Numbers 7:50

Summary

This verse describes one of the paired offerings brought by a tribal leader in Numbers 7: a single dish, made of gold, weighing an amount expressed simply as "ten," and filled with incense. The sentence is a compact list of items without a finite verb, part of the repeated formulaic description of the leaders' gifts.

Key words

• kaf ("a pan", H3709I) — feminine singular noun in the construct state, meaning it grammatically links to the following material description; here it denotes a shallow dish or bowl.
• 'achat ("one", H0259) — feminine singular cardinal number, agreeing with kaf and specifying the quantity of dishes (a single item).
• 'asarah ("ten", H6235) — feminine singular numeral, stating the weight-count attached to the gold, though the unit of weight itself is not spelled out in this clause.
• zahav ("gold", H2091) — masculine singular noun identifying the material of the dish.
• mele'ah ("full", H4392) — feminine singular adjective, agreeing with kaf, describing the dish's contents.
• qetoret ("incense", H7004) — feminine singular noun naming what fills the dish.

What the text says

The Hebrew clause has no verb; it is a nominal list, typical of inventory-style reporting in this chapter. The sequence kaf 'achat ("one pan") is followed immediately by 'asarah zahav ("ten, gold"), a construction where the numeral "ten" stands for a weight of gold without an explicit noun for the unit of measure (such as "shekels"). This is a common feature of Biblical Hebrew numeral syntax, where the measuring unit can be omitted when understood from context or from parallel passages in the same chapter. The final phrase mele'ah qetoret ("full of incense") describes the dish's content, with the adjective mele'ah agreeing in gender and number with kaf, confirming that it modifies "pan" rather than "gold."

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text does not contain an explicit word for "shekels"; the numeral 'asarah ("ten") stands alone next to zahav ("gold"). The Vulgate (VULCLEM) supplies "siclos" ("shekels") explicitly: appendens decem siclos ("weighing ten shekels"). The LXX (LXXSWETE) renders the numeral construction as δέκα χρυσῶν, "ten of gold," using a genitive plural for "gold" without a separate unit-word either, structurally closer to the Hebrew's ellipsis. The modern versions (BSB, RV1909, SBLIBRE) all add "shekels" or "siclos" explicitly, following the interpretive tradition also seen in the Vulgate, to clarify the implied unit of weight.