What Does Numbers 7:36 Mean?
On the fifth day Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, lifted one of the children of Simeon, brought near his offering.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
On the fifth day Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, prince of the children of Simeon, did offer:THE KEY
The giver’s name carries God’s wholeness, while his place among Simeon’s children ties that wholeness to a people.
THE MEANING
This verse names the giver and places him within Simeon’s people; the contribution has a face and a lineage. Shelumiel’s name carries God’s wholeness, while Simeon’s name carries hearing, so the offering stands within both connection and response.
THE ROOT
שְׁלֻמִיאֵל
Shelumiel
GROWS FROM
שׁלם
sh-l-m
To be whole or complete; this root carries the sense of wholeness and peace.
Shelumiel’s name is commonly understood as “peace of God” or “my peace is God.” The name carries the same whole and complete sense found in words for peace and wholeness, so the giver is named with a quality his offering can embody.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, peace.
שָׁלוֹם
This branch shows that the name’s peace is a form of wholeness, not merely a calm feeling.
shalem: Whole, complete.
שָׁלֵם
This branch makes visible the root’s sense of completeness within the name Shelumiel.
שִׁמְעוֹן
Shim'on
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
To hear or listen.
Simeon means “heard”; the tribal name retains hearing inside what reads in English as a proper label. Beside Shelumiel’s offering, that name makes response part of the passage’s texture: the people are marked by hearing, and a member of that people is named through contribution.
ALSO GROWS
shama: To hear, listen.
שָׁמַע
This is the root behind Simeon’s name and reveals hearing within the tribal designation.
shema: Hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
This branch shows hearing as responsive, giving the name a movement from reception toward action.
THE PATTERN
Wholeness is named as something shared: it can mark a person, a people, and the peace they seek.
Ask for the wholeness of Jerusalem; those who love you are at ease.For a child is born to us, a son is given to us; the governance shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Father of the Ages, Prince of Wholeness.Wholeness I leave with you; my wholeness I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be stirred, and do not let it shrink.THE THREAD
Ask for the wholeness of Jerusalem; those who love you are at ease.Psalm 122:6 uses שָׁלוֹם (shalom, wholeness or peace), from the same שׁלם (sh-l-m) root carried by Shelumiel’s name. The root opens his name beyond an individual identity: the wholeness held in it is also sought for an entire city.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us