Numbers 4:27

4:27 “All the service of the Gershonites, whether ¹  carrying loads ²  or for any of their work, will be at the direction of ³  Aaron and his sons. You will assign them all their tasks ⁴  as their responsibility.

Deuteronomy 32:50

32:50 You will die ⁵  on the mountain that you ascend and join your deceased ancestors, ⁶  just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor ⁷  and joined his deceased ancestors,

¹ tn The term “whether” is supplied to introduce the enumerated parts of the explanatory phrase.

² tn Here again is the use of the noun “burden” in the sense of the loads they were to carry (see the use of carts in Num 7:7).

³ tn The expression is literally “upon/at the mouth of” (עַל־פִּי, ’al-pi); it means that the work of these men would be under the direct orders of Aaron and his sons.

⁴ tn Or “burden.”

⁵ tn In the Hebrew text the forms translated “you will die…and join” are imperatives, but the actions in view cannot really be commanded. The imperative is used here in a rhetorical, emphatic manner to indicate the certainty of Moses’ death on the mountain. On the rhetorical use of the imperative see IBHS 572 §34.4c.

⁶ tn Heb “be gathered to your people.” The same phrase occurs again later in this verse.

⁷ sn Mount Hor. See note on the name “Moserah” in Deut 10:6.