Numbers 7:74

Summary

The verse lists a single ritual item among the tribal offerings: one gold kaf ("pan/dish"), weighing ten (units, understood as shekels) of gold, filled with incense. It is part of a repeated formula describing identical gifts offered by each tribal leader at the dedication of the altar.

Key words

• kaf ("a pan", H3709I) — feminine singular noun in construct form, here functioning as the head of the numbered item; construct form links it to the implied measure that follows.
• 'achat ("one", H0259) — cardinal number, feminine singular, agreeing with kaf; specifies the quantity of pans (one).
• 'asarah ("ten", H6235) — cardinal number, feminine singular, stating the numeric weight-value associated with the gold, though no explicit unit word (like "shekel") appears in the Hebrew.
• zahav ("gold", H2091) — masculine singular noun, indicating the material and, together with 'asarah, the weight standard.
• mele'ah ("full", H4392) — feminine singular adjective agreeing with kaf, describing the pan as filled (with incense).

What the text says

The Hebrew clause is elliptical and formulaic, typical of the repeated inventory lists in this chapter. Kaf 'achat ("one pan") stands as the subject-item, followed by 'asarah zahav ("ten, of gold"), a numeral-plus-material phrase that Hebrew readers would understand as "ten shekels of gold" even though the word for "shekel" is not written — the unit is implied from context established earlier in the chapter's repeated formula. The adjective mele'ah ("full") modifies kaf, agreeing with it in feminine gender, and is followed by qetoret ("incense", H7004), naming the material filling the pan. The sentence has no finite verb; it functions as a list entry, continuing the enumeration of vessels and their weights presented in the surrounding verses.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) makes explicit what the Hebrew leaves implicit, adding the word "siclos" ("shekels") and the participle "appendens" ("weighing"), producing "mortariolum aureum appendens decem siclos" — interpretive additions not present as separate words in the Hebrew text. The LXX renders zahav with the genitive plural "χρυσῶν" ("of gold [shekels]"), similarly implying a weight-unit through grammatical form rather than a separate lexical item. Modern translations (BSB, RV1909, SBLIBRE) follow this same interpretive convention, inserting "shekels" or "siclos" for clarity, though the Hebrew word itself is absent from the verse.