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 

Numbers 19:2

19:2 “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded: ‘Instruct ⁵  the Israelites to bring ⁶  you a red ⁷  heifer ⁸  without blemish, which has no defect ⁹  and has never carried a yoke.

[18:23]  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.”

[18:23]  ² sn The Levites have the care of the tent of meeting, and so they are responsible for any transgressions against it.

[18:23]  ³ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Levites) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[18:23]  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.

[19:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “speak to.”

[19:2]  ⁶ tn The line literally reads, “speak to the Israelites that [and] they bring [will bring].” The imperfect [or jussive] is subordinated to the imperative either as a purpose clause, or as the object of the instruction – speak to them that they bring, or tell them to bring.

[19:2]  ⁷ tn The color is designated as red, although the actual color would be a tanned red-brown color for the animal (see the usage in Isa 1:18 and Song 5:10). The reddish color suggested the blood of ritual purification; see J. Milgrom, “The Paradox of the Red Cow (Num 19),” VT 31 (1981): 62-72.

[19:2]  ⁸ sn Some modern commentators prefer “cow” to “heifer,” thinking that the latter came from the influence of the Greek. Young animals were usually prescribed for the ritual, especially here, and so “heifer” is the better translation. A bull could not be given for this purification ritual because that is what was given for the high priests or the community according to Lev 4.

[19:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “wherein there is no defect.”