Numbers 7:42

Summary

The verse identifies the tribal leader who presented offerings on the sixth day of the dedication ceremony: Eliasaph, son of Deuel, leader of the descendants of Gad. The sentence is a formulaic heading that names the day, the office, the tribe, and the individual with his patronymic.

Key words

• ba.yOm ("in the day", H3117G) — noun with prepositional prefix ba ("in the"), marking the temporal setting of the action.
• ha.shi.Shi ("the sixth", H8345) — ordinal number with definite article, specifying which day in the sequence of twelve tribal offerings.
• na.Si' ("the leader", H5387A) — singular noun designating the office held by the named individual, here in construct relation to the following phrase.
• v.Nei ("descendants of", H1121A) — construct plural of "son", linking the leader to his tribal group, "Gad."
• ben- ("son of", H1121G) — construct singular of the same root, here used for patronymic identification rather than tribal affiliation.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with a temporal phrase, ba.yOm ha.shi.Shi ("on the sixth day"), formed by the preposition ba ("in the") attached to yOm ("day", H3117G) and modified by the ordinal ha.shi.Shi ("the sixth", H8345) with its definite article. This phrase sets the narrative frame before any subject is introduced, a pattern consistent with the other entries in this chapter's list of tribal offerings.

The core of the sentence is built on two construct chains. First, na.Si' li.v.Nei Gad ("leader of the descendants of Gad") identifies the office and its scope: na.Si' ("leader", H5387A) stands in construct with v.Nei ("descendants of", H1121A), itself attached to the proper name Gad (H1410G). Second, the personal identification follows: 'el.ya.Saf ben-de.'u.'El ("Eliasaph son of Deuel") uses ben- ("son of", H1121G) to link the leader's name to his father's name, de.'u.'El (H1845). The Hebrew places the title and tribal affiliation before the personal name, a sequence that some modern translations (e.g., BSB) invert for readability in English, placing the name first.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text gives the father's name as de.'u.'El ("Deuel", H1845), which is followed by the Vulgate ("Duel") and the modern translations shown (BSB, RV1909, SBLIBRE, "Deuel"/"Dehuel"). The Septuagint (LXXSWETE), however, renders this name as Ῥαγουήλ ("Raguel"), a different form not matching the Hebrew consonants of de.'u.'El.