Numbers 7:72

Summary

Numbers 7:72 identifies the offering brought on the eleventh day of the dedication of the tabernacle. The text names the leader of the tribe of Asher, Pagiel son of Ocran, who presents his tribe's offering on that day.

Key words

• yom ("[the] day", H3117G) — masculine singular construct noun, appears twice in the verse (positions 2 and 5), forming the construct chain "day of eleven day" to express the ordinal "eleventh day."
• 'ashTei 'aSar ("[the] one [plus] ten", H6249/H6240) — a cardinal number construction combining "one" in construct form with "ten," the standard Hebrew way of forming the numeral "eleven."
• naSi' ("[the] leader", H5387A) — masculine singular noun, identifies Pagiel's role as tribal chief.
• ben- ("[the] son of", H1121G) — masculine singular construct noun linking Pagiel to his father Ocran, establishing patronymic identification.
• liv.Nei ("of [the] descendants of", H1121A) — construct plural noun with prefixed preposition le, marking Asher's descendants as the group Pagiel represents.

What the text says

The verse opens with the temporal marker be ("on", H9003) attached to yom ("day", H3117G), followed by the numeral construction 'ashTei 'aSar ("one-ten", H6249/H6240) plus a second yom ("day", H3117G). This doubling of yom is typical of Hebrew ordinal-day formulas: the first yom stands in construct relationship with the numeral phrase, and the second yom completes the sense as "the eleventh day" literally rendered as "day of one-ten, day."

After the temporal clause, the sentence names the office-holder: naSi' ("leader", H5387A) governs the construct phrase liv.Nei 'aSher ("of the descendants of Asher", H1121A/H0836), identifying which tribal group is represented. The personal name pag.'i.'El ("Pagiel", H6295) follows, then ben- ("son of", H1121G) links him to his father 'a.khe.Ran ("Ocran", H5918). The Hebrew syntax places the day notice first, then the title naSi', then the tribal affiliation, and finally the personal genealogy — a sequence that differs from the English or Spanish translations, which often front the personal name (as in BSB: "Pagiel son of Ocran, the leader of the Asherites").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the numeral construction with an ordinal adjective, τῇ ἑνδεκάτῃ ("the eleventh"), rather than the Hebrew's compound construct phrase 'ashTei 'aSar yom. The Vulgate similarly uses the ordinal undecimo ("eleventh"). The Hebrew name pag.'i.'El (H6295) appears in the LXX as Φαγεὴλ (Phageel) and in the Vulgate as Phegiel, minor transliteration variants of the same name. The father's name 'a.khe.Ran (H5918) appears as Ἐχράν in the LXX and Ochran in the Vulgate, again reflecting transliteration differences rather than semantic divergence.