Numbers 31:20

31:20 You must purify each garment and everything that is made of skin, everything made of goat’s hair, and everything made of wood.” ¹ 

Numbers 19:15

19:15 And every open container that has no covering fastened on it is unclean.

Numbers 19:17

19:17 “‘For a ceremonially unclean person you must take ²  some of the ashes of the heifer ³  burnt for purification from sin and pour ⁴  fresh running ⁵  water over them in a vessel.

Numbers 31:51

31:51 Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all of it in the form of ornaments.

Numbers 35:22

35:22 “But if he strikes him suddenly, without enmity, or throws anything at him unintentionally,

Numbers 3:8

3:8 And they are responsible for all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and for the needs of the Israelites, as they serve ⁶  in the tabernacle.

Numbers 4:32

4:32 and the posts of the surrounding courtyard with their sockets, tent pegs, and ropes, along with all their furnishings and everything for their service. You are to assign by names the items that each man is responsible to carry. ⁷ 

Numbers 4:9

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.

Numbers 4:12

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.

Numbers 4:14-15

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. ⁸ 

4:15 “When Aaron and his sons have finished ⁹  covering ¹⁰  the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is ready to journey, then ¹¹  the Kohathites will come to carry them; ¹²  but they must not touch ¹³  any ¹⁴  holy thing, or they will die. ¹⁵  These are the responsibilities ¹⁶  of the Kohathites with the tent of meeting.

Numbers 4:26

4:26 the hangings for the courtyard, the curtain for the entrance of the gate of the court, ¹⁷  which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their ropes, along with all the furnishings for their service and everything that is made for them. So they are to serve. ¹⁸ 

Numbers 18:3

18:3 They must be responsible to care for you and to care for the entire tabernacle. However, they must not come near the furnishings of the sanctuary and the altar, or both they and you will die.

Numbers 31:50

31:50 So we have brought as an offering for the Lord what each man found: gold ornaments, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves ¹⁹  before the Lord.” ²⁰ 

[31:20]  ¹ sn These verses are a reminder that taking a life, even if justified through holy war, still separates one from the holiness of God. It is part of the violation of the fallen world, and only through the ritual of purification can one be once again made fit for the presence of the Lord.

[19:17]  ² tn The verb is the perfect tense, third masculine plural, with a vav (ו) consecutive. The verb may be worded as a passive, “ashes must be taken,” but that may be too awkward for this sentence. It may be best to render it with a generic “you” to fit the instruction of the text.

[19:17]  ³ tn The word “heifer” is not in the Hebrew text, but it is implied.

[19:17]  ⁴ tn Here too the verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; rather than make this passive, it is here left as a direct instruction to follow the preceding one. For the use of the verb נָתַן (natan) in the sense of “pour,” see S. C. Reif, “A Note on a Neglected Connotation of ntn,” VT 20 (1970): 114-16.

[19:17]  ⁵ tn The expression is literally “living water.” Living water is the fresh, flowing spring water that is clear, life-giving, and not the collected pools of stagnant or dirty water.

[3:8]  ³ tn The construction uses the infinitive construct (epexegetically) followed by its cognate accusative. It would convey “to serve the service of the tabernacle,” but more simply it may be rendered as “serving.” Their spiritual and practical service is to serve.

[4:32]  ⁴ tn Heb “you shall assign by names the vessels of the responsibility of their burden.”

[4:14]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “after this.”

[4:15]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn The imperfect tense may be given the nuance of negated instruction (“they are not to”) or negated obligation (“they must not”).

[4:15]  ¹¹ tn Here the article expresses the generic idea of any holy thing (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 19, §92).

[4:15]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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.

[4:26]  ⁷ tc This whole clause is not in the Greek text; it is likely missing due to homoioteleuton.

[4:26]  ⁸ tn The work of these people would have been very demanding, since the size and weight of the various curtains and courtyard hangings would have been great. For a detailed discussion of these, see the notes in the book of Exodus on the construction of the items.

[31:50]  ⁸ tn Heb “our souls.”

[31:50]  ⁹ sn The expression here may include the idea of finding protection from divine wrath, which is so common to Leviticus, but it may also be a thank offering for the fact that their lives had been spared.