Bilangan 3:8

3:8 And they are responsible for all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and for the needs of the Israelites, as they serve ¹  in the tabernacle.

Bilangan 4:33

4:33 This is the service of the families of the Merarites, their entire service concerning the tent of meeting, under the authority of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.”

Bilangan 6:6

6:6 “‘All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he must not contact ²  a dead body. ³ 

Bilangan 8:15

8:15 “After this, the Levites will go in ⁴  to do the work ⁵  of the tent of meeting. So you must cleanse them ⁶  and offer them like a wave offering. ⁷ 

Bilangan 9:23

9:23 At the commandment of the Lord they camped, and at the commandment of the Lord they traveled on; they kept the instructions of the Lord according to the commandment of the Lord, by the authority ⁸  of Moses.

Bilangan 15:13

15:13 “‘Every native-born person must do these things in this way to present an offering made by fire as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

Bilangan 20:27

20:27 So Moses did as the Lord commanded; and they went up Mount Hor in the sight ⁹  of the whole community.

Bilangan 23:2

23:2 So Balak did just as Balaam had said. Balak and Balaam then offered on each ¹⁰  altar a bull and a ram.

Bilangan 23:26

23:26 But Balaam replied ¹¹  to Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the Lord speaks, ¹²  I must do’?”

Bilangan 32:8

32:8 Your fathers did the same thing when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land.

[3:8]  ¹ tn The construction uses the infinitive construct (epexegetically) followed by its cognate accusative. It would convey “to serve the service of the tabernacle,” but more simply it may be rendered as “serving.” Their spiritual and practical service is to serve.

[3:8]  sn The Levites had the duty of taking care of all the tabernacle and its furnishings, especially in times when it was to be moved. But they were also appointed to be gate-keepers (2 Kgs 22:4; 1 Chr 9:19) in order to safeguard the purity of the place and the activities that went on there. Their offices seem to have then become hereditary in time (1 Sam 1:3); they even took on more priestly functions, such as pronouncing the benediction (Deut 10:8). See further R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 348-49.

[6:6]  ² tn The Hebrew verb is simply “enter, go,” no doubt with the sense of go near.

[6:6]  ³ tn The Hebrew has נֶפֶשׁ מֵת (nefesh met), literally a “dead person.” But since the word נֶפֶשׁ can also be used for animals, the restriction would be for any kind of corpse. Death was very much a part of the fallen world, and so for one so committed to the Lord, avoiding all such contamination would be a witness to the greatest separation, even in a family.

[8:15]  ⁴ tn The imperfect tense could also be given the nuance of the imperfect of permission: “the Levites may go in.”

[8:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “to serve.”

[8:15]  ⁶ tn The two verbs in the rest of this verse are perfect tenses with vav (ו) consecutive constructions, making them equal to the imperfect. Some commentators try to get around the difficulty of repetition by making these future perfects, “and you will have cleansed,” as opposed to a summary statement, “for thus you will cleanse….”

[8:15]  ⁷ tc The Greek text adds “before the Lord.”

[9:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “hand.”

[20:27]  ⁹ tn Heb “eyes.”

[23:2]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text has “on the altar,” but since there were seven of each animal and seven altars, the implication is that this means on each altar.

[23:26]  ¹¹ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[23:26]  ¹² tn This first clause, “all that the Lord speaks” – is a noun clause functioning as the object of the verb that comes at the end of the verse. It is something of an independent accusative case, since it is picked up with the sign of the accusative: “all that the Lord speaks, it I must do.”