Numbers 31:22

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

however the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

1 first appearance in the Hebrew Bible

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הַבְּדִ֖יל

bᵉdîyl

H913

“the · tin”

Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 6× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H914

TWOT: 203c

alloy, tin, dross - of Israel (metaphorically)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

13: words
8: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is הַבְּדִ֖יל tin H913 — appearing just 6 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

הַבְּדִ֖יל tin H913

Shared distinctive vocabulary

הַבְּדִ֖יל tin H913 occurs in 6 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

6 nouns
7 particles

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 15 words from the Hebrew and 16 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 13 Hebrew tokens and 14 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Numbers 31:22 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

אַ֥ךְ אֶת הַזָּהָ֖ב וְאֶת הַכָּ֑סֶף אֶֽת הַנְּחֹ֨שֶׁת֙ אֶת הַבַּרְזֶ֔ל אֶֽת הַבְּדִ֖יל וְאֶת הָעֹפָֽרֶת

however the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Numbers 31:22 Septuagint · lemma form

πλήν ὁ χρυσίον καί ὁ ἀργύριον καί χαλκός καί σίδηρος καί μόλιβος καί κασσίτερος

Beside the gold, and the silver, and the brass, and the iron, and lead, and tin,

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

בְּרַם יָת דַהֲבָא וְיָת כַסְפָּא יָת נְחָשָׁא יָת פַּרְזְלָא יָת אֲבָצָא וְיָת אֲבָרָא

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

בְּרַם לְחוֹדְהוֹן בְּלָא חַלְדוּתְהוֹן יַת דַהֲבָא וְיַת כַּסְפָּא וְיַת נְחָשָׁא וְיַת פַּרְזְלָא וְיַת קַסְטִירָא וְיַת כַּרְכִּימִישָׁא מָנֵיהוֹן לָא גוּלְמַיָא וְלָא פְּשׁוּטַיָא

Nevertheless, these (articles) without their rust, the gold, silver, brass, iron, tin, and lead, their vessels, but not the unformed and simple (metals),

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Numbers 31:22 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

John Gill's Exposition

And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... After the purification of the soldiers, their captives, and spoil:

saying; as follows.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Brass - Render copper. See Gen 4:22 note. The verse is curious as illustrating the variety of metals in use at this early date for domestic purposes. All these metals were common in Egypt centuries before the date of the Exodus.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

The brass. Rather, "copper." The six metals here mentioned were those commonly known to the ancients, and in particular to the Egyptians and Phoenicians.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

אך את הזהב וגו׳ ONLY THE GOLD etc. — Eleazar said: Although Moses has only admonished you concerning the laws of uncleanness caused by contact with a corpse, you must further be admonished concerning the laws of removing anything unclean that has been absorbed by vessels. The word אך is a restrictive term — it is as much as to say, “You are restricted from using vessels even after they have been cleansed from uncleanness caused by reason of a corpse until they shall have been cleansed also from what they have absorbed of that flesh which is forbidden as being that of an animal not killed in the proper manner.” And our Rabbis said that the words אך את הזהב are intended to intimate that it is necessary to remove its rust before he does the rite of removing the forbidden food that has been absorbed. This, they say, is the purpose of the term אך, — that there should be no rust there: Only (אך) the metal — it shall be as it should be (the metal without anything else, such as rust) (Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 785; Rabbenu Asher on Pesachim 30b states that this is to be found in Siphre, but it is missing in our editions of the work).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Numbers, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 13 words (8 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is bᵉdîyl (“tin”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “tin” (bᵉdîyl) shape what this verse is saying?
The word “tin” first appears here in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
Isaiah 1:25 shares the word «tin» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
Reading how John Gill's Exposition and Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

1 word makes its first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
This verse counts 13 Hebrew ↔ 14 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 4 words in this verse.
8 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 13 words in this verse.