Bilangan 1:50

1:50 But appoint ¹  the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, ²  over all its furnishings and over everything in it. They must carry ³  the tabernacle and all its furnishings; and they ⁴  must attend to it and camp around it. ⁵ 

Bilangan 3:31

3:31 Their responsibilities included the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, and the utensils of the sanctuary with which they ministered, ⁶  the curtain, and all their service. ⁷ 

Bilangan 4:7

4:7 “On the table of the presence ⁸  they must spread a blue ⁹  cloth, and put on it the dishes, the pans, the bowls, and the pitchers for pouring, and the Bread of the Presence must be on it continually.

Bilangan 5:15

5:15 then ¹⁰  the man must bring his wife to the priest, and he must bring the offering required for her, one tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he must not pour olive oil on it or put frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of suspicion, ¹¹  a grain offering for remembering, ¹²  for bringing ¹³  iniquity to remembrance.

Bilangan 6:14

6:14 and he must present his offering ¹⁴  to the Lord: one male lamb in its first year without blemish for a burnt offering, one ewe lamb in its first year without blemish for a purification offering, one ram without blemish for a peace offering, ¹⁵ 

Bilangan 7:12

The Tribal Offerings

7:12 The one who presented his offering on the first day was Nahshon son of Amminadab, from the tribe of Judah. ¹⁶ 

Bilangan 8:19

8:19 I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to do the work for the Israelites in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the Israelites, so there will be no plague among the Israelites when the Israelites come near the sanctuary.” ¹⁷ 

Bilangan 9:14

9:14 If a resident foreigner lives ¹⁸  among you and wants to keep ¹⁹  the Passover to the Lord, he must do so according to the statute of the Passover, and according to its custom. You must have ²⁰  the same ²¹  statute for the resident foreigner ²²  and for the one who was born in the land.’”

Bilangan 11:17-18

11:17 Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take part of the spirit that is on you, and will put it on them, and they will bear some of the burden of the people with you, so that you do not bear it ²³  all by yourself.

11:18 “And say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves ²⁴  for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing ²⁵  of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat, ²⁶  for life ²⁷  was good for us in Egypt?” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat.

Bilangan 11:20

11:20 but a whole month, ²⁸  until it comes out your nostrils and makes you sick, ²⁹  because you have despised ³⁰  the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why ³¹  did we ever come out of Egypt?”’”

Bilangan 13:32

13:32 Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging ³²  report of the land they had investigated, saying, “The land that we passed through ³³  to investigate is a land that devours ³⁴  its inhabitants. ³⁵  All the people we saw there ³⁶  are of great stature.

Bilangan 16:3

16:3 And they assembled against Moses and Aaron, saying to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, ³⁷  seeing that the whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the community of the Lord?”

Bilangan 16:5

16:5 Then he said to Korah and to all his company, “In the morning the Lord will make known who are his, and who is holy. He will cause that person ³⁸  to approach him; the person he has chosen he will cause to approach him.

Bilangan 18:8

The Portion of the Priests

18:8 The Lord spoke to Aaron, “See, I have given you the responsibility for my raised offerings; I have given all the holy things of the Israelites to you as your priestly portion ³⁹  and to your sons as a perpetual ordinance.

Bilangan 18:11

18:11 “And this is yours: the raised offering of their gift, along with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you and to your sons and daughters with you as a perpetual ordinance. Everyone who is ceremonially clean in your household may eat of it.

Bilangan 18:23

18:23 But the Levites must perform the service ⁴⁰  of the tent of meeting, and they must bear their iniquity. ⁴¹  It will be a perpetual ordinance throughout your generations that among the Israelites the Levites ⁴²  have no inheritance. ⁴³ 

Bilangan 19:12

19:12 He must purify himself ⁴⁴  with water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and the seventh day, then he will not be clean.

Bilangan 19:20

19:20 But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person must be cut off from among the community, because he has polluted the sanctuary of the Lord; the water of purification was not sprinkled on him, so he is unclean.

Bilangan 20:19

20:19 Then the Israelites said to him, “We will go along the highway, and if we ⁴⁵  or our cattle drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We will only pass through on our feet, without doing anything else.”

Bilangan 22:6

22:6 So ⁴⁶  now, please come and curse this nation ⁴⁷  for me, for they are too powerful for me. Perhaps I will prevail so that we may conquer them ⁴⁸  and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, ⁴⁹  and whoever you curse is cursed.”

Bilangan 25:18

25:18 because they bring trouble to you by their treachery with which they have deceived ⁵⁰  you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, ⁵¹  their sister, who was killed on the day of the plague that happened as a result of Peor.”

Bilangan 26:5

Reuben

26:5 Reuben was the firstborn of Israel. The Reubenites: from ⁵²  Hanoch, the family of the Hanochites; from Pallu, the family of the Palluites;

Bilangan 27:21

27:21 And he will stand before Eleazar the priest, who ⁵³  will seek counsel ⁵⁴  for him before the Lord by the decision of the Urim. ⁵⁵  At his command ⁵⁶  they will go out, and at his command they will come in, he and all the Israelites with him, the whole community.”

Bilangan 28:12

28:12 with three-tenths of an ephah of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering for each bull, and two-tenths of an ephah of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering for the ram,

Bilangan 28:14

28:14 For their drink offerings, include ⁵⁷  half a hin of wine with each bull, one-third of a hin for the ram, and one-fourth of a hin for each lamb. This is the burnt offering for each month ⁵⁸  throughout the months of the year.

Bilangan 29:6

29:6 this is in addition to the monthly burnt offering and its grain offering, and the daily burnt offering with its grain offering and their drink offerings as prescribed, as a sweet aroma, a sacrifice made by fire to the Lord.

Bilangan 29:39

29:39 “‘These things you must present to the Lord at your appointed times, in addition to your vows and your freewill offerings, as your burnt offerings, your grain offerings, your drink offerings, and your peace offerings.’”

Bilangan 30:5

30:5 But if her father overrules her when he hears ⁵⁹  about it, then none ⁶⁰  of her vows or her obligations which she has pledged for herself will stand. And the Lord will release ⁶¹  her from it, because her father overruled her.

Bilangan 31:19

Purification After Battle

31:19 “Any of you who has killed anyone or touched any of the dead, remain outside the camp for seven days; purify yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.

Bilangan 32:17

32:17 but we will maintain ourselves in armed readiness ⁶²  and go before the Israelites until whenever we have brought them to their place. Our descendants will be living in fortified towns as a protection against ⁶³  the inhabitants of the land.

Bilangan 35:15

35:15 These six towns will be places of refuge for the Israelites, and for the foreigner, and for the settler among them, so that anyone who kills any person accidentally may flee there.

Bilangan 35:33

35:33 “You must not pollute the land where you live, for blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed there, except by the blood of the person who shed it.

[1:50]  ¹ tn The same verb translated “number” (פָּקַד, paqad) is now used to mean “appoint” (הַפְקֵד, hafqed), which focuses more on the purpose of the verbal action of numbering people. Here the idea is that the Levites were appointed to take care of the tabernacle. On the use of this verb with the Levites’ appointment, see M. Gertner, “The Masorah and the Levites,” VT 10 (1960): 252.

[1:50]  ² tn The Hebrew name used here is מִשְׁכַּן הָעֵדֻת (mishkan ha’edut). The tabernacle or dwelling place of the Lord was given this name because it was here that the tablets of the Law were kept. The whole shrine was therefore a reminder (הָעֵדוּת, a “warning sign” or “testimony”) of the stipulations of the covenant. For the ancient Near Eastern customs of storing the code in the sanctuaries, see M. G. Kline, Treaty of the Great King, 14-19, and idem, The Structure of Biblical Authority, 35-36. Other items were in the ark in the beginning, but by the days of Solomon only the tablets were there (1 Kgs 8:9).

[1:50]  ³ tn The imperfect tense here is an obligatory imperfect telling that they are bound to do this since they are appointed for this specific task.

[1:50]  ⁴ tn The addition of the pronoun before the verb is emphatic – they are the ones who are to attend to the tabernacle. The verb used is שָׁרַת (sharat) in the Piel, indicating that they are to serve, minister to, attend to all the details about this shrine.

[1:50]  ⁵ tn Heb “the tabernacle.” The pronoun (“it”) was used in the translation here for stylistic reasons.

[3:31]  ⁶ tn The verb is יְשָׁרְתוּ (yÿsharÿtu, “they will serve/minister”). The imperfect tense in this place, however, probably describes what the priests would do, what they used to do. The verb is in a relative clause: “which they would serve with them,” which should be changed to read “with which they would serve.”

[3:31]  ⁷ tn The word is literally “its [their] service.” It describes all the implements that were there for the maintenance of these things.

[4:7]  ⁸ sn The Hebrew actually has the “table of faces,” and this has been traditionally rendered “table of shewbread.”

[4:7]  ⁹ tn The Greek has “violet” instead of blue. This is also the case in vv. 8, 10, and 14.

[5:15]  ¹⁰ tn All the conditions have been laid down now for the instruction to begin – if all this happened, then this is the procedure to follow.

[5:15]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew word is “jealousy,” which also would be an acceptable translation here. But since the connotation is that suspicion has been raised about the other person, “suspicion” seems to be a better rendering in this context.

[5:15]  ¹² tn The word “remembering” is זִכָּרוֹן (zikkaron); the meaning of the word here is not so much “memorial,” which would not communicate much, but the idea of bearing witness before God concerning the charges. The truth would come to light through this ritual, and so the attestation would stand. This memorial would bring the truth to light. It was a somber occasion, and so no sweet smelling additives were placed on the altar.

[5:15]  ¹³ tn The final verbal form, מַזְכֶּרֶת (mazkeret), explains what the memorial was all about – it was causing iniquity to be remembered.

[6:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he shall offer his offering” – the object is a cognate accusative.

[6:14]  ¹⁵ sn The peace offering שְׁלָמִים (shÿlamim) is instructed in Lev 3 and 7. The form is always in the plural. It was a sacrifice that celebrated the fact that the worshiper was at peace with God, and was not offered in order to make peace with God. The peace offering was essentially a communal meal in the presence of God. Some have tried to equate this offering with similar sounding names in Akkadian and Ugaritic (see B. A. Levine, In the Presence of the Lord [SJLA], 3-52), but the unique features of the Israelite sacrifice make this connection untenable.

[7:12]  ¹⁶ sn The tribe of Judah is listed first. It seems that it had already achieved a place of prominence based on the patriarchal promise of the Messiahship in Judah (Gen 49:10).

[8:19]  ¹⁷ sn The firstborn were those that were essentially redeemed from death in Egypt when the blood was put on the doors. So in the very real sense they belonged to God (Exod 13:2,12). The firstborn was one who stood in special relationship to the father, being the successive offspring. Here, the Levites would stand in for the firstborn in that special role and special relationship. God also made it clear that the nation of Israel was his firstborn son (Exod 4:22-23), and so they stood in that relationship before all the nations. The tribe of Reuben was to have been the firstborn tribe, but in view of the presumptuous attempt to take over the leadership through pagan methods (Gen 35:22; 49:3-4), was passed over. The tribes of Levi and Simeon were also put down for their ancestors’ activities, but sanctuary service was still given to Levi.

[9:14]  ¹⁸ tn The words translated “resident foreigner” and “live” are from the same Hebrew root, גּוּר (gur), traditionally translated “to sojourn.” The “sojourner” who “sojourns” is a foreigner, a resident alien, who lives in the land as a temporary resident with rights of land ownership.

[9:14]  ¹⁹ tn The verb is the simple perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. It is therefore the equivalent to the imperfect that comes before it. The desiderative imperfect fits this usage well, since the alien is not required to keep the feast, but may indeed desire to do so.

[9:14]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew text has “there will be to you,” which is the way of expressing possession in Hebrew. Since this is legal instruction, the imperfect tense must be instruction or legislation.

[9:14]  ²¹ tn Or “you must have one statute.”

[9:14]  ²² tn The conjunction is used here to specify the application of the law: “and for the resident foreigner, and for the one…” indicates “both for the resident foreigner and the one who….”

[11:17]  ²³ tn The imperfect tense here is to be classified as a final imperfect, showing the result of this action by God. Moses would be relieved of some of the responsibility when these others were given the grace to understand and to resolve cases.

[11:18]  ²⁴ tn The Hitpael is used to stress that they are to prepare for a holy appearance. The day was going to be special and so required their being set apart for it. But it is a holy day in the sense of the judgment that was to follow.

[11:18]  ²⁵ tn Heb “in the ears.”

[11:18]  ²⁶ tn Possibly this could be given an optative translation, to reflect the earlier one: “O that someone would give….” But the verb is not the same; here it is the Hiphil of the verb “to eat” – “who will make us eat” (i.e., provide meat for us to eat).

[11:18]  ²⁷ tn The word “life” is not in the text. The expression is simply “it was for us,” or “we had good,” meaning “we had it good,” or “life was good.”

[11:20]  ²⁸ tn Heb “a month of days.” So also in v. 21.

[11:20]  ²⁹ tn The expression לְזָרָה (lÿzarah) has been translated “ill” or “loathsome.” It occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. The Greek text interprets it as “sickness.” It could be nausea or vomiting (so G. B. Gray, Numbers [ICC], 112) from overeating.

[11:20]  ³⁰ sn The explanation is the interpretation of their behavior – it is in reality what they have done, even though they would not say they despised the Lord. They had complained and shown a lack of faith and a contempt for the program, which was in essence despising the Lord.

[11:20]  ³¹ tn The use of the demonstrative pronoun here (“why is this we went out …”) is enclitic, providing emphasis to the sentence: “Why in the world did we ever leave Egypt?”

[13:32]  ³² tn Or “an evil report,” i.e., one that was a defamation of the grace of God.

[13:32]  ³³ tn Heb “which we passed over in it”; the pronoun on the preposition serves as a resumptive pronoun for the relative, and need not be translated literally.

[13:32]  ³⁴ tn The verb is the feminine singular participle from אָכַל (’akhal); it modifies the land as a “devouring land,” a bold figure for the difficulty of living in the place.

[13:32]  ³⁵ sn The expression has been interpreted in a number of ways by commentators, such as that the land was infertile, that the Canaanites were cannibals, that it was a land filled with warlike dissensions, or that it denotes a land geared for battle. It may be that they intended the land to seem infertile and insecure.

[13:32]  ³⁶ tn Heb “in its midst.”

[16:3]  ³⁷ tn The meaning of רַב־לָכֶם (rab-lakhem) is something like “you have assumed far too much authority.” It simply means “much to you,” perhaps “you have gone to far,” or “you are overreaching yourselves” (M. Noth, Numbers [OTL], 123). He is objecting to the exclusiveness of the system that Moses has been introducing.

[16:5]  ³⁸ tn Heb “him.”

[18:8]  ³⁹ tn This is an uncommon root. It may be connected to the word “anoint” as here (see RSV). But it may also be seen as an intended parallel to “perpetual due” (see Gen 47:22; Exod 29:28; Lev 6:11 [HT]).

[18:23]  ⁴⁰ tn The verse begins with the perfect tense of עָבַד (’avad) with vav (ו) consecutive, making the form equal to the instructions preceding it. As its object the verb has the cognate accusative “service.”

[18:23]  ⁴¹ sn The Levites have the care of the tent of meeting, and so they are responsible for any transgressions against it.

[18:23]  ⁴² tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Levites) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[18:23]  ⁴³ tn The Hebrew text uses both the verb and the object from the same root to stress the point: They will not inherit an inheritance. The inheritance refers to land.

[19:12]  ⁴⁴ tn The verb is the Hitpael of חָטָא (khata’), a verb that normally means “to sin.” But the Piel idea in many places is “to cleanse; to purify.” This may be explained as a privative use (“to un-sin” someone, meaning cleanse) or denominative (“make a sin offering for someone”). It is surely connected to the purification offering, and so a sense of purify is what is wanted here.

[20:19]  ⁴⁵ tn The Hebrew text uses singular pronouns, “I” and “my,” but it is the people of Israel that are intended, and so it may be rendered in the plural. Similarly, Edom speaks in the first person, probably from the king. But it too could be rendered “we.”

[22:6]  ⁴⁶ tn The two lines before this verse begin with the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh), and so they lay the foundation for these imperatives. In view of those circumstances, this is what should happen.

[22:6]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “people.” So also in vv. 10, 17, 41.

[22:6]  ⁴⁸ tn The construction uses the imperfect tense אוּכַל (’ukhal, “I will be able”) followed by the imperfect tense נַכֶּה (nakkeh, “we will smite/attack/defeat”). The second verb is clearly the purpose or the result of the first, even though there is no conjunction or particle.

[22:6]  ⁴⁹ tn The verb is the Piel imperfect of בָּרַךְ (barakh), with the nuance of possibility: “whomever you may bless.” The Pual participle מְבֹרָךְ (mÿvorakh) serves as the predicate.

[25:18]  ⁵⁰ tn This is the same word as that translated “treachery.”

[25:18]  ⁵¹ sn Cozbi’s father, Zur, was one of five Midianite kings who eventually succumbed to Israel (Num 31:8). When the text gives the name and family of a woman, it is asserting that she is important, at least for social reasons, among her people.

[26:5]  ⁵² tc The Hebrew text has no preposition here, but one has been supplied in the translation for clarity. Cf. vv. 23, 30, 31, 32.

[27:21]  ⁵³ tn The passage simply has “and he will ask,” but Eleazar is clearly the subject now.

[27:21]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “ask.”

[27:21]  ⁵⁵ sn The new leader would not have the privilege that Moses had in speaking to God face to face. Rather, he would have to inquire of the Lord through the priest, and the priest would seek a decision by means of the Urim. The Urim and the Thummim were the sacred lots that the priest had in his pouch, the “breastplate” as it has traditionally been called. Since the Law had now been fully established, there would be fewer cases that the leader would need further rulings. Now it would simply be seeking the Lord’s word for matters such as whether to advance or not. The size, shape or substance of these objects is uncertain. See further C. Van Dam, The Urim and Thummim.

[27:21]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “mouth,” meaning what he will say.

[28:14]  ⁵⁷ tn The word “include” is not in the Hebrew text but is implied. It is supplied in the translation to make a complete English sentence.

[28:14]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “a month in its month.”

[30:5]  ⁵⁹ tn The idiom is “in the day of,” but it is used in place of a preposition before the infinitive construct with its suffixed subjective genitive. The clause is temporal.

[30:5]  ⁶⁰ tn The Hebrew “all will not stand” is best rendered “none will stand.”

[30:5]  ⁶¹ tn The verb has often been translated “forgive” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV, NLT), but that would suggest a sin that needed forgiving. The idea of “release from obligation” is better; the idea is like that of having a debt “forgiven” or “retired.” In other words, she is free from the vow she had made. The Lord will not hold the woman responsible to do what she vowed.

[32:17]  ⁶² tn The MT has חֻשִׁים (khushim); the verbal root is חוּשׁ (khush, “to make haste” or “hurry”). But in light of the Greek and Latin Vulgate the Hebrew should probably be emended to חֲמֻשִׁים (hamushim), a qal passive participle meaning “in battle array.” See further BDB 301 s.v. I חוּשׁ, BDB 332 s.v. חֲמֻשִׁים; HALOT 300 s.v. I חושׁ, חישׁ; HALOT 331 s.v. I חמשׁ.

[32:17]  ⁶³ tn Heb “from before.”