Numbers 7:48

Summary

The verse identifies the offering brought on the seventh day of the tabernacle dedication as coming from the leader of the descendants of Ephraim, named Elishama son of Ammihud. It follows the fixed formula used throughout Numbers 7 to introduce each tribal leader's offering by day.

Key words

• ba.i.yOm ("on the day", H9003 + H3117G) — preposition attached to "day," marking the temporal setting of the offering.
• ha.she.vi.'I ("the seventh", H9009 + H7637) — definite article plus ordinal number, specifying which day in the sequence of twelve tribal offerings.
• na.Si' ("the leader", H5387A) — masculine singular noun, the title designating the tribal chief bringing the offering.
• v.Nei ("descendants of", H1121A) — masculine plural construct noun, linking "leader" to "Ephraim" as the group he represents.
• ben- ("son of", H1121G) — masculine singular construct noun, forming the patronymic that identifies Elishama by his father's name.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain of construct relationships rather than a full verbal clause. It opens with the temporal phrase ba.yOm ha.she.vi.'I ("on the seventh day"), which sets the day within the twelve-day sequence of tribal offerings recorded in Numbers 7. The main subject is then introduced through a construct chain: na.Si' li.v.nei 'ef.Ra.yim ("the leader of the descendants of Ephraim"), where na.Si' ("leader", H5387A) stands in construct-like relation via the preposition li ("of", H9005) to v.nei 'ef.Ra.yim ("descendants of Ephraim"). This leader is then named through apposition: 'e.li.sha.Ma' ben 'a.mi.Hud ("Elishama, son of Ammihud"), using the construct noun ben ("son of", H1121G) to attach the patronymic.

Notably, the Hebrew verse contains no finite verb — it is a nominal sentence consisting of the day marker, the title, and the name. Any verb such as "drew near" or "brought" is supplied by translators from context (the surrounding verses in Numbers 7 use verbs of offering), but it is not present in this particular verse's Hebrew text itself.

Differences between versions

The BSB adds the verb "drew near," which is not present in the Hebrew nominal construction; this verb is supplied to complete the sentence in English. The LXX renders 'a.mi.Hud ("Ammihud", H5989G) as Ἐμιούδ (Emioud), a shortened transliteration compared to the fuller Hebrew form. The RV1909 and SBLIBRE follow the Hebrew word order more closely by placing "the seventh day" first, while the BSB reorders the clause to place the personal name before the title "leader of the Ephraimites."