Numbers 7:49

Summary

The verse itemizes the offering (qorbano, "his offering") brought by one of the tribal leaders described in Numbers 7: a silver dish weighing 130 shekels, a silver bowl weighing 70 shekels — both measured by the sanctuary standard — and both containing fine flour mixed with oil, designated as a grain offering.

Key words

• korbano ("his offering", H7133A) — construct noun with 3ms suffix; functions as the topic heading the entire list that follows, syntactically detached from a verb (no verb "he offered" appears in this verse; it is implied from the surrounding narrative).
• qa'arat ("dish of", H7086) — feminine singular construct, forming a chain with kesef ("silver", H3701G): "a dish of silver."
• mizraq ("bowl", H4219) — masculine singular construct, parallel structure to qa'arat, introducing the second vessel.
• sheqel ha-qodesh ("shekel of the holy place", H8255 + H6944G) — construct chain specifying the weight standard used for both vessels, tying the measurement to the sanctuary rather than a general commercial standard.
• belulah ("mixed", H1101A) — qal passive participle, feminine singular, describing solet ("fine flour", H5560) as being in a completed state of having been mixed with oil, not an ongoing action.

What the text says

The verse opens with korbano standing alone as a construct noun with pronominal suffix, effectively meaning "his offering [consisted of]:" — the sentence has no finite verb of giving; the list itself carries the syntactic weight. This construction mirrors the repetitive formulaic style typical of the tribal-offering lists in Numbers 7, where each leader's gift is catalogued with identical grammar down to the numbers and materials.

The weights are expressed as compound cardinal numbers: sheloshim u-me'ah ("thirty and hundred") for the dish, literally placing the smaller number before the larger, and shiv'im ("seventy") for the bowl. Both measurements are anchored to sheqel ha-qodesh, a construct phrase locating the standard of weight in the sanctuary itself rather than an ordinary market weight. The dual form sheneihem ("both of them", with 3mp suffix) grammatically links back to the two vessels already introduced, and the following adjective me'lu'im ("full", masculine plural) agrees with this dual referent, describing both containers as filled with the same content: solet belulah ba-shemen — fine flour in a state of having been mixed with oil, submitted le-minchah ("for a grain offering", H4503G), a purpose clause closing the unit.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders qa'arat ("dish", H7086) as trybion ("dish, bowl") and mizraq ("bowl", H4219) as phialen ("bowl, saucer"), using two Greek vessel terms that do not preserve the distinct terminology of the Hebrew as clearly. The Vulgate translates qa'arat as acetabulum (a small vinegar-cup or measuring vessel), a narrower and more specific term than the Hebrew qa'arat, while rendering mizraq as phialam, closer to the LXX's Greek loanword. For sheqel ha-qodesh ("shekel of the holy place"), the LXX keeps a literal rendering, ton siklon ton hagion ("the holy shekel"), whereas the Vulgate shifts to a more abstract phrase, ad pondus sanctuarii ("according to the weight of the sanctuary"), replacing the specific unit "shekel" with the general term "weight."