Numbers 7:54

Summary

Numbers 7:54 identifies the tribal leader who presented offerings on the eighth day of the dedication of the tabernacle. The text names him as Gamli'El ("Gamaliel", H1583), son of Pedah-Tzur ("Pedahzur", H6301), and designates him as nasi' ("leader", H5387A) of the descendants of Menasheh ("Manasseh", H4519G).

Key words

• ba-yom ("in the day", H9003+H3117G) — preposition + noun marking the specific day within the twelve-day sequence of offerings.
• ha-shemini ("the eighth", H9009+H8066) — ordinal number with definite article, agreeing with yom to specify which day.
• nasi' ("leader", H5387A) — singular masculine noun, the title given to each tribal representative in this chapter.
• li-vnei ("of the descendants of", H9005+H1121A) — preposition + construct plural noun, forming a genitive chain that links the leader to his tribal group.
• ben ("son of", H1121G) — construct singular noun introducing patronymic identification, standard for naming individuals in this list.

What the text says

The verse follows a fixed formula repeated for each of the twelve tribal leaders in Numbers 7: a temporal phrase (ba-yom ha-shemini, "on the eighth day"), the title nasi' ("leader"), a construct chain identifying the tribe (li-vnei Menasheh, "of the descendants of Manasseh"), and finally the leader's personal name with patronymic (Gamli'El ben Pedah-Tzur). The construct relationship li-vnei Menasheh uses the plural construct noun v'nei ("descendants of/sons of") governed by the preposition l- ("of/belonging to"), which together express that Gamaliel functions as representative for this particular group of descendants.

The name construction ben Pedah-Tzur uses the construct noun ben ("son of") to join the personal name Gamli'El to the father's name, a two-part compound name Pedah-Tzur (rendered as two Strong-numbered elements in the source data, both under H6301, reflecting the compound's unity as a single proper name in Hebrew). The Hebrew syntax places the temporal marker first, then the title, then the tribal affiliation, and only last the personal identification — an order that foregrounds the ceremonial context over the individual's identity.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders Pedah-Tzur as a single continuous form, Φαδασσούρ (Phadassour), rather than preserving it as a hyphenated two-part name as in the Hebrew transliteration. The Vulgate similarly gives Phadassur as one unbroken name. The BSB translation restructures the verse syntactically, placing the personal name (Gamaliel) before the title nasi' ("leader"), whereas the Hebrew word order presents the temporal phrase and title before the personal name.