Numbers 18:23

18:23 But the Levites must perform the service ¹  of the tent of meeting, and they must bear their iniquity. ²  It will be a perpetual ordinance throughout your generations that among the Israelites the Levites ³  have no inheritance. ⁴ 

Leviticus 20:19

20:19 You must not expose the nakedness of your mother’s sister and your father’s sister, for such a person has laid bare his own close relative. ⁵  They must bear their punishment for iniquity. ⁶ 

Psalms 38:4

38:4 For my sins overwhelm me; ⁷ 

like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.

Ezekiel 14:10

14:10 They will bear their punishment; ⁸  the punishment of the one who sought an oracle will be the same as the punishment of the prophet who gave it ⁹ 

¹ 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.”

² sn The Levites have the care of the tent of meeting, and so they are responsible for any transgressions against it.

³ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Levites) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁴ 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.

⁵ tn Heb “his flesh.”

⁶ tn See the note on Lev 17:16 above.

⁷ tn Heb “pass over my head.”

⁸ tn Or “They will bear responsibility for their iniquity.” The Hebrew term “iniquity” (three times in this verse) often refers by metonymy to the consequence of sin (see Gen 4:13).

⁹ tn Or “As is the guilt of the inquirer so is the guilt of the prophet.”