Exodus 6:16-25

6:16 Now these are the names of the sons of Levi, according to their records: ¹  Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. (The length of Levi’s life was 137 years.)

6:17 The sons of Gershon, by their families, were Libni and Shimei.

6:18 The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. (The length of Kohath’s life was 133 years.)

6:19 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These were the clans of Levi, according to their records.

6:20 Amram married ²  his father’s sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. (The length of Amram’s life was 137 years.)

6:21 The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zikri.

6:22 The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.

6:23 Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

6:24 The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These were the Korahite clans.

6:25 Now Eleazar son of Aaron married one of the daughters of Putiel and she bore him Phinehas.

These are the heads of the fathers’ households ³  of Levi according to their clans.

Numbers 4:2-20

4:2 “Take a census ⁴  of the Kohathites from among the Levites, by their families and by their clans, 4:3 from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, all who enter the company ⁵  to do the work in the tent of meeting. 4:4 This is the service of the Kohathites in the tent of meeting, relating to the most holy things. ⁶  4:5 When it is time for the camp to journey, ⁷  Aaron and his sons must come and take down the screening curtain and cover the ark of the testimony with it. 4:6 Then they must put over it a covering of fine leather ⁸  and spread over that a cloth entirely of blue, and then they must insert its poles.

4:7 “On the table of the presence ⁹  they must spread a blue ¹⁰  cloth, and put on it the dishes, the pans, the bowls, and the pitchers for pouring, and the Bread of the Presence must be on it continually. 4:8 They must spread over them a scarlet cloth, and cover the same with a covering of fine leather; and they must insert its poles.

4:9 “They must take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand of the light, with its lamps, its wick-trimmers, its trays, and all its oil vessels, with which they service it. 4:10 Then they must put it with all its utensils in a covering of fine leather, and put it on a carrying beam. ¹¹ 

4:11 “They must spread a blue cloth on the gold altar, and cover it with a covering of fine leather; and they must insert its poles. 4:12 Then they must take all the utensils of the service, with which they serve in the sanctuary, put them in a blue cloth, cover them with a covering of fine leather, and put them on a carrying beam. 4:13 Also, they must take away the ashes from the altar ¹²  and spread a purple cloth over it. 4:14 Then they must place on it all its implements with which they serve there – the trays, the meat forks, the shovels, the basins, and all the utensils of the altar – and they must spread on it a covering of fine leather, and then insert its poles. ¹³ 

4:15 “When Aaron and his sons have finished ¹⁴  covering ¹⁵  the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is ready to journey, then ¹⁶  the Kohathites will come to carry them; ¹⁷  but they must not touch ¹⁸  any ¹⁹  holy thing, or they will die. ²⁰  These are the responsibilities ²¹  of the Kohathites with the tent of meeting.

4:16 “The appointed responsibility of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest is for the oil for the light, and the spiced incense, and the daily grain offering, and the anointing oil; he also has ²²  the appointed responsibility over all the tabernacle with ²³  all that is in it, over the sanctuary and over all its furnishings.” ²⁴ 

4:17 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: 4:18 “Do not allow the tribe of the families of the Kohathites to be cut off ²⁵  from among the Levites; 4:19 but in order that they will live ²⁶  and not die when they approach the most holy things, do this for them: Aaron and his sons will go in and appoint ²⁷  each man ²⁸  to his service and his responsibility. 4:20 But the Kohathites ²⁹  are not to go in to watch while the holy things are being covered, or they will die.”

Numbers 4:1

The Service of the Kohathites

4:1 ³⁰ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron:

Numbers 6:16-18

6:16 “‘Then the priest must present all these ³¹  before the Lord and offer ³²  his purification offering and his burnt offering. 6:17 Then he must offer the ram as a peace offering ³³  to the Lord, with the basket of bread made without yeast; the priest must also offer his grain offering and his drink offering.

6:18 “‘Then the Nazirite must shave his consecrated head ³⁴  at the entrance to the tent of meeting and must take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire ³⁵  where the peace offering is burning. ³⁶ 

Numbers 15:5

15:5 You must also prepare one-fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering ³⁷  with the burnt offering or the sacrifice for each lamb. ³⁸ 

Numbers 23:12-20

23:12 Balaam replied, ³⁹  “Must I not be careful ⁴⁰  to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?” ⁴¹  23:13 Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from which you can observe them. You will see only a part of them, but you will not see all of them. Curse them for me from there.”

23:14 So Balak brought Balaam ⁴²  to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, ⁴³  where ⁴⁴  he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. 23:15 And Balaam ⁴⁵  said to Balak, “Station yourself here ⁴⁶  by your burnt offering, while I meet the Lord there. 23:16 Then the Lord met Balaam and put a message ⁴⁷  in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and speak what I tell you.” 23:17 When Balaam ⁴⁸  came to him, he was still standing by his burnt offering, along with the princes of Moab. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?”

Balaam Prophesies Again

23:18 Balaam ⁴⁹  uttered ⁵⁰  his oracle, and said,

“Rise up, ⁵¹  Balak, and hear;

Listen to me, son of Zippor:

23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie,

nor a human being, ⁵²  that he should change his mind.

Has he said, and will he not do it?

Or has he spoken, and will he not make it happen? ⁵³ 

23:20 Indeed, I have received a command ⁵⁴  to bless;

he has blessed, ⁵⁵  and I cannot reverse it. ⁵⁶ 

[6:16]  ¹ tn Or “generations.”

[6:20]  ² tn Heb “took for a wife” (also in vv. 23, 25).

[6:25]  ³ tn Heb “heads of the fathers” is taken as an abbreviation for the description of “households” in v. 14.

[4:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “lift up the head.” The form נָשֹׂא (naso’) is the Qal infinitive absolute functioning here as a pure verb form. This serves to emphasize the basic verbal root idea (see GKC 346 §113.bb).

[4:3]  ⁵ tn The word “company” is literally “host, army” (צָבָא, tsava’). The repetition of similar expressions makes the translation difficult: Heb “all [who] come to the host to do work in the tent.”

[4:4]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text simply has “the holy of holies,” or “the holy of the holy things” (קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים, qodesh haqqodashim). The context indicates that this refers to all the sacred furnishings.

[4:5]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive construct in an adverbial clause of time; literally it says “in the journeying of the camp.” The genitive in such constructions is usually the subject. Here the implication is that people would be preparing to transport the camp and its equipment.

[4:6]  ⁸ tn The exact meaning of the Hebrew word here is difficult to determine. The term תַּחַשׁ (takhash) has been translated “badgers’ [skins]” by KJV. ASV has “sealskin” while RSV uses “goatskin”; NEB and NASB have “porpoise skin,” and NIV has “hides of sea cows.” This is close to “porpoise,” and seems influenced by the Arabic. The evidence is not strong for any of these meanings, and some of the suggestions would be problematic. It is possible the word is simply used for “fine leather,” based on the Egyptian ths. This has been followed by NRSV (“fine leather”) and NLT (“fine goatskin leather”) along with the present translation. See further HALOT 1720-21 s.v. תַּחַשׁ.

[4:7]  ⁹ sn The Hebrew actually has the “table of faces,” and this has been traditionally rendered “table of shewbread.”

[4:7]  ¹⁰ tn The Greek has “violet” instead of blue. This is also the case in vv. 8, 10, and 14.

[4:10]  ¹¹ tn The “pole” or “bar” (מוֹט, mot) is of a different style than the poles used for transporting the ark. It seems to be a flexible bar carried by two men with the implements being transported tied to the bar. The NEB suggests the items were put in a bag and slung over the bar, but there is no indication of the manner.

[4:13]  ¹² tc The Greek text has “and he must place the cover upon the altar” instead of “and they must take away the ashes from the altar.” The verb is the Piel form; its nuance seems to be privative, i.e., stating that the object is deprived of the material – the ashes are removed. This is the main altar in the courtyard.

[4:14]  ¹³ tc For this passage the Greek and Smr have a substantial addition concerning the purple cloth for the laver and its base, and a further covering of skin (see D. W. Gooding, “On the Use of the LXX for Dating Midrashic Elements in the Targums,” JTS 25 [1974]: 1-11).

[4:15]  ¹⁴ tn The verb form is the Piel perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive; it continues the future sequence, but in this verse forms a subordinate clause to the parallel sequential verb to follow.

[4:15]  ¹⁵ tn The Piel infinitive construct with the preposition serves as the direct object of the preceding verbal form, answering the question of what it was that they finished.

[4:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “after this.”

[4:15]  ¹⁷ tn The form is the Qal infinitive construct from נָשָׂא (nasa’, “to lift, carry”); here it indicates the purpose clause after the verb “come.”

[4:15]  ¹⁸ tn The imperfect tense may be given the nuance of negated instruction (“they are not to”) or negated obligation (“they must not”).

[4:15]  ¹⁹ tn Here the article expresses the generic idea of any holy thing (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 19, §92).

[4:15]  ²⁰ tn The verb is the perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, following the imperfect tense warning against touching the holy thing. The form shows the consequence of touching the holy thing, and so could be translated “or they will die” or “lest they die.” The first is stronger.

[4:15]  ²¹ tn The word מַשָּׂא (massa’) is normally rendered “burden,” especially in prophetic literature. It indicates the load that one must carry, whether an oracle, or here the physical responsibility.

[4:16]  ²² tn This is supplied to the line to clarify “appointed.”

[4:16]  ²³ tn Heb “and.”

[4:16]  ²⁴ sn One would assume that he would prepare and wrap these items, but that the Kohathites would carry them to the next place.

[4:18]  ²⁵ sn The verb is simply the Qal, “do not cut off.” The context calls for a permissive nuance – “do not let them be cut off.” It was a difficult task to be handling the holy things correctly; Moses and Aaron were to see to it that they did it right and did not handle the objects, that is, Moses and Aaron were to safeguard their lives by making certain that proper procedures were followed.

[4:19]  ²⁶ tn The word order is different in the Hebrew text: Do this…and they will live. Consequently, the verb “and they will live” is a perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive to express the future consequence of “doing this” for them.

[4:19]  ²⁷ tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive continues the instruction for Aaron.

[4:19]  ²⁸ tn The distributive sense is obtained by the repetition, “a man” and “a man.”

[4:20]  ²⁹ tn In the Hebrew text the verse has as the subject “they,” but to avoid confusion the antecedent has been clarified in the translation.

[4:1]  ³⁰ sn The chapter has four main parts to it: Kohathites (1-20), Gershonites (21-28), Merarites (29-33) and the census of the Levites (34-49).

[6:16]  ³¹ tn “all these” is supplied as the object.

[6:16]  ³² tn Heb “make.”

[6:17]  ³³ tn The “peace offering” is usually written as “a sacrifice of peace” (זֶבַח שְׁלָמִים, zevakh shÿlamim). The word “sacrifice” is related to the word “to slaughter,” and so indicates that this is a bloody offering in celebration of peace with God.

[6:18]  ³⁴ tn Some versions simply interpret this to say that he shaves his hair, for it is the hair that is the sign of the consecration to God. But the text says he shaves his consecrated head. The whole person is obviously consecrated to God – not just the head. But the symbolic act of cutting the hair shows that the vow has been completed (see Acts 21:23-24). The understanding of the importance of the hair in the ancient world has been the subject of considerable study over the years (see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 436; and J. A. Thompson, “Numbers,” New Bible Commentary: Revised, 177).

[6:18]  ³⁵ sn Some commentators see this burning of the hair as an offering (McNeile, Numbers, 35; G. B. Gray, Numbers [ICC], 68). But others probably with more foundation see it as destroying something that has served a purpose, something that if left alone might be venerated (see R. de Vaux, Israel, 436).

[6:18]  ³⁶ tn Heb “which is under the peace offering.” The verse does not mean that the hair had to be put under that sacrifice and directly on the fire.

[15:5]  ³⁷ sn The drink-offering was an ancient custom, mentioned in the Ugaritic tablets of Ras Shamra (14th century b.c.). The drink offering was poured out at the base of the altar (see Sir 50:15 and Josephus, Ant. 3.9.4 [3.234]).

[15:5]  ³⁸ tn Heb “for the one lamb,” but it clearly means “for each lamb.”

[23:12]  ³⁹ tn Heb “he answered and said.” The referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:12]  ⁴⁰ tn The verb שָׁמַר (shamar) means “to guard, watch, observe” and so here with a sense of “be careful” or even “take heed” (so KJV, ASV). The nuance of the imperfect tense would be obligatory: “I must be careful” – to do what? to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth. The infinitive construct “to speak” is therefore serving as the direct object of שָׁמַר.

[23:12]  ⁴¹ tn The clause is a noun clause serving as the direct object of “to speak.” It begins with the sign of the accusative, and then the relative pronoun that indicates the whole clause is the accusative.

[23:14]  ⁴² tn Heb “he brought him”; the referents (Balak and Balaam) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:14]  ⁴³ tn Some scholars do not translate this word as “Pisgah,” but rather as a “lookout post” or an “elevated place.”

[23:14]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and he built.”

[23:15]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:15]  ⁴⁶ tn The verse uses כֹּה (koh) twice: “Station yourself here…I will meet [the Lord] there.”

[23:16]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “word.”

[23:17]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:18]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “he.” The antecedent has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[23:18]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “took up.”

[23:18]  ⁵¹ tn The verb probably means “pay attention” in this verse.

[23:19]  ⁵² tn Heb “son of man.”

[23:19]  ⁵³ tn The verb is the Hiphil of קוּם (qum, “to cause to rise; to make stand”). The meaning here is more of the sense of fulfilling the promises made.

[23:20]  ⁵⁴ tn The Hebrew text simply has “I have received [to] bless.” The infinitive is the object of the verb, telling what he received. Balaam was not actually commanded to bless, but was given the word of blessing so that he was given a divine decree that would bless Israel.

[23:20]  ⁵⁵ sn The reference is probably to the first speech, where the Lord blessed Israel. Balaam knows that there is nothing he can do to reverse what God has said.

[23:20]  ⁵⁶ tn The verb is the Hiphil of שׁוּב (shuv), meaning “to cause to return.” He cannot return God’s word to him, for it has been given, and it will be fulfilled.