Numbers 4:2-15

4:2 “Take a census ¹  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 ²  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. ³  4:5 When it is time for the camp to journey, ⁴  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 ⁵  and spread over that a cloth entirely of blue, and then they must insert its poles.

4:7 “On the table of the presence ⁶  they must spread a blue ⁷  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. ⁸ 

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 ⁹  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. ¹⁰ 

4:15 “When Aaron and his sons have finished ¹¹  covering ¹²  the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is ready to journey, then ¹³  the Kohathites will come to carry them; ¹⁴  but they must not touch ¹⁵  any ¹⁶  holy thing, or they will die. ¹⁷  These are the responsibilities ¹⁸  of the Kohathites with the tent of meeting.

Numbers 4:19-20

4:19 but in order that they will live ¹⁹  and not die when they approach the most holy things, do this for them: Aaron and his sons will go in and appoint ²⁰  each man ²¹  to his service and his responsibility. 4:20 But the Kohathites ²²  are not to go in to watch while the holy things are being covered, or they will die.”

Numbers 7:9

7:9 But to the Kohathites he gave none, because the service of the holy things, which they carried ²³  on their shoulders, was their responsibility. ²⁴ 

Deuteronomy 10:8

10:8 At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi ²⁵  to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before the Lord to serve him, and to formulate blessings ²⁶  in his name, as they do to this very day.

Deuteronomy 31:9

The Deposit of the Covenant Text

31:9 Then Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and to all Israel’s elders.

Joshua 3:3

3:3 and commanded the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God ²⁷  being carried by the Levitical priests, you must leave here ²⁸  and walk ²⁹  behind it.

Joshua 6:6

6:6 So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and instructed them, “Pick up the ark of the covenant, and seven priests must carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark of the Lord.”

Joshua 6:2

6:2 The Lord told Joshua, “See, I am about to defeat Jericho for you, ³⁰  along with its king and its warriors.

Joshua 1:3

1:3 I am handing over to you every place you set foot, as I promised Moses. ³¹ 

[4:2]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ sn The Hebrew actually has the “table of faces,” and this has been traditionally rendered “table of shewbread.”

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

[4:10]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “after this.”

[4:15]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn The imperfect tense may be given the nuance of negated instruction (“they are not to”) or negated obligation (“they must not”).

[4:15]  ¹⁶ tn Here the article expresses the generic idea of any holy thing (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 19, §92).

[4:15]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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.

[4:19]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive continues the instruction for Aaron.

[4:19]  ²¹ tn The distributive sense is obtained by the repetition, “a man” and “a man.”

[4:20]  ²² tn In the Hebrew text the verse has as the subject “they,” but to avoid confusion the antecedent has been clarified in the translation.

[7:9]  ²³ tn The verb is the imperfect tense, but it describes their customary activity – they had to carry, they used to carry.

[7:9]  ²⁴ tn Heb “upon them,” meaning “their duty.”

[10:8]  ²⁵ sn The Lord set apart the tribe of Levi. This was not the initial commissioning of the tribe of Levi to this ministry (cf. Num 3:11-13; 8:12-26), but with Aaron’s death it seemed appropriate to Moses to reiterate Levi’s responsibilities. There is no reference in the Book of Numbers to this having been done, but the account of Eleazar’s succession to the priesthood there (Num 20:25-28) would provide a setting for this to have occurred.

[10:8]  ²⁶ sn To formulate blessings. The most famous example of this is the priestly “blessing formula” of Num 6:24-26.

[3:3]  ²⁷ sn The ark of the covenant refers to the wooden chest that symbolized God’s presence among his covenant people.

[3:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “set out from your place.”

[3:3]  ²⁹ tn Or “march.”

[6:2]  ³⁰ tn Heb “I have given into your hand Jericho.” The Hebrew verb נָתַתִּי (natatti, “I have given”) is probably best understood as a perfect of certitude, indicating the certainty of the action. The Hebrew pronominal suffix “your” is singular, being addressed to Joshua as the leader and representative of the nation. To convey to the modern reader what is about to happen and who is doing it, the translation “I am about to defeat Jericho for you” has been used.

[1:3]  ³¹ tn Heb “Every place on which the sole of your foot walks, to you I have given it, as I said to Moses.” The second person pronouns in vv. 3-4 are plural, indicating that all the people are addressed here. The verbal form נְתַתִּיו (nÿtattiv, “I have given it”) is probably a perfect of certitude, emphasizing the certainty of the action. Another option is to translate, “I have already assigned it.” In this case the verb would probably refer to the Lord’s decree to Abraham that he would give this land to his descendants.