Numbers 1:49

1:49 “Only the tribe of Levi ¹  you must not number ²  or count ³  with ⁴  the other Israelites.

Numbers 2:17

The Tribe in the Center

2:17 “Then the tent of meeting with the camp of the Levites will travel in the middle of the camps. They will travel in the same order as they camped, each in his own place ⁵  under his standard.

Numbers 3:12

3:12 “Look, ⁶  I myself have taken the Levites from among the Israelites instead of ⁷  every firstborn who opens the womb among the Israelites. So the Levites belong to me,

Numbers 5:3

5:3 You must expel both men and women; you must put them outside the camp, so that ⁸  they will not defile their camps, among which I live.”

Numbers 15:14

15:14 If a resident foreigner is living ⁹  with you – or whoever is among you ¹⁰  in future generations ¹¹  – and prepares an offering made by fire as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, he must do it the same way you are to do it. ¹² 

Numbers 16:33

16:33 They and all that they had went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed over them. So they perished from among the community.

Numbers 18:6

18:6 I myself have chosen ¹³  your brothers the Levites from among the Israelites. They are given to you as a gift from the Lord, to perform the duties ¹⁴  of the tent of meeting.

Numbers 19:10

19:10 The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer must wash his clothes and be ceremonially unclean until evening. This will be a permanent ordinance both for the Israelites and the resident foreigner who lives among them.

Numbers 25:7

25:7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, ¹⁵  he got up from among the assembly, took a javelin in his hand,

Numbers 27:7

27:7 “The daughters of Zelophehad have a valid claim. ¹⁶  You must indeed ¹⁷  give them possession of an inheritance among their father’s relatives, and you must transfer ¹⁸  the inheritance of their father to them.

Numbers 33:8

33:8 They traveled from Pi-hahiroth, ¹⁹  and passed through the middle of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and camped in Marah.

Numbers 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.

¹ sn From the giving of the Law on the priesthood comes the prerogative of the tribe of Levi. There were, however, members of other tribes who served as priests from time to time (see Judg 17:5).

² tn The construction has literally, “only the tribe of Levi you shall not number.” The Greek text rendered the particle אַךְ (’akh) forcefully with “see to it that” or “take care that.” For the uses of this form, see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 65, §388-89.

³ tn Heb “lift up their head.”

⁴ tn Heb “in the midst of the sons of Israel.”

⁵ tn The Hebrew expression is עַל־יָדוֹ (’al-yado, “upon his hand”). This clearly refers to a specifically designated place for each man.

⁹ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) here carries its deictic force, calling attention to the fact that is being declared. It is underscoring the fact that the Lord himself chose Levi.

¹⁰ tn Literally “in the place of.”

¹³ tn The imperfect tense functions here as a final imperfect, expressing the purpose of putting such folks outside the camp. The two preceding imperfects (repeated for emphasis) are taken here as instruction or legislation.

¹⁷ tn The word גּוּר (gur) was traditionally translated “to sojourn,” i.e., to live temporarily in a land. Here the two words are from the root: “if a sojourner sojourns.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “in your midst.”

¹⁹ tn The Hebrew text just has “to your generations,” but it means in the future.

²⁰ tn The imperfect tenses must reflect the responsibility to comply with the law, and so the classifications of instruction or obligation may be applied.

²¹ tn Heb “taken.”

²² tn The infinitive construct in this sentence is from עָבַד (’avad), and so is the noun that serves as its object: to serve the service.

²⁵ tn The first clause is subordinated to the second because both begin with the preterite verbal form, and there is clearly a logical and/or chronological sequence involved.

²⁹ tn Heb “[the daughters of Zelophehad] speak right” (using the participle דֹּבְרֹת [dovÿrot] with כֵּן [ken]).

³⁰ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute with the imperfect tense. The imperfect is functioning as the imperfect of instruction, and so the infinitive strengthens the force of the instruction.

³¹ tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive, from the root עָבַר (’avar, “to pass over”). Here it functions as the equivalent of the imperfect of instruction: “and you shall cause to pass,” meaning, “transfer.”

³³ tc So many medieval Hebrew manuscripts, Smr, Syriac, and Latin Vulgate. Other witnesses have “from before Hahiroth.”