Numbers 4:7

4:7 “On the table of the presence ¹  they must spread a blue ²  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.

Numbers 5:30

5:30 or when jealous feelings come over a man and he becomes suspicious of his wife; then he must have the woman stand before the Lord, and the priest will carry out all this law upon her.

Numbers 8:7

8:7 And do this ³  to them to purify them: Sprinkle water of purification ⁴  on them; then have them shave ⁵  all their body ⁶  and wash ⁷  their clothes, and so purify themselves. ⁸ 

Numbers 9:22

9:22 Whether it was for two days, or a month, or a year, ⁹  that the cloud prolonged its stay ¹⁰  over the tabernacle, the Israelites remained camped without traveling; ¹¹  but when it was taken up, they traveled on.

[4:7]  ¹ sn The Hebrew actually has the “table of faces,” and this has been traditionally rendered “table of shewbread.”

[4:7]  ² tn The Greek has “violet” instead of blue. This is also the case in vv. 8, 10, and 14.

[8:7]  ³ tn Or, more literally, “and thus you shall do.” The verb is the imperfect tense of instruction or legislation. Here it introduces the procedures to be followed.

[8:7]  ⁴ tn The genitive in this expression indicates the purpose of the water – it is for their purification. The expression is literally “the waters of sin.” The word “purification” is the same as for the “sin/purification offering” – חַטָּאת (khatta’at). This water seems to have been taken from the main laver and is contrasted with the complete washing of the priests in Lev 8:6.

[8:7]  ⁵ tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect with a vav (ו) of sequence. This verb, and those to follow, has the force of a jussive since it comes after the imperative. Here the instruction is for them to remove the hair from their bodies (“flesh”). There is no indication that this was repeated (as the Egyptian priests did every few days). It seems to have been for this special occasion only. A similar requirement was for the leper (Lev 14:7-9).

[8:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “flesh.”

[8:7]  ⁷ tn Or “let/have them wash”; the priests were given new clothes (Lev 8:13), but the Levites simply washed their own.

[8:7]  ⁸ tn The verb is a reflexive (or possibly passive) in this verse, indicating the summary of the process. The ritual steps that have been prescribed will lead to this conclusion. The verb could be treated as a final imperfect (being a perfect with vav [ו] consecutive), and so translated “that they may….” The major difference here is that the ritual made the Levites “clean,” whereas the ritual for the priests made them “holy” or “sanctified” (Lev 8:12).

[9:22]  ⁵ tn The MT has אוֹ־יָמִים (’o-yamim). Most translators use “or a year” to interpret this expression in view of the sequence of words leading up to it, as well as in comparison with passages like Judg 17:10 and 1 Sam 1:3 and 27:7. See also the uses in Gen 40:4 and 1 Kgs 17:15. For the view that it means four months, see F. S. North, “Four Month Season of the Hebrew Bible,” VT 11 (1961): 446-48.

[9:22]  ⁶ tn In the Hebrew text this sentence has a temporal clause using the preposition with the Hiphil infinitive construct of אָרַךְ (’arakh) followed by the subjective genitive, “the cloud.” But this infinitive is followed by the infinitive construct לִשְׁכֹּן (lishkon), the two of them forming a verbal hendiadys: “the cloud made long to stay” becomes “the cloud prolonged its stay.”

[9:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “and they would not journey”; the clause can be taken adverbially, explaining the preceding verbal clause.