Numbers 7:58

Summary

This fragment lists one item among the offerings brought by a tribal leader: a single male goat designated as a chatat ("sin offering", H2403H). It follows the pattern used throughout Numbers 7 for cataloguing the identical gifts presented by each of the twelve leaders.

Key words

• se'ir ("a male goat of", H8163B) — masculine singular noun in the construct state, meaning it must be joined to the following word to form the phrase "male goat of goats."
• 'izim ("goats", H5795) — masculine plural noun functioning as the absolute form completing the construct chain begun by se'ir.
• 'echad ("one", H0259) — cardinal number; though the noun se'ir is masculine, this numeral appears in feminine singular form, a common feature of Hebrew numerals used adjectivally with certain nouns.
• chatat ("a sin offering", H2403H) — feminine singular noun, marking the ritual purpose/category of the goat just named.

What the text says

The Hebrew phrase is built as a construct chain: se'ir 'izim literally means "a male-goat of goats," a common Hebrew way of specifying the species precisely — not just any male animal, but one belonging to the goat kind. This construct phrase then receives the numeral 'echad ("one", H0259), which agrees in gender according to the construct pattern's underlying grammatical logic rather than a simple noun-adjective agreement, a known irregularity with certain animal terms in the Numbers offering lists.

The final element, the preposition le- ("to", H9005) attached to chatat ("a sin offering", H2403H), indicates purpose or designation — the goat is set apart for this particular offering category, distinguishing it from burnt offerings or peace offerings listed elsewhere in the same verse sequence. The construction is terse and formulaic, typical of the repetitive administrative style of this chapter, which itemizes matching gifts from each tribal leader without narrative elaboration.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the construct phrase se'ir 'izim ("a male goat of goats") as χίμαρον ἐξ αἰγῶν ("a young goat from goats"), preserving the specifying function but using a prepositional phrase (ἐξ, "from") instead of the Hebrew construct state. The Vulgate renders the same phrase simply as hircum ("male goat"), a single noun without an explicit construct or prepositional marker corresponding to 'izim ("goats", H5795). The Vulgate's pro peccato ("for sin") corresponds to the Hebrew le-chatat ("for a sin offering") but uses the general noun "sin" rather than a technical term for the offering category itself.