Numbers 4:11

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

On the golden altar they shall spread a blue cloth, and cover it with a covering of sealskin, and shall put in its poles.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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תָּ֑חַשׁ

tachash

H8476

“badger”

Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 14× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 25:5

Full BDB Definition

Origin: probably of foreign derivation

TWOT: 2503

a kind of leather, skin, or animal hide - perhaps the animal yielding the skin - perhaps the badger or dugong, dolphin, or sheep

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 →

14: words
13: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is תָּ֑חַשׁ badger H8476 — appearing just 14 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

תָּ֑חַשׁ badger H8476 occurs in 14 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
8 nouns
1 preposition
2 particles

Verb forms

יִפְרְשׂוּ֙ Qal · Imperfect
וְכִסּ֣וּ Piel · Sequential Perfect
וְשָׂמ֖וּ Qal · Sequential Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 24 words from the Hebrew and 28 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 14 Hebrew tokens and 21 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.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Numbers 4:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Exodus 30:1–19 "You shall make an altar to burn incense on. You shall make it of acacia wood.
Exodus 37:25–28 He made the altar of incense of acacia wood. It was square: its length was a cubit, and its breadth a cubit. Its height was two cubits. Its horns were of one piece with it.
Exodus 39:38 the golden altar, the anointing oil, the sweet incense, the screen for the door of the Tent,
Exodus 40:5 You shall set the golden altar for incense before the ark of the testimony, and put the screen of the door to the tent.
Exodus 40:26–27 He put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil;

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

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 4:11 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְעַ֣ל מִזְבַּ֣ח הַזָּהָ֗ב יִפְרְשׂוּ֙ בֶּ֣גֶד תְּכֵ֔לֶת וְכִסּ֣וּ אֹת֔וֹ בְּמִכְסֵ֖ה ע֣וֹר תָּ֑חַשׁ וְשָׂמ֖וּ אֶת בַּדָּֽיו

On the golden altar they shall spread a blue cloth, and cover it with a covering of sealskin, and shall put in its poles.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Numbers 4:11 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ἐπί ὁ θυσιαστήριον ὁ χρυσοῦς ἐπικαλύπτω ἱμάτιον ὑακίνθινος καί καλύπτω αὐτός κάλυμμα δερμάτινος ὑακίνθινος καί δια ἐνβάλλω ὁ ἀναφορεύς αὐτός

And they shall put a blue cloth for a cover on the golden altar, and shall cover it with a blue skin cover, and put in its staves.

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)

וְעַל מַדְבְּחָא דְדַהֲבָא יִפְרְסוּן לְבוּשׁ תִּכְלָא וִיכַסוּן יָתֵהּ בְּחוֹפָאָה דִמְשַׁךְ סַסְגוֹנָא וִישַׁוּוּן יָת אֲרִיחוֹהִי

(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)

וְעַל מַדְבְּחָא דְדַהֲבָא יִפְרְסוּן לְבוּשׁ תִּכְלָא וִיכַסוּן יָתֵיהּ בְּחוֹפָאָה דִמְשַׁךְ סַסְגוֹנָא וִישַׁווּן יַת אֲרִיחוֹי

And upon the golden altar they shall spread a purple vest, and cover it with a covering of hyacinthine skin, and inset its staves. And they shall take all the vessels, of the service with which they minister in the sanctuary, and wrap them in a covering of hyacinthine skins,

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 4:11 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 →

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Num 4:11-12. The golden altar — All covered with plates of gold. The instruments of ministry — The sacred garments used by the priests in their holy ministrations. Cover them — All these coverings were designed, 1st, For safety, that these holy things might not be sullied by rain, or tarnished by the sun. 2d, For decency, most of them had a cloth of blue, or purple, or scarlet over them; the ark, a cloth wholly of blue, perhaps an emblem of the azure skies, which are spread between us and the Majesty on high. 3d, For concealment. It was a fit sign of the darkness of that dispensation. The holy things were then covered. But Christ hath now destroyed the face of the covering.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Which was to burn incense, read Exod. 30:1.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) And shall put to the staves thereof.—Better, And shall put in the staves thereof, as in Num_4:6; Num_4:8; so also in Num_4:14.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue,.... The altar of incense, which was overlaid with gold, and therefore called a golden one, to which the allusion is in Rev 8:3,

and cover it with a covering of badgers' skins; after the cloth of blue was spread upon it:

and shall put to the staves thereof; into the rings, both made to bear and carry it, upon occasion, from place to place.

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

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

The golden altar; all covered with plates of gold.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

11. The golden altar — This (described in Exo_30:1-5) was also to be wrapped in a twofold cover of blue cloth and skins after it was cleansed of its ashes. The staves or rods, which would be in the way of the ministering priests, were not in the rings when the altar was in use. They are now to be put in. Covered first with purple, and then with its outside wrapping of skins, it was to be carried by the waiting Levites, while the various implements of the altar, wrapped in a similar manner, were to be carried on bars resting on the shoulders of the Levites. The removal of the ashes indicates that some sacrifices were made in the wilderness, a fact which some writers deny. There was, doubtless, much neglect of this duty. Amo_5:25.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

The golden altar - All covered with plates of gold.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Keil & Delitzsch

C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch

So again they were to wrap up the altar of incense (Exo 30:1), to adjust its bearing poles; and having wrapped it up in such coverings, along with the vessels belonging to it, to lay it upon the frame.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

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 14 words (13 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is tachash (“badger”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “badger” (tachash) contribute to the verse as a whole?
Exodus 25:5 shares the word «badger» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «יִפְרְשׂוּ֙» is Qal Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Joseph Benson's Commentary and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 14 Hebrew ↔ 21 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 14 words in this verse.
13 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 14 words in this verse.