Numbers 7:46

Summary

Numbers 7:46 lists one item within the repeated inventory of offerings brought by each tribal leader: a male goat designated as a chattat ("sin offering"). The verse is a short formulaic clause naming the animal and its cultic purpose.

Key words

• se'ir ("a male goat of", H8163B) — masculine singular noun in construct state, meaning it must be joined to the following word to form the phrase "goat of goats," a construct chain that in Hebrew idiom simply designates the species/type of animal.
• 'izzim ("goats", H5795) — masculine plural noun completing the construct chain begun by se'ir; together the two words function as a single unit meaning "a male goat."
• 'echad ("one", H0259) — cardinal number, here specifying the quantity of the goat just named; the grammatical tag marks it as feminine singular, which stands apart from the masculine construct phrase it quantifies, an agreement pattern visible only by examining the underlying morphology rather than the translated gloss.
• chattat ("a sin offering", H2403H) — feminine singular noun, the technical term for this category of offering, introduced by the preposition le- ("to/for"), indicating purpose or destination.

What the text says

The verse is built from two tightly compressed units. The first, se'ir 'izzim, is a construct chain: se'ir ("male goat of") cannot stand alone and depends grammatically on 'izzim ("goats"), producing the sense "a goat from the flock" or simply "a male goat." This construction is common in sacrificial lists throughout Numbers 7, where each tribal leader's offering is itemized with the same formula. The numeral 'echad ("one") follows to specify that exactly one such goat is designated, closing the noun phrase.

The final element, le-chattat, attaches the preposition le- to chattat ("sin offering"), stating the purpose for which the goat is set apart. The Hebrew syntax here is elliptical: there is no verb in the clause (no "he brought," "he gave," etc.), because this verse continues a list governed by verbs earlier in the chapter's narrative sequence. The clause functions purely as an appositional item in an inventory, not as an independent sentence.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders se'ir 'izzim as chimaron ex aigōn ("a young goat from goats"), using a partitive prepositional phrase rather than the Hebrew construct chain, and chimaros denotes a young goat rather than the more general "male goat" of se'ir. The LXX also inserts hina ("in order that") before peri hamartias ("concerning sin"), giving the purpose clause a slightly different syntactic shape than the Hebrew le-chattat. The Vulgate's hircumque pro peccato ("and a he-goat for sin") stays closer to the Hebrew's compact construct + purpose-preposition structure, using hircus ("he-goat") as a direct equivalent to se'ir.