demonstrative zeh ("this", H2088), forming the closing formula "this is the offering of X."

What the text says

The verse is structured as a list of sacrificial animals introduced by the phrase u.le.Zevach ha.shelaMim ("and for the sacrifice of the peace offerings"), using the preposition le (H9005, "to/for") to indicate purpose. Each animal type follows in sequence — baKar ("oxen", H1241) with the number sheNayim ("two", H8147) placed after the noun; then eiLim ("rams", H352A), atuDim ("goats", H6260), and kevaSim ("lambs", H3532), each followed by its own occurrence of chamiShah ("five", H2568). This pattern shows Hebrew numerals typically following the noun they count, rather than preceding it as in English.

The phrase benei-shaNah ("sons of a year", H1121H + H8141) is a construct expression meaning animals in their first year, applied here to the lambs. The verse ends with the demonstrative zeh ("this", H2088) functioning as a pointer word introducing the summary clause korban Shelumiel ben-Tzurishaddai ("the offering of Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai"), a construct chain naming the offerer and his father.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders she.la.Mim ("peace offerings", H8002) as σωτηρίου ("of salvation/deliverance"), a different semantic emphasis than the Hebrew "peace." The LXX also translates baKar ("oxen", H1241) as δαμάλεις ("heifers," feminine), whereas the Hebrew term is grammatically common gender without specifying sex, and the Vulgate uses boves ("oxen," matching more closely the general Hebrew sense). For kevaSim ("lambs", H3532), the LXX uses ἀμνάδας ("ewe lambs," feminine), while the Hebrew and Vulgate (agnos) do not specify sex.