Numbers 17:2

17:2 “Speak to the Israelites, and receive from them a staff from each tribe, ¹  one from every tribal leader, ²  twelve staffs; you must write each man’s name on his staff.

Numbers 18:2

18:2 “Bring with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may join ³  with you and minister to you while ⁴  you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.

Numbers 26:58

26:58 These are the families of the Levites: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, the family of the Korahites. Kohath became the father of Amram.

Numbers 36:4

36:4 And when the Jubilee of the Israelites is to take place, ⁵  their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. So their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our ancestral tribe.” ⁶ 

[17:2]  ¹ tn Heb “receive from them a rod, a rod from the house of a father.”

[17:2]  ² tn Heb “from every leader of them according to their fathers’ house.”

[18:2]  ³ sn The verb forms a wordplay on the name Levi, and makes an allusion to the naming of the tribe Levi by Leah in the book of Genesis. There Leah hoped that with the birth of Levi her husband would be attached to her. Here, with the selection of the tribe to serve in the sanctuary, there is the wordplay again showing that the Levites will be attached to Aaron and the priests. The verb is יִלָּווּ (yillavu), which forms a nice wordplay with Levi (לֵוִי). The tribe will now be attached to the sanctuary. The verb is the imperfect with a vav (ו) that shows volitive sequence after the imperative, here indicating a purpose clause.

[18:2]  ⁴ tn The clause is a circumstantial clause because the disjunctive vav (ו) is on a nonverb to start the clause.

[36:4]  ⁵ tn The verb הָיָה (hayah) is most often translated “to be,” but it can also mean “to happen, to take place, to come to pass,” etc.

[36:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “the tribe of our fathers.”