Leviticus 22:10-13

22:10 “‘No lay person ¹  may eat anything holy. Neither a priest’s lodger ²  nor a hired laborer may eat anything holy, 22:11 but if a priest buys a person with his own money, ³  that person ⁴  may eat the holy offerings, ⁵  and those born in the priest’s ⁶  own house may eat his food. ⁷  22:12 If a priest’s daughter marries a lay person, ⁸  she may not eat the holy contribution offerings, ⁹  22:13 but if a priest’s daughter is a widow or divorced, and she has no children so that she returns to live in ¹⁰  her father’s house as in her youth, ¹¹  she may eat from her father’s food, but no lay person may eat it.

Numbers 1:51

1:51 Whenever the tabernacle is to move, ¹²  the Levites must take it down, and whenever the tabernacle is to be reassembled, ¹³  the Levites must set it up. ¹⁴  Any unauthorized person ¹⁵  who approaches it must be killed.

Numbers 3:10

3:10 So you are to appoint Aaron and his sons, and they will be responsible for their priesthood; ¹⁶  but the unauthorized person ¹⁷  who comes near must be put to death.”

Numbers 3:38

3:38 But those who were to camp in front of the tabernacle on the east, in front of the tent of meeting, were Moses, Aaron, ¹⁸  and his sons. They were responsible for the needs ¹⁹  of the sanctuary and for the needs of the Israelites, but the unauthorized person who approached was to be put to death.

Numbers 16:40

16:40 It was a memorial for the Israelites, that no outsider who is not a descendant of ²⁰  Aaron should approach to burn incense before the Lord, that he might not become like Korah and his company – just as the Lord had spoken by the authority ²¹  of Moses.

Numbers 18:4

18:4 They must join ²²  with you, and they will be responsible for the care of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent, but no unauthorized person ²³  may approach you.

Numbers 18:7

18:7 But you and your sons with you are responsible for your priestly duties, for everything at the altar and within the curtain. And you must serve. I give you the priesthood as a gift for service; but the unauthorized person who approaches must be put to death.”

¹ tn Heb “No stranger” (so KJV, ASV), which refers here to anyone other than the Aaronic priests. Some English versions reverse the negation and state positively: NIV “No one outside a priest’s family”; NRSV “Only a member of a priestly family”; CEV “Only you priests and your families.”

² tn Heb “A resident [תּוֹשָׁב (toshav) from יָשַׁב (yashav, “to dwell, to reside”)] of a priest.” The meaning of the term is uncertain. It could refer to a “guest” (NIV) or perhaps “bound servant” (NRSV; see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 149). In the translation “lodger” was used instead of “boarder” precisely because a boarder would be provided meals with his lodging, the very issue at stake here.

³ tn Heb “and a priest, if he buys a person, the property of his silver.”

⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the person whom the priest has purchased) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn Heb “eat it”; the referent (the holy offerings) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Heb “his”; the referent (the priest) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn Heb “and the [slave] born of his house, they shall eat in his food.” The LXX, Syriac, Tg. Onq., Tg. Ps.-J., and some mss of Smr have plural “ones born,” which matches the following plural “they” pronoun and the plural form of the verb.

⁸ tn Heb “And a daughter of a priest, if she is to a man, a stranger” (cf. the note on v. 10 above).

⁹ tn Heb “she in the contribution of the holy offerings shall not eat.” For “contribution [offering]” see the note on Lev 7:14 and the literature cited there. Cf. NCV “the holy offerings”; TEV, NLT “the sacred offerings.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “to”; the words “live in” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ tn Heb “and seed there is not to her and she returns to the house of her father as her youth.” The mention of having “no children” appears to imply that her children, if she had any, should support her; this is made explicit by NLT’s “and has no children to support her.”

¹² tn The construction uses the infinitive construct with the temporal preposition; the “tabernacle” is then the following genitive. Literally it is “and in the moving of the tabernacle,” meaning, “when the tabernacle is supposed to be moved,” i.e., when people are supposed to move it. The verb נָסָע (nasa’) means “pull up the tent pegs and move,” or more simply, “journey.”

¹³ tn Here we have the parallel construction using the infinitive construct in a temporal adverbial clause.

¹⁴ tn Heb “raise it up.”

¹⁵ tn The word used here is זָר (zar), normally translated “stranger” or “outsider.” It is most often used for a foreigner, an outsider, who does not belong in Israel, or who, although allowed in the land, may be viewed with suspicion. But here it seems to include even Israelites other than the tribe of Levi.

¹⁶ tc The LXX includes the following words here: “and all things pertaining to the altar and within the veil.” Cf. Num 18:7.

¹⁷ tn The word is זָר (zar), usually rendered “stranger, foreigner, pagan.” But in this context it simply refers to anyone who is not a Levite or a priest, an unauthorized person or intruder in the tabernacle. That person would be put to death.

¹⁸ tc In some Hebrew mss and Smr “and Aaron” is not in the verse. The omission arose probably by scribal error with such repetitious material that could easily give rise to variant traditions.

¹⁹ tn Here again the verb and its cognate noun are used: keeping the keep, or keeping charge over, or taking responsibility for the care of, or the like.

²⁰ tn Heb “from the seed of.”

²¹ tn Heb “hand.”

²² tn Now the sentence uses the Niphal perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive from the same root לָוָה (lavah).

²³ tn The word is “stranger, alien,” but it can also mean Israelites here.