Numbers 7:84

Summary

The verse closes the account of the altar's dedication offerings, stating this was the total contribution from the leaders of Israel on the day the altar was anointed: twelve silver dishes, twelve silver bowls, and twelve gold pans (summarizing quantities already itemized per leader earlier in the chapter).

Key words

• chanuKat ("dedication of", H2598) — feminine singular construct noun, linking "dedication" grammatically to "the altar" that follows; the construct form makes it inseparable from ha-mizBeach.
• himmaShach ("was anointed", H4886) — niphal infinitive, a passive/reflexive verbal form indicating the altar underwent anointing rather than performing an action itself; it functions here as a time-clause after be-yom ("on the day").
• ne.si.'Ei ("leaders of", H5387A) — masculine plural construct, tying the leaders directly to "Israel" as a genitive relationship ("leaders of Israel").
• ka.'a.Rot ("dishes of", H7086), miz.re.Kei ("bowls of", H4219), ka.Pot ("pans of", H3709I) — all plural construct nouns, each governing the following material noun (Kesef "silver," H3701G; zaHav "gold," H2091), producing the pattern "[vessel] of [material]."
• she.Teim 'es.Reh / she.Neim 'aSar ("twelve", H8147 + H6240) — the cardinal number "twelve" appears in both feminine (she.Teim) and masculine/common (she.Neim) dual forms, agreeing grammatically with the gender of the noun each modifies (feminine ka.'a.Rot and ka.Pot, versus the masculine-form miz.re.Kei).

What the text says

The verse opens with the demonstrative zot ("this," H2063) pointing back to the entire preceding list of offerings, then names it as chanuKat ha-mizBeach ("the dedication of the altar"). The temporal clause be-yom himmaShach oto ("on the day it was anointed") uses the niphal infinitive himmaShach to mark the altar as the recipient of the anointing action, with the object suffix oto ("it") referring back to the altar. The phrase me-'Et ne.si.'Ei Yisra'El ("from with the leaders of Israel") specifies the source of the gifts using the compound preposition me-'Et, indicating these items came from the leaders collectively.

The final portion lists the three types of vessels using a repeated construct-chain pattern: vessel-type (plural construct) + material (singular absolute), followed by the number "twelve" in the gender matching the vessel noun. This grammatical agreement between the numeral's gender and the noun's gender is a feature of Hebrew numeral syntax not directly visible in translation, where "twelve" appears identically regardless of what it modifies.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders me-'Et ne.si.'Ei Yisra'El as παρὰ τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ ("from the sons of Israel"), where the Hebrew specifies ne.si.'Ei ("leaders of," H5387A) rather than "sons." The Vulgate follows the Hebrew sense with a principibus Israël ("by the princes of Israel"), matching "leaders" rather than "sons."